23-4,118. Title IV-D agency designated; maintenance of Kansas payment center for collection and disbursement of support payments; contracts for administration and operation; disposition of certain pay
23-4,118
23-4,118. Title IV-D agency designated;maintenance of Kansas payment center for collection anddisbursement of support payments; contracts for administration and operation;disposition of certain payments under unclaimed property act.(a) The department of social and rehabilitation services, the title IV-D agencyfor the state, shall maintain a central unit forcollection and disbursement of support payments to meet the requirements oftitle IV-D and this section. Such central unit shall be known as the Kansaspayment center. The name "Kansas payment center" shall be reserved for use bythe state of Kansas for the functions of the central unit and shall not be usedby any entity without the consent of the secretary of social and rehabilitationservices.
The department may contract with another entity for development,enhancement oroperation, in whole or in part, of such central unit. The Kansas paymentcenter shall besubject to the following conditions and limitations:
(1) The Kansas paymentcenter shall be subject to the Kansas supreme court rule concerningofficial child support and maintenance records established pursuant tosubsection (c).
(2) No contract shall include provisions allowing thecontractor to be paid, in whole or in part, on the basis of an amountper phone call received by the center nor allowing thecontractor to be paid an amount per check issued for checks that wereissued in error by the center. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construedto prevent the secretary of social and rehabilitation services fromcompensating on the basis of an amount per phone call any contractor that doesnot process receipts or disbursements under this section.
(3) Any contract for processing receipts ordisbursements under this section shall include penalty provisions fornoncompliance with federal regulations relating to the timeliness ofcollections and disbursements and shall include a monetary penalty of $100 foreach erroneous transaction, whether related to collection or disbursement.Penalties shall be collected as and when assessed. Of the penalty, $25 shall beallocated to the obligee and $75 shall be allocated to the department of socialand rehabilitation services.
(4) Designees of the secretary of social and rehabilitationservices and designees of the office of judicial administration shall have fullaccess to all data, subject to the provisions of title IV-D of the federalsocial security act, 42 U.S.C. § 651 et seq. Designees of the secretaryof social and rehabilitation services, all district court clerks and courttrustees shall have access to records of the Kansaspayment center sufficient to allow them to assist in the process ofmatching support payments to the correct accounts.
(5) The Kansaspayment center shall provide sufficient customer service staff duringregular business hours. Obligors and obligees shall beprovided 24-hour access to information about the status of receipts anddisbursements, including, but not limited to, date of receipt by thecenter, date of processing by thecenter and date of disbursement to the obligee.
(b) The Kansas payment center shall have, by operation of law, a limitedpower of attorney to perform the specific act of endorsing and negotiating alldrafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable instruments representingsupport payments received by the center. Nothing in this subsection shall beconstrued as affecting the property rights or interests of any person in suchnegotiable instruments. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to anynegotiable instrument received by the center on or after October 1, 2000.
(c) The Kansas supreme court, by court rule, shall establish the procedurefor the creation, maintenance and correction of official child support andmaintenance records for use as official court records.
(d) The department shall collaborate with the Kansas supreme court tomaintain the Kansas payment center, which shall include all supportpayments subject to the requirements oftitle IV-Dof the federal social security act, 42 U.S.C. § 651 et seq., and,except as specifically directed otherwise by the court pursuant to K.S.A.60-1610, and amendments thereto, all other support payments due under a courtorder entered in this state.
(e) Any provision inany support order or income withholding order entered in this state whichrequires remittance of support payments tothe clerk of the district court or district court trustee shall be deemed torequire remittance of support payments to the Kansas payment center,regardless of the date the support or income withholding order wasentered.
(f) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, payments receivedbythe Kansas payment center which cannot be matched to any account nor returnedto the payor shall be transferred to the state treasurer in accordance with theunclaimed property act.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, disbursements whichcannot be delivered to the payee after a good faith effort to locate the payeeshall be transferred to the state treasurer in accordance with the unclaimedproperty act.
(3) To the extent that the secretary of social and rehabilitation serviceswould be required to treat as federal program income any amount transferable tothe state treasurer pursuant to this subsection or the unclaimed property act,such amount shall not be presumed abandoned but shall be held by the secretaryuntil the amount may be delivered to the true owner. The secretary and thestate treasurer shall collaborate on procedures for locating the true owner andconfirming claims to amounts so held.
History: L. 1985, ch. 115, § 14;L. 1986, ch. 137, § 15;L. 1994, ch. 301, § 25;L. 1999, ch. 57, § 41;L. 2001, ch. 195, § 3;L. 2003, ch. 111, § 1;L. 2006, ch. 74, § 1; July 1.