Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 093-0896

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Public Act 093-0896

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Public Act 0896 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Public Act 093-0896

HB4393 Enrolled LRB093 17919 AMC 43602 b

    AN ACT concerning professional regulation.

    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

    Section 5. The Collection Agency Act is amended by changing
Section 2.04 as follows:

    (225 ILCS 425/2.04)  (from Ch. 111, par. 2005.1)
    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2006)
    Sec. 2.04. Child support indebtedness.
    (a) Persons, associations, partnerships, or corporations
engaged in the business of collecting child support
indebtedness owing under a court order as provided under the
Illinois Public Aid Code, the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution
of Marriage Act, the Non-Support of Spouse and Children Act,
the Non-Support Punishment Act, the Illinois Parentage Act of
1984, or similar laws of other states are not restricted (i) in
the frequency of contact with an obligor who is in arrears,
whether by phone, mail, or other means, (ii) from contacting
the employer of an obligor who is in arrears, (iii) from
publishing or threatening to publish a list of obligors in
arrears, (iv) from disclosing or threatening to disclose an
arrearage that the obligor disputes, but for which a verified
notice of delinquency has been served under the Income
Withholding for Support Act (or any of its predecessors,
Section 10-16.2 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, Section 706.1
of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act,
Section 4.1 of the Non-Support of Spouse and Children Act,
Section 26.1 of the Revised Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of
Support Act, or Section 20 of the Illinois Parentage Act of
1984), or (v) from engaging in conduct that would not cause a
reasonable person mental or physical illness. For purposes of
this subsection, "obligor" means an individual who owes a duty
to make periodic payments, under a court order, for the support
of a child. "Arrearage" means the total amount of an obligor's
unpaid child support obligations.
    (a-5) A collection agency may not impose a fee or charge,
including costs, for any child support payments collected
through the efforts of a federal, State, or local government
agency, including but not limited to child support collected
from federal or State tax refunds, unemployment benefits, or
Social Security benefits.
    No collection agency that collects child support payments
shall (i) impose a charge or fee, including costs, for
collection of a current child support payment, (ii) fail to
apply collections to current support as specified in the order
for support before applying collection to arrears or other
amounts, or (iii) designate a current child support payment as
arrears or other amount owed. In all circumstances, the
collection agency shall turn over to the obligee all support
collected in a month up to the amount of current support
required to be paid for that month.
    As to any fees or charges, including costs, retained by the
collection agency, that agency shall provide documentation to
the obligee demonstrating that the child support payments
resulted from the actions of the agency.
    After collection of the total amount or arrearage,
including statutory interest, due as of the date of execution
of the collection contract, no further fees may be charged.
    (a-10) The Department of Professional Regulation shall
determine a fee rate of not less than 25% but not greater than
35%, based upon presentation by the licensees as to costs to
provide the service and a fair rate of return. This rate shall
be established by administrative rule.
    Without prejudice to the determination by the Department of
the appropriate rate through administrative rule, a collection
agency shall impose a fee of not more than 29% of the amount of
child support actually collected by the collection agency
subject to the provisions of subsection (a-5). This interim
rate is based upon the March 2002 General Account Office report
"Child Support Enforcement", GAO-02-349. This rate shall apply
until a fee rate is established by administrative rule.
    (b) The Department shall adopt rules necessary to
administer and enforce the provisions of this Section.
(Source: P.A. 90-673, eff. 1-1-99; 91-613, eff. 10-1-99.)

    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.

Effective Date: 8/10/2004

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