Senate Bill No. 595
(By Senators Prezioso, Deem, Plymale and Kessler)
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[Introduced March 16, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §9-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the assignment of child support;
and replacing antiquated language.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §9-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. APPLICATION FOR AND GRANTING OF ASSISTANCE.
§9-3-4. Assignment of support obligations.
Any recipient of financial assistance under the program of
state and federal assistance established by Title IV of the federal
Social Security Act of 1965, as amended, or any successor act
thereto, shall, as a condition of receiving such assistance funded
under this part, assign to the Department of Health and Human
Resources all rights, title and interest any right the family
member may have (on behalf of the family member or of any other
person for whom the family member has applied for or is receiving
such assistance) to the receipt of support and maintenance moneys
from any other person, not exceeding the total amount of assistance provided to the family, which accrue (or have accrued) before the
date the family ceases to receive accrues during the period that
the family receives assistance under the program. The assignment,
on and after the date the family ceases to receive assistance under
the program, does not apply with respect to any support (other than
support collected pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §664) which accrued before
the family received such assistance and which the state has not
collected by the date the family ceases to receive assistance under
the program.
Persons responsible for support and maintenance shall include
all persons who under the laws of the state of West Virginia owe
obligations of support or maintenance to a child or to the
caretaker of a child. The assignment contemplated herein shall
include all amounts of support and maintenance which accrued to the
recipient of assistance and was not received prior to the
recipient's receipt of assistance, and all amounts of support and
maintenance which accrue during recipient's receipt of assistance:
Provided, That subject to applicable federal and state laws, the
assignment may not exceed the total amount of assistance provided
to the family.
Each applicant for assistance subject to the assignment
established herein in this section shall (during the application
process) be informed in writing of the nature of the assignment.
Any payment of federal and state assistance made to or for the
benefit of any child or children or the caretaker of a child or
children creates a debt due and owing to the Department of Health
and Human Resources by the person or persons responsible for the support and maintenance of such the child, children or caretaker in
an amount equal to the amount of assistance money paid: Provided,
That the debt shall be is limited by the amount established in any
court order or final decree of divorce if the amount in such the
order or decree is less than the amount of assistance paid.
The assignment hereunder under this section shall subrogate
the Department of Health and Human Resources to the rights of the
child, children or caretaker to the prosecution or maintenance of
any action or procedure existing under law providing a remedy
whereby the Department of Health and Human Resources may be
reimbursed for moneys expended on behalf of the child, children or
caretaker. The Department of Health and Human Resources shall
further be subrogated to the debt created by any order or decree
awarding support and maintenance to or for the benefit of any
child, children or caretaker included within the assignment
hereunder under this section and shall be empowered to receive such
money judgments and endorse any check, draft, note or other
negotiable document in payment thereof.
The assignment created hereunder under this section shall be
released upon closure of the assistance case and the termination of
assistance payments except for such support and maintenance
obligations accrued and owing at the time of closure which shall be
are necessary to reimburse the department for any balance of
assistance payments made.
The Department of Health and Human Resources may, at the
election of the recipient, continue to receive support and
maintenance moneys on behalf of the recipient following closure of the assistance case and shall distribute such the moneys to the
caretaker, child or children. The department of health and human
resources shall notify in writing all appropriate persons of the
terms of the release of assignment hereunder.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to bring the statute
regarding subrogation into compliance with the federal Deficit
Reduction Act of 2005.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
By striking out the title and substituting therefor a new
title, to read as follows:
Eng. Senate Bill No. 595--A Bill to amend and reenact §9-3-4
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the
assignment of child support; and replacing antiquated language.
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