SF 2742

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to family law; changing the time for filing a 
  1.3             notice to remove; requiring a study of medical support 
  1.4             statutes; eliminating certain requirements; amending 
  1.5             Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 518.55, subdivision 
  1.6             4; and 542.16, subdivision 1; Minnesota Statutes 1999 
  1.7             Supplement, section 518.6111, subdivision 5; repealing 
  1.8             Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 144.224; 518.147; 
  1.9             and 518.583. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 518.55, 
  1.12  subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.13     Subd. 4.  [DETERMINATION OF CONTROLLING ORDER.] (a) If more 
  1.14  than one child support order involving the same obligor and 
  1.15  child exists in this state, the last order issued is 
  1.16  controlling, provided the court had jurisdiction over the 
  1.17  parties.  Issuance of a child support order automatically 
  1.18  suspends all previous orders and no enforcement action may be 
  1.19  taken under those orders, except for the recovery of arrearages 
  1.20  that accrued before the effective date of the new order and 
  1.21  applicable interest.  
  1.22     (b) The public authority or a party may request the 
  1.23  district court to determine a the controlling order in 
  1.24  situations in which more than one order involving the same 
  1.25  obligor and child exists. 
  1.26     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
  1.27  518.6111, subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  2.1      Subd. 5.  [PAYOR OF FUNDS RESPONSIBILITIES.] (a) An order 
  2.2   for or notice of withholding is binding on a payor of funds upon 
  2.3   receipt.  Withholding must begin no later than the first pay 
  2.4   period that occurs after 14 days following the date of receipt 
  2.5   of the order for or notice of withholding.  In the case of a 
  2.6   financial institution, preauthorized transfers must occur in 
  2.7   accordance with a court-ordered payment schedule. 
  2.8      (b) A payor of funds shall withhold from the income payable 
  2.9   to the obligor the amount specified in the order or notice of 
  2.10  withholding and amounts specified under subdivisions 6 and 9 and 
  2.11  shall remit the amounts withheld to the public authority within 
  2.12  seven business days of the date the obligor is paid the 
  2.13  remainder of the income.  The payor of funds shall include with 
  2.14  the remittance the social security number of the obligor, the 
  2.15  case type indicator as provided by the public authority and the 
  2.16  date the obligor is paid the remainder of the income.  The 
  2.17  obligor is considered to have paid the amount withheld as of the 
  2.18  date the obligor received the remainder of the income.  A payor 
  2.19  of funds may combine all amounts withheld from one pay period 
  2.20  into one payment to each public authority, but shall separately 
  2.21  identify each obligor making payment. 
  2.22     (c) A payor of funds shall not discharge, or refuse to 
  2.23  hire, or otherwise discipline an employee as a result of wage or 
  2.24  salary withholding authorized by this section.  A payor of funds 
  2.25  shall be liable to the obligee for any amounts required to be 
  2.26  withheld.  A payor of funds that fails to withhold or transfer 
  2.27  funds in accordance with this section is also liable to the 
  2.28  obligee for interest on the funds at the rate applicable to 
  2.29  judgments under section 549.09, computed from the date the funds 
  2.30  were required to be withheld or transferred.  A payor of funds 
  2.31  is liable for reasonable attorney fees of the obligee or public 
  2.32  authority incurred in enforcing the liability under this 
  2.33  paragraph.  A payor of funds that has failed to comply with the 
  2.34  requirements of this section is subject to contempt sanctions 
  2.35  under section 518.615.  If the payor of funds is an employer or 
  2.36  independent contractor and violates this subdivision, a court 
  3.1   may award the obligor twice the wages lost as a result of this 
  3.2   violation.  If a court finds a payor of funds violated this 
  3.3   subdivision, the court shall impose a civil fine of not less 
  3.4   than $500. 
