                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CENTRAL UNIT FOR INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRATION; REQUEST AND RECEIPT OF
INFORMATION FROM OTHER ENTITIES AND AGENCIES; DISCLOSURE OF SUCH INFORMATION (§
63.2-1902)

The Department is authorized and directed to establish a central unit within the
Department to administer the Title IV D State Plan according to 45 C.F.R.
302.12. The central unit shall have the statewide jurisdiction and authority to:

1. Establish a registry for the receipt of information;

2. Answer interstate inquiries concerning noncustodial parents;

3. Coordinate and supervise departmental activities in relation to noncustodial
parents to ensure effective cooperation with law-enforcement agencies; and

4. Contract and enter into cooperative agreements with individuals and agencies
including law-enforcement agencies, in order that they may assist the Department
in its responsibilities.
			The central unit within the Department shall supervise offices whose primary
functions are:
			a. Location of absent noncustodial parents;
			b. Assessment of the ability of parents to pay child or child and spousal
support and to obtain health care coverage or cash medical support, or both, for
dependent children;
			c. Establishment, modification and enforcement of support obligations
including health care coverage for dependent children, through administrative
action;
			d. Preparation of individual cases for court action existing under all laws
of the Commonwealth;
			e. Ensuring on a consistent basis that support continues in all cases in
which support is assessed administratively or ordered by the court; and
			f. Provision of its services in establishing paternity and establishing and
enforcing support obligations equally to public-assisted and nonpublic-assisted
families.
			To effectuate the purposes of this section, the Commissioner may request and
shall receive from the records of state, county and local agencies within and
without the Commonwealth, including but not limited to such agencies and
entities responsible for vital records; tax and revenue; real and titled
personal property; authorizations to engage in a business, trade, profession or
occupation; employment security; motor vehicle licensing and registration;
public assistance programs and corrections, all information and assistance as
authorized by this chapter. The Commissioner may request from state and local
criminal justice agencies within the Commonwealth assistance in locating and
serving individuals who owe child support and have an outstanding civil show
cause summons or capias pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-278.16. Solely for the purposes
of obtaining motor vehicle licensing and registration information from entities
within and without the Commonwealth, the Division of Child Support Enforcement
shall be deemed to be a criminal justice agency.
			With respect to individuals who owe child support or are alleged in a pending
paternity proceeding to be a putative father, the Commissioner may request and
shall receive the names and addresses of such individuals and the names and
addresses of such individuals&#8217; employers as appearing in the customer
records of public service corporations and companies as defined in &#xA7; 56-1,
cable television companies and financial institutions. All state, county and
city departments, boards, bureaus or other entities or agencies, officers and
employees shall cooperate in the location of noncustodial parents who have
abandoned or deserted, or are failing to support, children and their custodial
parents and shall on request supply the Department with all information on hand
relative to the location, income, benefits and property of such noncustodial
parents, notwithstanding any provision of law making such information
confidential. These entities are authorized to provide such information as is
necessary for this purpose. Only information directly bearing on the identity
and whereabouts of a person owing or asserted to be owing an obligation of
support shall be requested and used or transmitted by the Commissioner. The
Commissioner may make such information available only to public officials,
agencies and political subdivisions of this Commonwealth, and other states
seeking to locate parents who have deserted their children and other persons
liable for support of dependents for the purpose of enforcing their liability
for support. A civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 may be assessed by the
Commissioner for a failure to respond to a request for information made in
accordance with this section.
			Any public or private person, partnership, firm, corporation or association,
any financial institution and any political subdivision, department or other
entity of the Commonwealth who in good faith and in the absence of gross
negligence, willful misconduct or breach of an ethical duty, provide information
requested pursuant to this section shall be immune from liability, civil or
criminal, that might otherwise result from the release of such information to
the Department.

HISTORY: 1988, c. 906, § 63.1-274.6; 1990, c. 836; 1991, cc. 545, 588; 1994, c.
665; 1997, cc. 796, 895; 2001, c. 573; 2002, c. 747; 2003, cc. 467, 929, 942;
2009, c. 713.