Maryland 2022 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB1293 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	hb1293
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 1293
8	8	D4, R4 2lr1967
9	9	CF SB 884
10	10	By: Delegates Henson, Chang, Charles, Hill, R. Jones, Ruth, Terrasa, Thiam, Toles,
11	11	and Wells
12	12	Introduced and read first time: February 11, 2022
13	13	Assigned to: Judiciary
14	14
15	15	A BILL ENTITLED
16	16
17	17	AN ACT concerning 1
18	18
19	19	Driver’s Licenses – Suspension for Child Support Arrearages – Exception 2
20	20
21	21	FOR the purpose of establishing a certain exception to the authority of the Child Support 3
22	22	Administration to notify the Motor Vehicle Administration of an individual’s child 4
23	23	support arrearages for the purpose of suspending the individual’s driver’s license or 5
24	24	privilege to drive if the obligor’s family income is at or below a certain level; and 6
25	25	generally relating to the suspension of a driver’s license or privilege to drive for child 7
26	26	support arrearages. 8
27	27
28	28	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 9
29	29	Article – Family Law 10
30	30	Section 10–119 11
31	31	Annotated Code of Maryland 12
32	32	(2019 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 13
33	33
34	34	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 14
35	35	Article – Transportation 15
36	36	Section 16–203(a) and (b) 16
37	37	Annotated Code of Maryland 17
38	38	(2020 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 18
39	39
40	40	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 19
41	41	Article – Transportation 20
42	42	Section 16–203(e) 21
43	43	Annotated Code of Maryland 22
44	44	(2020 Replacement Volume and 2021 Supplement) 23
45	45
46	46	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 24
47	47	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 25
48	48	2 HOUSE BILL 1293
49	49
50	50
51	51	Article – Family Law 1
52	52
53	53	10–119. 2
54	54
55	55	(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 3
56	56
57	57	(2) “License” has the meaning stated in § 11–128 of the Transportation 4
58	58	Article. 5
59	59
60	60	(3) “Motor Vehicle Administration” means the Motor Vehicle 6
61	61	Administration of the Department of Transportation. 7
62	62
63	63	(b) THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO AN OBLIGOR WHOSE INCOME IS NOT 8
64	64	GREATER THAN 300% OF THE FEDERAL POVER TY LEVEL. 9
65	65
66	66	(C) (1) Subject to the provisions of subsection [(c)] (D) of this section, the 10
67	67	Administration may notify the Motor Vehicle Administration of an obligor with a 11
68	68	noncommercial license who is 60 days or more out of compliance, or an obligor with a 12
69	69	commercial license who is 120 days or more out of compliance, with the most recent order 13
70	70	of the court in making child support payments if: 14
71	71
72	72	(i) the Administration has accepted an assignment of support under 15
73	73	§ 5–312(b)(2) of the Human Services Article; or 16
74	74
75	75	(ii) the recipient of support payments has filed an application for 17
76	76	support enforcement services with the Administration. 18
77	77
78	78	(2) Upon notification by the Administration under this subsection, the 19
79	79	Motor Vehicle Administration: 20
80	80
81	81	(i) shall suspend the obligor’s license or privilege to drive in the 21
82	82	State; and 22
83	83
84	84	(ii) may issue a work–restricted license or work–restricted privilege 23
85	85	to drive in the State in accordance with § 16–203 of the Transportation Article. 24
86	86
87	87	[(c)] (D) (1) Before supplying any information to the Motor Vehicle 25
88	88	Administration under this section, the Administration shall: 26
89	89
90	90	(i) send written notice of the proposed action to the obligor, 27
91	91	including notice of the obligor’s right to request an investigation on any of the following 28
92	92	grounds: 29
93	93
94	94	1. the information regarding the reported arrearage is 30
95	95	inaccurate; 31
96	96	HOUSE BILL 1293 3
97	97
98	98
99	99	2. suspension of the obligor’s license or privilege to drive 1
100	100	would be an impediment to the obligor’s current or potential employment; or 2
101	101
102	102	3. suspension of the obligor’s license or privilege to drive 3
103	103	would place an undue hardship on the obligor because of the obligor’s: 4
104	104
105	105	A. documented disability resulting in a verified inability to 5
106	106	work; or 6
107	107
108	108	B. inability to comply with the court order; and 7
109	109
110	110	(ii) give the obligor a reasonable opportunity to request an 8
111	111	investigation of the proposed action of the Administration. 9
112	112
113	113	(2) (i) Upon receipt of a request for investigation from the obligor, the 10
114	114	Administration shall conduct an investigation to determine if any of the grounds under 11
115	115	paragraph (1)(i) of this subsection exist. 12
116	116
117	117	(ii) The Administration shall: 13
118	118
