Child support; withhold gaming winnings of persons who have outstanding child support arrearages., the official text

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2026 Regular Session

To: Gaming

By: Senator(s) Michel, Younger, Blount, DuPree, Gillespie
Isom

Senate Bill 2369

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-19-31 AND TO CODIFY SECTION 43-19-63,
MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE AND DIRECT THE MISSISSIPPI GAMING
COMMISSION AND THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO PROMULGATE RULES
AND REGULATIONS PROVIDING FOR THE WITHHOLDING OF GAMING WINNINGS OF PERSONS WHO
HAVE OUTSTANDING CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES; TO AUTHORIZE GAMING LICENSEES TO
CHARGE AN ADMINISTRATIVE FEE UPON THE WINNINGS OF PERSONS WHO HAVE OUTSTANDING
CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1.  Section
43-19-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-19-31.  The Department of
Human Services is hereby authorized and empowered to establish a single and
separate Child Support Unit for the following purposes:

(a)  To develop and
implement a nonsupport and paternity program and institute proceedings in the
name of the Department of Human Services or in the name of the recipient in any
court of competent jurisdiction in any county where the mother of the child
resides or is found, in the county where the father resides or is found, or in
the county where the child resides or is found;

(b)  To secure and
collect support by any method authorized under state law and establish
paternity for any child or children receiving aid from the department any form
of public assistance, including, but not limited to, medical assistance, foster
care, food stamps, TANF, or any other program under the federal Social Security
Act, from a parent or any other person legally liable for such support who has
either failed or refused to provide support, deserted, neglected or abandoned
the child or children, including cooperating with other states in establishing
paternity, locating absent parents and securing compliance with court orders
for support of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) children; the
department may petition the court for the inclusion of health insurance as part
of any child support order on behalf of any child receiving aid from the
department unless good cause for noncooperation, as defined by the Social
Security Act or the Mississippi Department of Human Services, is established.
Unless notified to the contrary, whenever a child or children for whom child
support services have been provided ceases to receive public assistance, the
department will continue to provide services and establish paternity, secure
and collect such support payments from a parent or any other person legally
liable for such support in accordance with the standards prescribed pursuant to
the federal Social Security Act;

(c)  To accept
applications for child support enforcement services to establish paternity,
secure and collect support from any proper party or person as defined by Title
IV-D of the federal Social Security Act notwithstanding the fact that the child
or children do not currently receive or have never received public assistance.
The department shall have the authority to secure and collect support by any
method authorized under state law and establish paternity for any child or
children on behalf of a recipient of child support services, including
individuals who do not currently receive or have never received public
assistance from a parent or any other person legally liable for such support
who has either failed or refused to provide support, deserted, neglected or
abandoned the child or children, including cooperating with other states in
establishing paternity, locating absent parents and securing compliance with
court orders for support; the department may petition the court for the
inclusion of health insurance as part of any child support order on behalf of
such recipients of child support services.  The proceeds of any collections
resulting from such application shall be distributed in accordance with the
standards prescribed in the federal Social Security Act;

(d)  The department
shall seek to recover from the individual who owes a support obligation to any
individual who is a recipient of Title IV-D services as set forth in paragraph
(b) or (c) on whose behalf the department is providing services, upon judicial
proceedings conducted thereon after advance notice to such obligor, reasonable
attorney's fees and court costs, in excess of any administrative fees collected
and in excess of amounts of current support owed by the obligor, which the
department incurs in recovering and collecting the support obligation, such
costs and fees as the department recovers to be deposited in the Special Fund
of the Mississippi Department of Human Services which is hereby established for
the pursuit and collection of child support;

(e)  To initiate
contempt of court proceedings or any other remedial proceedings necessary to
enforce (i) any order or decree of court relating to child support, and (ii)
any order or decree of court relating to the maintenance and/or alimony of a
parent where support collection services on his or her child's behalf are being
provided by the department;

(f)  To secure and
collect by any method authorized under state law any maintenance and/or alimony
on behalf of a parent whose child or children's support is being collected by
the department.  The department shall collect only such maintenance and/or
alimony as is ordered or decreed by the court, and only in the event that the
minor child and parent to whom such maintenance and/or alimony has been ordered
are living in the same household;

