Washington Code 74.20A.350 – Noncompliance — Notice — Fines — License suspension — Hearings — Rules
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(1) The division of child support may issue a notice of noncompliance to any person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government that the division believes is not complying with:
Terms Used In Washington Code 74.20A.350
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Department: means the state department of social and health services. See Washington Code 74.20A.020
- earnings: means compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise, and, notwithstanding any other provision of law making such payments exempt from garnishment, attachment, or other process to satisfy support obligation, specifically includes periodic payments pursuant to pension or retirement programs, or insurance policies of any type, but does not include payments made under Title 50 RCW, except as provided in RCW 50. See Washington Code 74.20A.090
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
- Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
- Secretary: means the secretary of the department of social and health services, the secretary's designee or authorized representative. See Washington Code 74.20A.020
- State: means any state or political subdivision, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Washington Code 74.20A.020
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Support moneys: means any moneys or in-kind providings paid to satisfy a support obligation whether denominated as child support, spouse support, alimony, maintenance, or any other such moneys intended to satisfy an obligation for support of any person or satisfaction in whole or in part of arrears or delinquency on such an obligation. See Washington Code 74.20A.020
(a) An income withholding order issued under chapter 26.23 RCW;
(b) A lien, order to withhold and deliver, or assignment of earnings issued under this chapter;
(c) Any other wage assignment, garnishment, attachment, or withholding instrument properly served by the agency or firm providing child support enforcement services for another state, under Title IV-D of the federal social security act;
(d) A subpoena issued by the division of child support, or the agency or firm providing child support enforcement for another state, under Title IV-D of the federal social security act;
(e) An information request issued by the division of child support, or the agency or firm providing child support enforcement for another state under Title IV-D of the federal social security act, to an employer or entity required to respond to such requests under RCW 74.20A.360;
(f) The duty to report newly hired employees imposed by RCW 26.23.040; or
(g) The duty of a business, employer, or payroll processor that has received an income withholding order from the department of social and health services requiring payment to the Washington state support registry to remit withheld funds by electronic means imposed by RCW 26.23.065.
(2) Liability for noncompliance with a wage withholding, garnishment, order to withhold and deliver, or any other lien or attachment issued to secure payment of child support is governed by RCW 26.23.090 and 74.20A.100, except that liability for noncompliance with remittance time frames is governed by subsection (4) of this section.
(3) Fines for noncompliance by a business, employer, or payroll processor with the duty to remit withheld funds by electronic means imposed by RCW 26.23.065 are governed by subsection (4)(c) of this section.
(4) The division of child support may impose fines of up to one hundred dollars per occurrence for:
(a) Noncompliance with a subpoena or an information request issued by the division of child support, or the agency or firm providing child support enforcement services for another state under Title IV-D of the federal social security act;
(b) Noncompliance with the required time frames for remitting withheld support moneys to the Washington state support registry, or the agency or firm providing child support enforcement services for another state, except that no liability shall be established for failure to make timely remittance unless the division of child support has provided the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government with written warning:
(i) Explaining the duty to remit withheld payments promptly;
(ii) Explaining the potential for fines for delayed submission; and
(iii) Providing a contact person within the division of child support with whom the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government may seek assistance with child support withholding issues;
(c) A business, employer, or payroll processor’s noncompliance with the duty to remit withheld funds by electronic means imposed by RCW 26.23.065. The division of child support may not impose fines for failure to comply with this requirement unless it has provided the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government with written warning:
(i) Explaining the duty to remit withheld payments by electronic means;
(ii) Explaining the potential for fines for failure to remit withheld payments by electronic means when required under RCW 26.23.065; and
(iii) Providing a contact person within the division of child support with whom the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government may seek assistance with child support withholding issues.
(5) The division of child support may assess fines according to RCW 26.23.040 for failure to comply with employer reporting requirements.
(6) The division of child support may suspend licenses for failure to comply with a subpoena issued under RCW 74.20.225.
(7) The division of child support may serve a notice of noncompliance by personal service or by any method of mailing requiring a return receipt.
(8) The liability asserted by the division of child support in the notice of noncompliance becomes final and collectible on the twenty-first day after the date of service, unless within that time the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government:
(a) Initiates an action in superior court to contest the notice of noncompliance;
(b) Requests a hearing by delivering a hearing request to the division of child support in accordance with rules adopted by the secretary under this section; or
(c) Contacts the division of child support and negotiates an alternate resolution to the asserted noncompliance or demonstrates that the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government has complied with the child support processes.
(9) The notice of noncompliance shall contain:
(a) A full and fair disclosure of the rights and obligations created by this section; and
(b) Identification of the:
(i) Child support process with respect to which the division of child support is alleging noncompliance; and
(ii) State child support enforcement agency issuing the original child support process.
(10) In an administrative hearing convened under subsection (8)(b) of this section, the presiding officer shall determine whether or not, and to what extent, liability for noncompliance exists under this section, and shall enter an order containing these findings. If liability does exist, the presiding officer shall include language in the order advising the parties to the proceeding that the liability may be collected by any means available to the division of child support under subsection (13) of this section without further notice to the liable party.
(11) Hearings under this section are governed by the administrative procedure act, chapter 34.05 RCW.
(12) After the twenty days following service of the notice, the person, firm, entity, or agency of state or federal government may petition for a late hearing. A petition for a late hearing does not stay any collection action to recover the debt. A late hearing is available upon a showing of any of the grounds stated in civil rule 60 for the vacation of orders.
(13) The division of child support may collect any obligation established under this section using any of the remedies available under chapter 26.09, 26.18, 26.21A, 26.23, 74.20, or 74.20A RCW for the collection of child support.
(14) The division of child support may enter agreements for the repayment of obligations under this section. Agreements may:
(a) Suspend the obligation imposed by this section conditioned on future compliance with child support processes. Such suspension shall end automatically upon any failure to comply with a child support process. Amounts suspended become fully collectible without further notice automatically upon failure to comply with a child support process;
(b) Resolve amounts due under this section and provide for repayment.
(15) The secretary may adopt rules to implement this section.
NOTES:
Effective date—2018 c 150 §§ 201-401: See note following RCW 26.23.065.
Short title—Part headings, captions, table of contents not law—Exemptions and waivers from federal law—Conflict with federal requirements—Severability—1997 c 58: See RCW 74.08A.900 through 74.08A.904.