119	119	1. send a copy of the obligor’s request for an investigation to 14
120	120	the obligee by first–class mail; 15
121	121
122	122	2. give the obligee a reasonable opportunity to respond; and 16
123	123
124	124	3. consider the obligee’s response. 17
125	125
126	126	(iii) Upon completion of the investigation, the Administration shall 18
127	127	notify the obligor of the results of the investigation and the obligor’s right to appeal to the 19
128	128	Office of Administrative Hearings. 20
129	129
130	130	(3) (i) An appeal under this section shall be conducted in accordance 21
131	131	with Title 10, Subtitle 2 of the State Government Article. 22
132	132
133	133	(ii) An appeal shall be made in writing and shall be received by the 23
134	134	Office of Administrative Hearings within 20 days after the notice to the obligor of the 24
135	135	results of the investigation. 25
136	136
137	137	(4) If, after the investigation or appeal to the Office of Administrative 26
138	138	Hearings, the Administration finds that one of the grounds under paragraph (1)(i) of this 27
139	139	subsection exists, the Administration may not send any information about the obligor to 28
140	140	the Motor Vehicle Administration. 29
141	141
142	142	(5) The Administration may not send any information about an obligor to 30
143	143	the Motor Vehicle Administration if: 31
144	144	4 HOUSE BILL 1293
145	145
146	146
147	147	(i) the Administration reaches an agreement with the obligor 1
148	148	regarding a scheduled payment of the obligor’s child support arrearage or a court issues an 2
149	149	order for a scheduled payment of the child support arrearage; and 3
150	150
151	151	(ii) the obligor is complying with the agreement or court order. 4
152	152
153	153	[(d)] (E) (1) If, after information about an obligor is supplied to the Motor 5
154	154	Vehicle Administration, the obligor’s arrearage is paid in full, the obligor has demonstrated 6
155	155	good faith by paying the ordered amount of support for 6 consecutive months, the obligor is 7
156	156	a participant in full compliance in an employment program approved by the 8
157	157	Administration, or the Administration finds that one of the grounds under subsection 9
158	158	[(c)(1)(i)] (D)(1)(I) of this section exists, the Administration shall notify the Motor Vehicle 10
159	159	Administration to reinstate the obligor’s license or privilege to drive. 11
160	160
161	161	(2) The Administration may request that the Motor Vehicle 12
162	162	Administration expunge a record of a suspension of a license or privilege to drive for failure 13
163	163	to pay child support: 14
164	164
165	165	(i) for an obligor who is enrolled in and compliant with an 15
166	166	employment program approved by the Administration; or 16
167	167
168	168	(ii) if the information reported by the Administration that led to the 17
169	169	suspension was inaccurate. 18
170	170
171	171	[(e)] (F) The Secretary of Human Services, in cooperation with the Secretary of 19
172	172	Transportation and the Office of Administrative Hearings, shall adopt regulations to 20
173	173	implement this section. 21
174	174
175	175	Article – Transportation 22
176	176
177	177	16–203. 23
178	178
179	179	(a) In this section, “Child Support Administration” means the Child Support 24
180	180	Administration of the Department of Human Services. 25
181	181
182	182	(b) On notification by the Child Support Administration in accordance with § 26
183	183	10–119 of the Family Law Article that an obligor is 60 days or more out of compliance with 27
184	184	the most recent order of the court in making child support payments, the Administration: 28
185	185
186	186	(1) Shall suspend an obligor’s license or privilege to drive in the State; and 29
187	187
188	188	(2) May issue a work–restricted license or work–restricted privilege to 30
189	189	drive. 31
190	190
191	191	(e) The Administration shall reinstate an obligor’s license or privilege to drive in 32
192	192	the State if: 33
193	193	HOUSE BILL 1293 5
194	194
195	195
196	196	(1) The Administration receives a court order to reinstate the license or 1
197	197	privilege to drive; or 2
198	198
199	199	(2) The Child Support Administration notifies the Administration that: 3
200	200
201	201	(i) The individual whose license or privilege to drive was suspended 4
202	202	is not in arrears in making child support payments; 5
203	203
204	204	(ii) The obligor has paid the support arrearage in full; 6
205	205
206	206	(iii) The obligor has demonstrated good faith by paying the ordered 7
207	207	amount of support for 6 consecutive months; 8
208	208
209	209	(iv) The obligor is a participant in full compliance in an employment 9
210	210	program approved by the Child Support Administration; or 10
211	211
212	212	(v) One of the grounds under § [10–119(c)(1)(i)] 10–119(D)(1)(I) of 11
213	213	the Family Law Article exists. 12
214	214
215	215	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 13
216	216	October 1, 2023. 14
217	217
218	218