39-7,135. Title IV-D agency designated; maintenance of Kansas payment center for collection and disbursement of support payments; contracts for administration and operation; disposition of certain payments under unclaimed property act. (a) The Kansas department for children and families, the title IV-D agency for the state, shall maintain a central unit for collection and disbursement of support payments to meet the requirements of title IV-D and this section. Such central unit shall 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 entity without the consent of the secretary for children and families.

The department may contract with another entity for development, enhancement or operation, in whole or in part, of such central unit. The Kansas payment center shall be subject to the following conditions and limitations:

(1) The Kansas payment center shall be subject to the Kansas supreme court rule concerning official child support and maintenance records established pursuant to subsection (c).

(2) No contract shall include provisions allowing the contractor to be paid, in whole or in part, on the basis of an amount per phone call received by the center nor allowing the contractor to be paid an amount per check issued for checks that were issued in error by the center. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prevent the secretary for children and families from compensating on the basis of an amount per phone call any contractor that does not process receipts or disbursements under this section.

(3) Any contract for processing receipts or disbursements under this section 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 disbursement. 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 Kansas department for children and families.

(4) Designees of the secretary for children and families and designees of the office of judicial administration shall have full access to all data, subject to the provisions of title IV-D of the federal social security act, 42 U.S.C. § 651 et seq. Designees of the secretary for children and families, all district court clerks and court trustees shall have access to records of the Kansas payment center sufficient to allow them to assist in the process of matching support payments to the correct accounts.

(5) The Kansas payment center shall provide sufficient customer service staff during regular business hours. Obligors and obligees shall be provided 24-hour access to information about the status of receipts and disbursements, including, but not limited to, date of receipt by the center, date of processing by the center and date of disbursement to the obligee.

(b) The Kansas payment center shall have, by operation of law, a limited power of attorney to perform the specific act of endorsing and negotiating all drafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable instruments representing support payments received by the center. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as affecting the property rights or interests of any person in such negotiable instruments. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to any negotiable instrument received by the center on or after October 1, 2000.

(c) The Kansas supreme court, by court rule, shall establish the procedure for the creation, maintenance and correction of official child support and maintenance records for use as official court records.

(d) The department shall collaborate with the Kansas supreme court to maintain the Kansas payment center, which shall include all support payments subject to the requirements of title IV-D of the federal social security act, 42 U.S.C. § 651 et seq., and, except as specifically directed otherwise by the court pursuant to K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 23-2712 and 23-2802 and articles 29, 30 and 31 of chapter 23 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto, all other support payments due under a court order entered in this state.

(e) Any provision in any support order or income withholding order entered in this state which requires remittance of support payments to the clerk of the district court or district court trustee shall be deemed to require remittance of support payments to the Kansas payment center, regardless of the date the support or income withholding order was entered.

(f) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, payments received by the Kansas payment center which cannot be matched to any account nor returned to the payor shall be transferred to the state treasurer in accordance with the unclaimed property act.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, disbursements which cannot be delivered to the payee after a good faith effort to locate the payee shall be transferred to the state treasurer in accordance with the unclaimed property act.

(3) To the extent that the secretary for children and families would be required to treat as federal program income any amount transferable to the state treasurer pursuant to this subsection or the unclaimed property act, such amount shall not be presumed abandoned but shall be held by the secretary until the amount may be delivered to the true owner. The secretary and the state treasurer shall collaborate on procedures for locating the true owner and confirming claims to amounts so held.

History: L. 1985, ch. 115, § 14; L. 1986, ch. 137, § 15; L. 1994, ch. 301, § 25; L. 1999, ch. 57, § 41; L. 2001, ch. 195, § 3; L. 2003, ch. 111, § 1; L. 2006, ch. 74, § 1; L. 2011, ch. 26, § 41; L. 2012, ch. 162, § 71; L. 2014, ch. 115, § 117; July 1.