GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1989 SESSION
CHAPTER 946
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 105A-3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105A-3. Remedy additional; mandatory usage; obtaining identifying information.
(a) The collection remedy under this Article is in addition to and not in substitution for any other remedy available by law.
(b) All claimant agencies
shall submit, for collection under the procedure established by this Article,
all debts which they are owed, except in cases where said agencies are debts
that they are advised by the Attorney General not to submit a claim because
the validity of the debt is legitimately in dispute, because an alternative
means of collection is pending and believed to be adequate, or because such a
collection attempt would result in a loss of federal funds.
(c) All claimant agencies
shall whenever possible obtain the full name, social security number, address,
and any other identifying information required by rules promulgated by the
Department pursuant to the authority of G.S. 105A-16 from any person for
whom the agencies provide any service or transact any business and who the
claimant agencies can foresee may become a debtor under the terms of this
Article."
Sec. 2. G.S. 105A-6 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105A-6. Procedure for setoff.
(a) A claimant agency
seeking to attempt collection of a debt through setoff shall notify in
writing the Department in writing and supply (i) information
necessary to identify the debtor whose refund is sought to be set off. off
and (ii) the date, if any, that the debt is expected to expire. Notification
to the Department and the furnishing of identifying information must occur on
or before a date specified by the Department in the first year preceding
the calendar year during which the refund would be paid. The notice is
effective to initiate setoff against refunds that would be made in calendar
years following the year in which the notice was first made until the date
specified in the notice that the debt is expected to expire. The agency
shall notify the Department in writing when a debt has been paid or is no
longer owed the agency. Additionally, subject to the
notification deadline specified above, the notification shall be effective only
to initiate setoff for claims against refunds that would be made in the
calendar year subsequent to the year in which notification is made to the
Department.
(b) The Department, upon receipt of notification, shall determine each year whether the debtor to the claimant agency is entitled to a refund of at least fifty dollars ($50.00) from the Department. Upon determination by the Department that a debtor specified by a claimant agency qualifies for such a refund, the Department shall notify in writing the claimant agency that a refund is pending, specify its sum, and indicate the debtor's address as listed on the tax return.
(c) Unless stayed by
court order, the Department shall, upon certification as hereinafter provided
in this Article, set off the certified debt against the refund to which the
debtor would otherwise be entitled."
Sec. 3. G.S. 105A-13 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105A-13. Disposition of proceeds collected; collection assistance fees.
(a) Upon effecting final setoffs, the Department shall periodically write checks to the respective claimant agencies for the net proceeds collected on their behalf.
(b) From the gross
proceeds collected by the Department of Revenue through setoff, the Department
shall retain fifteen percent (15%), which amount shall be charged to the
respective claimant agency as a collection assistance fee. The Department shall
devote the funds so retained to the following uses and purposes:
(1) For the
purpose of effectuating the provisions of the income tax refund Setoff Debt
Collection Act, the sum of one hundred fifteen thousand dollars ($115,000) in
the fiscal year 1979- 80, and the sum of one hundred sixty thousand dollars
($160,000) in the fiscal year 1980-81; and
(2) For the
purpose of preparing, printing, publishing and mailing to taxpayers revised
income withholding tax tables required to be revised as a result of the Revenue
Act of 1979, the sum of one hundred one thousand dollars ($101,000) in the
fiscal year 1979-80, and the sum of one hundred eight thousand dollars ($108,000)
in the fiscal year 1980-81. Any balance remaining unexpended from the total
collection assistance fees at the close of each fiscal year shall be deposited
into the State Treasury for credit to the General Fund. In order to fund the
cost of the setoff program and of printing, publishing and mailing said tax
tables, before receipt of any collection assistance fees, the Department of
Revenue is authorized to borrow from the Contingency and Emergency Fund up to
two hundred sixteen thousand dollars ($216,000) in fiscal year 1979-80, and up
to two hundred sixty-eight thousand dollars ($268,000) in fiscal year 1980- 81,
to be repaid from collection assistance fees as they are received.
For years after fiscal year 1980-81, the Each
year the Department shall calculate its actual cost of collection as a
percentage of the immediately preceding year's collections under the Setoff
Debt Collection Act, and that percentage shall be its collection assistance
fee for the then-current fiscal year. Act and shall retain that
percentage from the gross proceeds collected by the Department through setoff
for the current fiscal year."
Sec. 4. Not later than October 1, 1991, the Administrative Office of the Courts shall submit to the Department of Revenue pursuant to Chapter 105A of the General Statutes, a list of all debts as defined in G.S. 105A-2(3) which are owed to the State by any debtor on a judgment docketed on or after October 1, 1981, under G.S. 7A-455(b) or G.S. 7A-450.3 for the value of services rendered and expenses incurred in providing representation to an indigent, juvenile or dependent adult, and for which the information required by G.S. 105A-3(c) and G.S. 105A-6(a), is available in the records of the clerk of superior court.
Sec. 5. G.S. 7A-455 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(d) In all cases in which the entry of a judgment is authorized under G.S. 7A-450.1 through G.S. 7A-450.4 or under this section, the attorney, guardian ad litem, public defender, or appellate defender who rendered the services or incurred the expenses for which the judgment is to be entered shall obtain the social security number, if any, of each person against whom judgment is to be entered. This number, or a certificate that the person has no social security number, shall be included in each fee application submitted by an assigned attorney, guardian ad litem, public defender, or appellate defender, and no order for payment entered upon an application which does not include the required social security number or certification shall be valid to authorize payment to the applicant from the Indigent Persons' Attorney Fee Fund. Each judgment docketed against any person under this section or under G.S. 450.3 shall include the social security number, if any, of the judgment debtor."
Sec. 6. G.S. 7A-455(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c) If the indigent
person is not finally convicted, the foregoing provisions with respect to
partial payments and liens shall not be applicable. No order for partial
payment under subsection (a) of this section and no judgment under subsection
(b) of this section shall be entered unless the indigent person is
convicted. If the indigent person is convicted, the order or judgment
shall become effective and the judgment shall be docketed and indexed pursuant
to G.S. 1-233 et seq., in the amount then owing, upon the later
of (i) the date upon which the conviction becomes final if the indigent person
is not ordered, as a condition of probation, to pay the State of North Carolina
for the costs of his representation in the case or (ii) the date upon which the
indigent person's probation is terminated or revoked if the indigent person is
so ordered."
Sec. 7. In order to pay for the computer programming, data entry, and related expenses needed to implement the provisions of this act, the Department of Revenue shall draw from individual income tax net collections received under Division II of Article 4 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes an amount not to exceed eighty-one thousand six hundred dollars ($81,600) for the 1990-91 fiscal year.
Sec. 8. This act shall become effective July 1, 1990. Sections 1 through 3 of this act are effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 1991, and apply to debts submitted pursuant to G.S. 105A-6 on or after January 1, 1991. Section 5 shall apply to all applications submitted and orders entered on or after October 1, 1990, and Section 6 shall apply to all judgments entered on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 17th day of July, 1990.