(g)  To obtain
restitution of monies expended for public assistance from a parent or any other
person legally liable for the support of any child or children receiving aid
from the department; said action for restitution shall arise from the payment
of public assistance for the dependent child or children and shall be for the
amount of the public assistance paid.  Said  action for restitution shall not
arise against the parent or other person legally responsible who receives
public assistance for the benefit of any dependent child or children.  When a
court order of support has been issued, the amount recoverable shall be limited
to the amount of the court order;

(h)  Setting off
against a debtor's income tax refund or rebate any debt which is in the form of
a liquidated sum due and owing for the care, support or maintenance of a child;

(i)  To have full
responsibility in the aforementioned cases for initiating actions under the
Uniform Interstate Family Support Act and for responding to the actions of
other jurisdictions under said law when Mississippi is the responding state;
however, this shall not impair private litigants' rights to proceed under any
applicable interstate enforcement mechanisms;

(j)  To enter into
contracts for the purpose of performing any test which the department may, from
time to time, require;

(k)  To maintain a
Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit to which all payments required by
withholding orders and orders for support in all actions to which the
Department of Human Services is a party shall be forwarded, and from which
child support payments ordered by the court in actions to which the Department
of Human Services is a party shall be disbursed to the custodial parent or
other such party as may be designated by the court order.  The Central
Receipting and Disbursement Unit shall be operated by the Department of Human
Services or any financial institution having operations and qualified to do
business in Mississippi, whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation.  The department shall conduct cost-benefit analyses to
determine and utilize the more cost efficient manner of operating the unit;

(l)  To maintain a
Mississippi Department of Human Services Case Registry containing records with
respect to:

(i)  Each case in
which services are being provided by the department under this section;

(ii)  Each support
order established or modified in Mississippi on or after October 1, 1998; and

(iii)  The
Administrative Office of Courts, as established by Section 9-21-1, Mississippi
Code of 1972, in consultation with the Mississippi Department of Human
Services, shall devise, promulgate and require the use of a Uniform Child
Support Order Tracking System.

1.
Information collected from case filing forms shall be furnished to the
Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support
Enforcement, in order that compliance with court-ordered obligations of support
may be tracked with specificity throughout the duration of said obligations and
any subsequent proceedings.

2.  Such
tracking system shall include:  a. the names, residential and mailing addresses,
telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and dates
of birth of each child and parent named in or subject to the court order; b.
the court cause number of the action; c. name, address and telephone number of
employer; d. any restraining or protective order indicating domestic violence;
and e. any other information which may be used for the purpose of identifying
any person named in or subject to the order or for the purposes of
establishing, enforcing or modifying a child support order;

(m)  To take
administrative actions relating to genetic testing, determine paternity,
establish child support orders, modification of child support orders, income
withholding, liens and subpoenas without the necessity of obtaining an order from
any judicial or other administrative tribunal with respect to cases initiated
or enforced by the department pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security
Act;

(n)  To have the
authority to use high-volume automated administrative enforcement in interstate
cases to the same extent as used for intrastate cases, in response to a request
made by another state to enforce support orders;

(o)  To provide any
child support enforcement or other service as may be required or permitted
by the United States of America, Department of Health and Human Services,
Family Support Administration, Office of Child Support Enforcement or their
successor pursuant to federal law or regulation; * * * and

(p)  To collaborate
with the Office of the State Treasurer in order to identify persons presumed to
have unclaimed property and intercept eligible unclaimed property to satisfy,
fully or partially, the person's child support arrearage * * *.; and

(q)  To collaborate
with the Mississippi Gaming Commission in order to establish rules and
regulations providing for the withholding of cash game winnings, including, but
not limited to, slot machine annuities, sports betting and/or other reportable
cash winnings of persons who have outstanding child support arrearages.

SECTION 2.  The
following shall be codified as Section 43-19-63, Mississippi Code of 1972:

43-19-63.  Casinos
to exchange certain information with the Mississippi Department of Human
Services (MDHS) for noncustodial parents delinquent in child support;
participation requirement and duties of casinos and Mississippi Department of
Human Services.  (1)  For purposes of this section, the following words and
phrases shall have the meanings ascribed herein, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:

(a)  "Cash gaming
winnings" means only the cash gaming winnings for which the gaming
licensee is required to file Form W2-G, or a substantially equivalent form,
with the United States Internal Revenue Service.

