H. B. 2045
(By Delegates Staton, Pino, Givens,
Tillis, Riggs and Trump)
[Introduced February 12, 1997; referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-one, article two,
chapter forty-eight-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
reporting delinquent child support obligors to consumer
reporting agencies.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-one, article two, chapter forty-eight-a of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION; CHILD
SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT DIVISION; ESTABLISHMENT AND
ORGANIZATION.
§48A-2-31. Providing information to consumer reporting agencies.
(a) For purposes of this section, the term "consumer reporting
agency" means any person who, for monetary fees, dues, or on a
cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages, in whole or in
part, in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit
information or other information on consumers for the purpose of
furnishing consumer reports to third parties.
(b) The commission shall propose and adopt a procedural rule
in accordance with the provisions of sections four and eight,
article three, chapter twenty-ninetwenty-nine-a of this code,
establishing procedures whereby information regarding the amount of
overdue support owed by an obligor residing in this state will be
made availablereported periodically by the child support
enforcement division to any consumer reporting agency,agencies.
upon the request of such consumer reporting agency.
(c) (1) When the amount of any overdue support is equal to or
less than the amount of arrearage which would cause the mailing of
a notice as provided for in subsection (b), section three, article
five of this chapter, information regarding such amount may not be
made available;
(2) When the amount of any overdue support exceeds the amount
of arrearage which would cause the mailing of a notice as provided
for in subsection (b), section three, article five of this chapter,
information regarding such amount shall be made available.
(d)(c) The procedural rule proposed and adopted by the
commission shall provide that any information with respect to an
obligor shall be made available only after notice has been sent to
suchthe obligor of the proposed action, and suchthe obligor has
been given a reasonable opportunity to contest the accuracy of
suchthe information.
(e)(d) The procedural rule proposed and adopted shall afford
the obligor with procedural due process prior to making information
available with respect to the obligor.
(f)(e) The information made available to the requesting
consumer reporting agencyagencies regarding overdue support may be
in the same form as information submitted to the secretary of the
treasury of the United States.only be made available to an entity
that has furnished evidence satisfactory to the division that the
entity is a consumer reporting agency as defined in subsection (a)
of this section.
(g)(f) The child support enforcement division may impose a fee for furnishing such information, not to exceed the actual cost
thereof.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Child
Support Enforcement Division to periodically furnish information to
consumer reporting agencies(credit bureaus) regarding delinquent
support obligors. This requirement is mandated by §367 of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996. Under current law, reporting is done only at the request of
consumer reporting agencies, and is optional in some instances.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.