Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73
§654a Automated data processing
Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - SOCIAL SECURITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - GRANTS TO STATES FOR AID AND SERVICES TO NEEDY FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AND FOR CHILD-WELFARE SERVICES › Part Part D— - Child Support and Establishment of Paternity › § 654a
Summary
Require the State agency to run one statewide automated data system that can do all tasks and reports needed to run the child support program. The system must track and account for federal, state, and local money, keep timely data for federal reports, keep reliable information for computing incentive payments and penalties under sections 652(g) and 658a, and have controls so its performance and calculations are complete and accurate. The State must protect data with written access rules, passwords or field blocks, routine monitoring (like audit trails), training about confidentiality and penalties (including section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code), and disciplinary penalties up to firing for misuse. The system must include a State case registry with records for every case getting services and for every support order set or changed on or after October 1, 1998. Records must use standard data about both parents and include amounts owed and collected, how collections were paid out, child birth dates and, by October 1, 1999, children’s social security numbers, and any lien amounts under section 666(a)(4). The system must update records from actions, matches with other sources, and collections. It must share data with federal and state registries and services (including the Federal Case Registry, the Federal Parent Locator Service, other state agencies, and private industry councils as permitted) and help the State disbursement unit by sending withholding orders and notices within 2 business days, monitoring missed payments, and triggering enforcement (including procedures in section 666(c)). Defined terms: State case registry — a statewide file of case and order records. Business day — a day state offices are open for regular business.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §654a
The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)In order for a State to meet the requirements of this section, the State agency administering the State program under this part shall have in operation a single statewide automated data processing and information retrieval system which has the capability to perform the tasks specified in this section with the frequency and in the manner required by or under this part.
(b)The automated system required by this section shall perform such functions as the Secretary may specify relating to management of the State program under this part, including—
(1)controlling and accounting for use of Federal, State, and local funds in carrying out the program; and
(2)maintaining the data necessary to meet Federal reporting requirements under this part on a timely basis.
(c)In order to enable the Secretary to determine the incentive payments and penalty adjustments required by section 652(g) and 658a of this title, the State agency shall—
(1)use the automated system—
(A)to maintain the requisite data on State performance with respect to paternity establishment and child support enforcement in the State; and
(B)to calculate the paternity establishment percentage for the State for each fiscal year; and
(2)have in place systems controls to ensure the completeness and reliability of, and ready access to, the data described in paragraph (1)(A), and the accuracy of the calculations described in paragraph (1)(B).
(d)The State agency shall have in effect safeguards on the integrity, accuracy, and completeness of, access to, and use of data in the automated system required by this section, which shall include the following (in addition to such other safeguards as the Secretary may specify in regulations):
(1)Written policies concerning access to data by State agency personnel, and sharing of data with other persons, which—
(A)permit access to and use of data only to the extent necessary to carry out the State program under this part; and
(B)specify the data which may be used for particular program purposes, and the personnel permitted access to such data.
(2)Systems controls (such as passwords or blocking of fields) to ensure strict adherence to the policies described in paragraph (1).
(3)Routine monitoring of access to and use of the automated system, through methods such as audit trails and feedback mechanisms, to guard against and promptly identify unauthorized access or use.
(4)Procedures to ensure that all personnel (including State and local agency staff and contractors) who may have access to or be required to use confidential program data are informed of applicable requirements and penalties (including those in section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), and are adequately trained in security procedures.
(5)Administrative penalties (up to and including dismissal from employment) for unauthorized access to, or disclosure or use of, confidential data.
(e)(1)The automated system required by this section shall include a registry (which shall be known as the “State case registry”) that contains records with respect to—
(A)each case in which services are being provided by the State agency under the State plan approved under this part; and
(B)each support order established or modified in the State on or after October 1, 1998.
(2)The State case registry may be established by linking local case registries of support orders through an automated information network, subject to this section.
(3)Such records shall use standardized data elements for both parents (such as names, social security numbers and other uniform identification numbers, dates of birth, and case identification numbers), and contain such other information (such as on case status) as the Secretary may require.
(4)Each case record in the State case registry with respect to which services are being provided under the State plan approved under this part and with respect to which a support order has been established shall include a record of—
(A)the amount of monthly (or other periodic) support owed under the order, and other amounts (including arrearages, interest or late payment penalties, and fees) due or overdue under the order;
(B)any amount described in subparagraph (A) that has been collected;
(C)the distribution of such collected amounts;
(D)the birth date and, beginning not later than October 1, 1999, the social security number, of any child for whom the order requires the provision of support; and
(E)the amount of any lien imposed with respect to the order pursuant to section 666(a)(4) of this title.
