Sec. 231.305.  MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ON CHILD SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN RECEIVING PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.  (a)  The Title IV-D agency and the Texas Department of Human Services by rule shall adopt a memorandum of understanding governing the establishment and enforcement of court-ordered child support in cases involving children who receive financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code.  The memorandum shall require the agency and the department to:
(1)  develop procedures to ensure that the information the department is required to collect to establish and enforce child support:
(A)  is collected from the person applying to receive the financial assistance at the time the application is filed;
(B)  is accurate and complete when the department forwards the information to the agency;
(C)  is not information previously reported to the agency;  and
(D)  is forwarded to the agency in an expeditious manner;
(2)  develop procedures to ensure that the agency does not duplicate the efforts of the department in gathering necessary information;
(3)  clarify each agency's responsibilities in the establishment and enforcement of child support;
(4)  develop guidelines for use by eligibility workers and child support enforcement officers in obtaining from an applicant the information required to establish and enforce child support for that child;
(5)  develop training programs for appropriate department personnel to enhance the collection of information for child support enforcement;
(6)  develop a standard time, not to exceed 30 days, for the department to initiate a sanction on request from the agency;
(7)  develop procedures for agency participation in department appeal hearings relating to noncompliance sanctions;
(8)  develop performance measures regarding the timeliness and the number of sanctions resulting from agency requests for noncompliance sanctions;  and
(9)  prescribe:
(A)  the time in which the department is required to forward information under Subdivision (1)(D);  and
(B)  what constitutes complete information under Subdivision (1)(B).
(b)  The Title IV-D agency and the Texas Department of Human Services shall review and renew or modify the memorandum not later than January 1 of each even-numbered year.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 341, Sec. 1.07, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.  Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 556, Sec. 57, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.