(b)
"Commission" means the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

(c)  "Child
support arrearages" means any obligation owed for the care, support or
maintenance of a child, including spousal support that is enforced in
conjunction with a child support obligation pursuant to Section 43-19-31,
Mississippi Code of 1972, which is overdue, unpaid or in arrears.

(d)  "Gaming
licensee" means any entity licensed or permitted to operate gaming
operations under current law.

(e)
"Obligee" means the recipient of Title IV-D services of the Social
Security Act to whom child support is owed.

(f)
"Obligor" means a person who wins a progressive slot machine annuity
or cash gaming winnings and has those winnings intercepted due to having child
support arrearages.

(g)  "Progressive
slot machine annuity" means only the progressive slot machine annuity
winnings for which the gaming licensee is required to file Form W2-G, or a
substantially equivalent form, with the United States Internal Revenue Service.

(h)  "Electronic
database access" means the data shared by the Department of Human Services
with gaming licensees regarding persons who owe child support arrearages that
is updated daily.

(2)  The commission shall
collaborate with the Department of Human Services to promulgate all rules and
regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, including,
but not limited to, a procedure requiring the withholding of payments of
progressive slot machine annuities and reportable cash gaming winnings of
persons who have outstanding child support arrearages prior to the payment of a
progressive slot machine annuity or cash gaming winnings.

(3)  The gaming licensee,
including any of its officers, employees, attorneys, accountants or other
agents, shall not be civilly or criminally liable to any person, including any
customer, for any disclosure of information made in accordance with this
section, for encumbering or surrendering assets in response to information
provided by the Department of Human Services, or for any claims for damages
arising from withholding or failing to withhold any progressive slot machine
annuities or cash gaming winnings, based upon information provided to it.

(4)  If any gaming licensee
determines that the winner of a progressive slot machine annuity or cash gaming
winnings is a person who has outstanding child support arrearages, the gaming
licensee shall deduct the child support arrearage from the payment of the
progressive slot machine annuity or cash gaming winnings.  The gaming licensee
shall forward the deducted amount to the Department of Human Services within
seven (7) days.  The gaming licensee shall pay the remainder to the person who
has outstanding child support arrearages.  If the remainder is equal to or less
than zero, the person who has an outstanding child support arrearage shall not
receive a payment.

(5)  The Department of Human
Services shall release the encumbered game winnings to the obligee after
either:

(a)  A thirty-day
period beginning the day the funds are encumbered; or

(b)  Until such time as
the issue of child support arrearage is resolved, provided that the obligor has
filed a written request for an administrative hearing with the Mississippi
Department of Human Services Administrative Hearing Division prior to the end
of the thirty-day period.

(6)  Grounds for the written
request for an administrative hearing challenging the encumbrance of game
winnings shall be limited to the following:

(a)  Mistakes of
identity; or

(b)  Mistakes in amount
of child support arrearages.

(7)  Any gaming licensee may
deduct an administrative fee from each payment of a progressive slot machine
annuity, beginning with the second annuity payment, or cash gaming winnings, of
persons who have outstanding child support arrearages per singular or periodic
payment, not to exceed Thirty-five Dollars ($35.00).

(8)  If the winner of a
progressive slot machine annuity or cash gaming winnings is determined not to
owe child support arrearages, then the gaming licensee is not required to
access the electronic database for that winner on a subsequent progressive slot
machine annuity or cash gaming winnings for an additional twenty-four (24)
hours.

(9)  The commission shall
also require that the gaming licensee adopt procedures designed to prevent
employees from willfully failing to withhold payments of progressive slot
machine annuities or cash gaming winnings from persons who have outstanding
child support arrearages based on the information provided by the Department of
Human Services that allows the gaming licensee to identify such persons.

(10)  Not later than January
1, 2027, the commission and Department of Human Services shall institute all
policies, procedures and processes as necessary to implement the provisions of
this section.

SECTION 3.  This act
shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.