A BILL to amend and reenact section sixteen, article two, chapter forty-eight-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to general powers and duties of the child support division; requiring all such duties to be correctly and competently performed; providing for damages and providing for full cooperation with law enforcement officers.

ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION; CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT DIVISION; ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION.

§48A-2-16. General duties and powers of the child support enforcement division.
In carrying out the policies and procedures for enforcing the provisions of this chapter, the division shall have the following power, and authority and duties:
(1) To undertake directly, or by contract, activities to obtain and enforce support orders and establish paternity;
(2) To undertake directly, or by contract, activities to establish paternity for minors for whom paternity has not been acknowledged by the father or otherwise established by law;
(3) To undertake directly, or by contract, activities to collect and disburse support payments;
(4) To contract for professional services with any person, firm, partnership, professional corporation, association or other legal entity to provide representation for the division and the state in administrative or judicial proceedings brought to obtain and enforce support orders and establish paternity;
(5) To ensure that activities of a contractor under a contract for professional services are carried out in a manner consistent with attorneys' professional responsibilities as established in the rules of professional conduct as promulgated by the supreme court of appeals;
(6) To contract for collection services with any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity to collect and disburse amounts payable as support;
(7) To ensure the compliance of contractors and their employees with the provisions of this chapter and legislative rules promulgated pursuant to this chapter, and to terminate, after notice and hearing, the contractual relationship between the division and a contractor who fails to comply;
(8) To require a contractor to take appropriate remedial or disciplinary action against any employee who has violated or caused the contractor to violate the provisions of this chapter, in accordance with procedures prescribed in legislative rules promulgated by the commission;
(9) To locate parents who owe a duty to pay child support;
(10) To cooperate with other agencies of this state and other states to search their records to help locate absent parents;
(11) To cooperate with other states in establishing and enforcing support obligations;
(12) If the child support enforcement division is transferred to the department of tax and revenue pursuant to section forty-two of this article, the director of the child support enforcement division may exercise any power available to him or her as director, or to the tax commissioner, in order to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, including, but not limited to, the powers associated with gaining access to all information gained and maintained by the department of tax and revenue in the collection of taxes, and any and all powers to levy, through distraint or seizure by any means, upon all property or rights to property without the need to obtain a separate court order for the attachment;
(13) To exercise such other powers as may be necessary to effectuate the provisions of this chapter.;
(14) To do all things correctly and competently, or be liable for sanctions, compensatory and punitive damages to the person or persons wronged; and
(15) To provide law enforcement officers, upon written request by such officer, with all necessary information to enable him or her to investigate and correctly charge a person under section twenty-nine, article five, chapter sixty-one of this code, including, but not limited to, addresses, employment, employer addresses, amount owed, and amount in arrears.

NOTE: The purpose of this Bill is to clarify the duties and responsibilities of the Child Support Division and provide for damages in the event of defalcation of the duties. The Bill also provides for full cooperation with law enforcement authorities.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.