  3.5      (d) If a single employee is subject to multiple withholding 
  3.6   orders or multiple notices of withholding for the support of 
  3.7   more than one child, the payor of funds shall comply with all of 
  3.8   the orders or notices to the extent that the total amount 
  3.9   withheld from the obligor's income does not exceed the limits 
  3.10  imposed under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, United States 
  3.11  Code, title 15, section 1673(b), giving priority to amounts 
  3.12  designated in each order or notice as current support as follows:
  3.13     (1) if the total of the amounts designated in the orders 
  3.14  for or notices of withholding as current support exceeds the 
  3.15  amount available for income withholding, the payor of funds 
  3.16  shall allocate to each order or notice an amount for current 
  3.17  support equal to the amount designated in that order or notice 
  3.18  as current support, divided by the total of the amounts 
  3.19  designated in the orders or notices as current support, 
  3.20  multiplied by the amount of the income available for income 
  3.21  withholding; and 
  3.22     (2) if the total of the amounts designated in the orders 
  3.23  for or notices of withholding as current support does not exceed 
  3.24  the amount available for income withholding, the payor of funds 
  3.25  shall pay the amounts designated as current support, and shall 
  3.26  allocate to each order or notice an amount for past due support, 
  3.27  equal to the amount designated in that order or notice as past 
  3.28  due support, divided by the total of the amounts designated in 
  3.29  the orders or notices as past due support, multiplied by the 
  3.30  amount of income remaining available for income withholding 
  3.31  after the payment of current support. 
  3.32     The commissioner of human services shall implement 
  3.33  procedures to notify a payor of funds of the income withholding 
  3.34  limits imposed by the Consumer Credit Protection Act and shall 
  3.35  provide technical assistance in implementing these requirements. 
  3.36     (e) When an order for or notice of withholding is in effect 
  4.1   and the obligor's employment is terminated, the obligor and the 
  4.2   payor of funds shall notify the public authority of the 
  4.3   termination within ten days of the termination date.  The 
  4.4   termination notice shall include the obligor's home address and 
  4.5   the name and address of the obligor's new payor of funds, if 
  4.6   known. 
  4.7      (f) A payor of funds may deduct one dollar from the 
  4.8   obligor's remaining salary for each payment made pursuant to an 
  4.9   order for or notice of withholding under this section to cover 
  4.10  the expenses of withholding. 
  4.11     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 542.16, 
  4.12  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  4.13     Subdivision 1.  [INITIAL DISQUALIFICATION.] Any party, or 
  4.14  the party's attorney, to a cause pending in a district court, 
  4.15  within one day after it is ascertained which judge is to preside 
  4.16  at the trial or hearing thereof, or at the hearing of any motion 
  4.17  or order to show cause, except for a proceeding under section 
  4.18  484.702, may make and file with the court administrator in which 
  4.19  the action is pending and serve on the opposite party a notice 
  4.20  to remove.  The notice must be served and filed within ten days 
  4.21  after the party receives notice of which judge or judicial 
  4.22  officer is to preside at the trial or hearing, or, if no notice 
  4.23  of a hearing is served with the summons, then within the time to 
  4.24  answer the summons, whichever is later.  Thereupon without any 
  4.25  further act or proof, the chief judge of the judicial district 
  4.26  shall assign any other judge of any court within the district to 
  4.27  preside at the trial of the cause or the hearing of the motion 
  4.28  or order to show cause, and the cause shall be continued on the 
  4.29  calendar, until the assigned judge can be present.  In criminal 
  4.30  actions the notice to remove shall be made and filed with the 
  4.31  court administrator by the defendant, or the defendant's 
  4.32  attorney, not less than two days before the expiration of the 
  4.33  time allowed by law to prepare for trial and in any of those 
  4.34  cases the presiding judge shall be incapacitated to try the 
  4.35  cause.  In criminal cases, the chief judge, for the purpose of 
  4.36  securing a speedy trial, may change the place of trial to 
  5.1   another county. 
  5.2      Sec. 4.  [MEDICAL SUPPORT RECOMMENDATIONS.] 
  5.3      The commissioner of human services, in consultation with 
  5.4   the commissioner's advisory committee, shall study and make 
  5.5   recommendations for changes to the medical support statutes 
  5.6   under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 518.  The commissioner shall 
  5.7   consider the medical support recommendations from the federal 
  5.8   medical support workgroup created in the Federal Child Support 
  5.9   Performance and Incentive Act of 1997, Public Law Number 
  5.10  105-200, section 401.  
  5.11     The commissioner shall submit legislative recommendations 
  5.12  to the chairs of the senate judiciary committee and the house 
  5.13  civil law committee by January 15, 2001. 
  5.14     Sec. 5.  [REPEALER.] 
  5.15     Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 144.224; 518.147; and 
  5.16  518.583, are repealed.