00SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 339                                                                             
01 "An Act relating to the child support enforcement agency; and providing for an                                          
02 effective date."                                                                                                        
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04    * Section 1.  AUDIT OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.  (a)  The                                                 
05 Legislative Budget and Audit Committee shall conduct an audit, as described in this section,                            
06 of the child support enforcement agency, Department of Revenue.                                                         
07  (b)  The audit conducted under this section must include an examination and analysis                                   
08 covering at least the following areas:                                                                                  
09   (1)  the current residential address of the children and parents covered by the                                       
10 case, the name of the adult having custody of the children, and the relationship of that adult                          
11 to the children; if custody has changed since the current child support obligation was                                  
12 established, the audit shall determine whether the support order has changed accordingly and                            
13 whether the new noncustodial parent is making support payments;                                                         
14   (2)  when child support was supposed to be paid according to the applicable                                           

01 agency or court order, when and how much child support has been paid by the obligor, when                               
02 payments were received by the agency, when the agency posted the payments, and when and                                 
03 the amount of disbursement made to the obligee or other person;                                                         
04   (3)  whether the support collected by the agency matches the applicable agency                                        
05 or court support order and, if they do not match, the reasons why they do not match;                                    
06   (4)  whether modifications of support orders have been made by the agency,                                            
07 the reasons for the modifications, and when and how the affected obligors were notified;                                
08   (5)  whether proper legal notices were served on the obligor or the obligor's                                         
09 employer and whether postal return receipts related to legal notices are in the case file;                              
10   (6)  whether an administrative hearing was requested, the date of the hearing,                                        
11 the time period between the request for a hearing and the date of the hearing, and, if a                                
12 requested hearing did not occur, the reasons why the hearing did not occur;                                             
13   (7)  the reason for any collection of money from the obligor's accounts in                                            
14 financial institutions, whether the accounts were jointly held, and, if so, whether the other joint                     
15 tenant was notified of the collection, and whether there was garnishment of wages, disability                           
16 payments, or unemployment benefits occurring in the case;                                                               
17   (8)  when letters or other correspondence were dated and mailed by the agency,                                        
18 with particular attention to whether predating or postdating of time-sensitive correspondence                           
19 occurred;                                                                                                               
20   (9)  with respect to enforcement of an out-of-state order, whether the interstate                                     
21 agency specified the child support to be collected, whether the Alaska agency has modified                              
22 the out-of-state order, and whether the Alaska agency has properly applied current collections                          
23 to cover out-of-state interest or arrearages as well as current support obligations;                                    
24   (10)  with respect to enforcement of an out-of-state order, determination of the                                      
25 amounts that the issuing state has credited to the obligor's account and a review of the Alaska                         
26 agency's records to determine if those amounts have been credited, and a determination of                               
27 whether the other state issued a refund to the Alaska agency and, if so, to whom the Alaska                             
28 agency credited the refund;                                                                                             
29   (11)  whether tax refunds or permanent fund dividends of persons other than                                           
30 the obligor were seized and, if so, when, how much, and why;                                                            
31   (12)  whether and why interest on arrearages has been charged when automatic                                          

01 income withholding has been used;                                                                                       
02   (13)  whether the obligor's debt to the state based on welfare payments to the                                        
03 children exceeds the applicable child support obligation and, if so, why;                                               
04   (14)  in the case of arrearages, whether the arrearage began accruing before or                                       
05 after a family may have begun to receive welfare payments;                                                              
06   (15)  whether interest imposed by the agency on arrearages was compound or                                            
07 simple interest, what the annual percentage rate was, and whether the interest started accruing                         
08 based on the end of a month during which the payment was due or after the due date of the                               
09 payment;                                                                                                                
10   (16)  whether court or agency records were altered by hand before they were                                           
11 received by an obligor or obligee and whether they were sent to the obligor and obligee in a                            
12 timely manner by certified mail, return receipt requested;                                                              
13   (17)  whether there were written requests by the obligor or obligee to a case                                         
14 worker, whether there was a response and what the response to the requests were, whether an                             
15 informal or formal hearing was requested, whether a hearing was held, and what the result of                            
16 the hearing was;                                                                                                        
17   (18)  other issues as determined by the legislative auditor.                                                          
18  (c)  The results of the audit required by this section shall be presented in written form                              
19 to the legislature by January 1, 1999.                                                                                  
20    * Sec. 2.  This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).