(5)The State agency operating the automated system required by this section shall promptly establish and update, maintain, and regularly monitor, case records in the State case registry with respect to which services are being provided under the State plan approved under this part, on the basis of—
(A)information on administrative actions and administrative and judicial proceedings and orders relating to paternity and support;
(B)information obtained from comparison with Federal, State, or local sources of information;
(C)information on support collections and distributions; and
(D)any other relevant information.
(f)The State shall use the automated system required by this section to extract information from (at such times, and in such standardized format or formats, as may be required by the Secretary), to share and compare information with, and to receive information from, other data bases and information comparison services, in order to obtain (or provide) information necessary to enable the State agency (or the Secretary or other State or Federal agencies) to carry out this part, subject to section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Such information comparison activities shall include the following:
(1)Furnishing to the Federal Case Registry of Child Support Orders established under section 653(h) of this title (and update as necessary, with information including notice of expiration of orders) the minimum amount of information on child support cases recorded in the State case registry that is necessary to operate the registry (as specified by the Secretary in regulations).
(2)Exchanging information with the Federal Parent Locator Service for the purposes specified in section 653 of this title.
(3)Exchanging information with State agencies (of the State and of other States) administering programs funded under part A, programs operated under a State plan approved under subchapter XIX, and other programs designated by the Secretary, as necessary to perform State agency responsibilities under this part and under such programs.
(4)Exchanging information with other agencies of the State, agencies of other States, and interstate information networks, as necessary and appropriate to carry out (or assist other States to carry out) the purposes of this part.
(5)Disclosing to a private industry council (as defined in section 603(a)(5)(D)(ii) of this title) to which funds are provided under section 603(a)(5) of this title the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and identifying case number information in the State program funded under part A, of noncustodial parents residing in the service delivery area of the private industry council, for the purpose of identifying and contacting noncustodial parents regarding participation in the program under section 603(a)(5) of this title.
(g)(1)The State shall use the automated system required by this section to assist and facilitate the collection and disbursement of support payments through the State disbursement unit operated under section 654b of this title, through the performance of functions, including, at a minimum—
(A)transmission of orders and notices to employers (and other debtors) for the withholding of income—
(i)within 2 business days after receipt of notice of, and the income source subject to, such withholding from a court, another State, an employer, the Federal Parent Locator Service, or another source recognized by the State;
(ii)using uniform formats prescribed by the Secretary; and
(iii)at the option of the employer, using the electronic transmission methods prescribed by the Secretary;
(B)ongoing monitoring to promptly identify failures to make timely payment of support; and
(C)automatic use of enforcement procedures (including procedures authorized pursuant to section 666(c) of this title) if payments are not timely made.
(2)As used in paragraph (1), the term “business day” means a day on which State offices are open for regular business.
(h)The automated system required by this section shall be used, to the maximum extent feasible, to implement the expedited administrative procedures required by section 666(c) of this title.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsecs. (d)(4) and (f), is classified generally to Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Amendments
2014—Subsec. (g)(1). Pub. L. 113–183, § 306(a)(1), struck out “, to the maximum extent feasible,” after “this section” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (g)(1)(A)(iii). Pub. L. 113–183, § 306(a)(2), added cl. (iii). 1999—Subsec. (f)(5). Pub. L. 106–113 added par. (5). 1997—Subsec. (e)(4)(D). Pub. L. 105–34 substituted “the birth date and, beginning not later than October 1, 1999, the social security number, of any child” for “the birth date of any child”. 1996—Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 104–193, § 311, added subsecs. (e) and (f). Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 104–193, § 312(c), added subsec. (g). Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 104–193, § 325(b), added subsec. (h).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2014 Amendment Pub. L. 113–183, title III, § 306(b), Sept. 29, 2014, 128 Stat. 1949, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on October 1, 2015.”
Effective Date
of 1997 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 105–34 effective Oct. 1, 1998, see section 1090(a)(4) of Pub. L. 105–34, set out as a note under section 653 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by section 312(c) of Pub. L. 104–193 effective Oct. 1, 1998, with limited exception for States which, as of Aug. 22, 1996, were processing the receipt of child support payments through local courts, see section 312(d) of Pub. L. 104–193, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 654b of this title.
Effective Date
For provisions relating to
Effective Date
of title III of Pub. L. 104–193, see section 395(a)–(c) of Pub. L. 104–193, set out as an
Effective Date
of 1996 Amendment note under section 654 of this title.
Regulations
Pub. L. 104–193, title III, § 344(a)(3), Aug. 22, 1996, 110 Stat. 2236, provided that: “The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall prescribe final
Regulations
for implementation of section 454A of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 654a] not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 22, 1996].”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 654a
Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73