CHAPTER 111 SENATE BILL No. 71 An  Act relating to the payment center; expiration thereof; abolishing the central payment
center oversight commission; amending K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 23-4,118 and repealing the
existing section; also repealing K.S.A. 74-99a01.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

      Section  1. K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 23-4,118 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 23-4,118. (a) The department of social and rehabilitation services,
the title IV-D agency for the state, shall establish a central unit for col-
lection and disbursement of support payments to meet the requirements
of title IV-D.

      (b) The department may contract with a private vendor for the es-
tablishment and operation, in whole or in part, of such central unit. Any
contract currently in place shall be modified on or before July 1, 2001,
to take into account the provisions of this subsection. The following con-
ditions and limitations shall apply to any such contract:

      (1) Any contract shall incorporate by reference the Kansas supreme
court rule concerning official child support and maintenance records es-
tablished pursuant to subsection (c).

      (2) No contract shall include provisions allowing the vendor to be
paid, in whole or in part, on the basis of an amount per phone call received
by the center nor allowing the vendor to be paid an amount per check
issued for checks that were issued in error by the center.

      (3) Any contract with a private vendor shall include penalty provisions
for noncompliance with federal regulations relating to the timeliness of
collections and disbursements and shall include a monetary penalty of
$100 for each erroneous transaction, whether related to collection or dis-
bursement. Penalties shall be collected as and when assessed. Of the
penalty, $25 shall be allocated to the obligee and $75 shall be allocated
to the department of social and rehabilitation services.

      (4) Any contract with a private vendor shall provide for full access to
all data by the secretary's designee in the central receivables unit, the
designee of the office of judicial administration and the chairperson of
the central payment center oversight commission. Further, the contract
shall provide that all district court clerks and court trustees have access
to records of the vendors sufficient to allow them to assist in the process
of matching support payments to the obligees and be provided dedicated
telephone access to the vendor for the purpose of assisting the vendor in
making accurate and timely disbursements.

      (5) Any contract with a private vendor, in addition to sufficient cus-
tomer service staff during regular business hours, shall require 24-hour
access by obligors and obligees to payment files which show status of
receipts and disbursements, including, but not limited to, date of receipt
by the vendor, date of processing by the vendor and date of mailing to
the obligee.

      (6) Any contract with a private vendor shall provide that the central
unit be known as the Kansas payment center. The name ``Kansas payment
center'' shall be reserved for use by the state of Kansas for the functions
of the central unit and shall not be used by any private entity for the
collection of support funds.

      (7) Any contract with a private vendor shall provide that the vendor
create a standardized form that shall accompany all payments made to
the central unit for new orders effective on and after January 1, 2002.
Such form shall contain the information necessary to assist in the dis-
bursement of such payments.

      (c) The Kansas supreme court, by court rule, shall establish the pro-
cedure for the creation, maintenance and correction of official child sup-
port and maintenance records for use as official court records.

      (d) The department shall collaborate with the Kansas supreme court
to establish the central unit for collection and disbursement of support
payments, which shall include, but is not limited to, all support payments
subject to the requirements of title IV-D. Upon designation by the Kansas
supreme court, the central unit for collection and disbursement of sup-
port payments shall commence operations with respect to support orders
entered in each county as provided in a schedule adopted or approved
by the supreme court or the supreme court's designee.

      (e) When the central unit for collection and disbursement of support
payments commences operations with respect to a county, any provision
in any child support order or income withholding order entered in that
county which requires remittance of support payments to the clerk of the
district court or district court trustee shall be deemed to require remit-
tance of support payments to the central unit for collection and disburse-
ment of support payments, regardless of the date the child support or
income withholding order was entered.

      (f) As used in this section, ``child support order'' includes any order
for maintenance of a spouse or ex-spouse issued in conjunction with a
child support order.

      (g) Any unmatched funds which remain unmatched one year after
the transfer and after a good faith effort has been made to find the obligee
shall be deposited with the state treasurer in accordance with the un-
claimed property act.

      (h) The provisions of this section shall expire on July 1, 2003.

 Sec.  2. K.S.A. 74-99a01 and K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 23-4,118 are hereby
repealed.

 Sec.  3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.

Approved April 21, 2003.
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