SOCIAL SERVICES AMENDMENTS OF 1974 -- ATTACHMENT OF FEDERAL REMUNERATION FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77M00144R001100160024-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: April 22, 1975
• Content Type: MFR

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22 April 1975
SUBJECT: Social Services Amendments of 1974 -- Attachment
of Federal Remuneration for Certain Purposes
1. Public Law 93-647 (88 Stat. 2337, January 4, 1957), known as
the Social Services Amendments of 1974, amends the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C.A. 301 et sect) and establishes a consolidated program of
Federal financial assistance to encourage provision of social services by
the states. The Act also provides for a tax credit for low-income families
(work bonus) and the child support program. The latter is designed to
assure an effective program of child support. It leaves the basic responsi-
bility for child support and for the establishment of paternity to the states,
but provides for a more active role on the part of the Federal Government
in monitoring and evaluating state programs, in providing technical
assistance, and in certain instances, in undertaking to give direct
assistance to the states in locating absent parents and obtaining support
payments from them.
2. The Act amends Title IV of the Social Security Act by adding
several new sections, including one, section 459, which provides that:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective
January 1, 1975, moneys (the entitlement to which is
based upon remuneration for employment) due from,
or payable by, the United States (including any agency
or instrumentality thereof and any wholly owned
Federal corporation) to any individual, including
members of the armed services, shall be subject,
in like manner and to the same extent as if the United
States were a private person, to legal process brought
for the enforcement, against such individual of his
legal obligations to provide child support or make
alimony pa.yments.
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3. According to the legislative history of the Act, the purpose of
this section is to permit the wage of Federal employees, civilian and
military, to be subject to garnishment for child support and alimony pay--
mnents. In addition, annuities and other payments under Federal programs
in which entitlement is based on. employment arc also subject to garnish-
ment for these limited purposes. The provision is applicable whether or
not the person on whose -behalf the garnishment proceeding is brought is
on the welfare rolls. The amendment overrides provisions in various
Federal social insurance or retirement laws which prohibit garnishment.
4. On 21 April 1975, I spoke with Mr. Daniel Shapiro, Office of the
General Counsel, Civil Service Commission (CSC) concerning the garnish-
ment provision of the Act. It appears that Mr. Shapiro's sole responsibility
is to handle the impact of the new law on the Commission. Mr. Shapiro
explained that within the next few weeks the Commission will issue a Federal
Personnel Manual (FPM) Letter or Bulletin concerning the garnishment
provision of the Act. He classified the issuance as "rather meaningless"
and only designed to "cahn" departmental personnel officers. The question
of how the Government will respond and what documentation, etc. will be
,required to effect garnishment is being worked out by a Government-wide
committee which is chaired by the Chief of the General Claims Section, Civil
Division, Department of Justice, and composed of Mr. Shapiro, attorneys
from HEW, DOD and Treasury and a representative from OMB. The com-
mittee is trying to devise a Government-wide administrative process for
handling what apparently already is a flood of requests for garnishment.
(Mr. Shapiro indicated he has already received "hundreds" of letters and
telephone calls concerning garnishment.) The position of the Department
of Justice is that it wishes to avoid involving the U.S. Attorneys in these
cases, and therefore, wishes to establish a uniform system in the Govern-
ment for handling them.,
5. There are a number of points which should be noted before stating
what the interim procedures are for garnishment. (It should be stressed
that these are interim procedures in effect until the Committee mentioned
hereinabove works out Government-wide policies and until we in the Agency
can adapt these policies to our unique problems.) First of all, garnishment.
is a statutory proceeding whereby a person's property or money in the
possession of, under control of, or owing by another are applied to payment
of the former's debt to a third person by proper statutory process against
debtor and garnishee. P.L. 93-647 does not create a separate Federal
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garnishment law but subjects Federal employees to state laws of garnishment.
Therefore, garnishment is known by different terms (attachment, employer
action, etc.) , and each state has a somewhat different body of law with regard
to garnishment. This results in different rules for what income may be
garnished and what legal process must be followed to obtain a garnishment
order. For example, some state laws exclude annuities and pensions from
garnishment; thus, the annuity of a. CIARDS or CSR annuitant may not be
garnished in these states.
6. Another point to note is that garnishment is not an administrative
remedy but only results from legal process. A letter from a lawyer or an
allegedly aggrieved individual stating that so-and-so is in arrears in the
payment of child support and/or alimony does not compel the Government
(employer) to garnish wages or an annuity. The garnishment action must
be initiated by the aggrieved party and not by a state. (If a state seeks to
garnish a Federal employee's salary or a retired or disabled individual's
annuity it cannot proceed under section 459 but it must proceed under
section 460 of the Act. The regulations pertaining to this section apparently
will be issued by HEW.)
7. Under the interim procedures established by the Commission,
the Commission will garnish a salary or an annuity and send a separate
check to the aggrieved, provided it receives a certified copy of the court
order of garnishment, a certified copy of the underlying agreement ordering
alimony and/or child support, and a certificate (under oath) from the court
issuing the garnishment order or the aggrieved that the aggrieved is entitled
to the enforcement of the alimony/child support order immediately. (According
to Mr. Shapiro, it may take as long as six weeks after the General Counsel's
Office has reviewed and approved the documentation for the Commission's
finance office to begin to send checks to the garnishor.)
8. Mr. Shapiro concluded our conversation on 21 April by stating
he would keep me informed on developments in this area. He suggested
the undersigned contact the Department of Justice to see if it will send us
a copy of its draft regulation in which it attempts to explain how to deal
with the issue of garnishment.
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9. The undersigned recommends that all requests for garnishment,
whether they be letters from lawyers or individuals or any court documents,
be sent to this Office for our review and comments. The undersigned also
recommends that until final procedures are established by DOJ and can be
adapted to this Agency,'s needs, that we follow the procedure set forth in
Paragraph 7, above. The undersigned will be in contact with DOJ.
Assistant General Counsel
cc: C/CCS, Attn:
D/Security, A
D/Personnel,
D/Finance, At{
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STAT
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11 June 1975
MEMORANDUM FOR: Don Massey, Assistant Legislative Counsel
SUBJECT : Proposed Executive Order No. 11030 --
Delegation of Authority, etc.
1. The proposed Executive Order would delegate authority to the
Secretary of Defense and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to issue
regulations implementing the Order and section 459 of the Social Security
Act, which makes the Government amenable to garnishment for child support
and alimony obligations of its employees, armed forces personnel and
civilian and military annuitants.
2. While there might be some advantages in obtaining authority in
the proposed Executive Order for the Agency to issue its own regulations
in this matter, independent of the CSC, we believe the disadvantages out-
weigh the advantages. The Office of Management and Budget may not
support our request for authority independent of the rest of the Government.
Second, even if we did obtain such authority, we would "stick out like a
sore thumb" in the Executive order and perhaps encourage a deluge of
garnishment requests, etc. before we had an opportunity to write our regu-
lations and, as we would probably have to do, publish them in the Federal
Register. Third, we are in contact with the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Inter-
departmental Committee on the Implementation of Section 459 (who is the
Chief of the General Claims Section, Civil Division, Department of Justice)
and the CSC's Office of General Counsel, and we suggest that any special
provisions we may need to protect "cover" can probably best be obtained
in a low-key approach to the Commission, which in the past has been under- '
standing of our somewhat unique problems.
GSc
'sec
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3. The Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee is sending this Office a
copy of the proposed regulations for our review and comments. He also
informed the undersigned that the Department of Justice will probably seek
additional legislation to "clarify" the congressional intent of section 459.
For example, right now there are states which through their garnishment
proceedings can take an individual's full salary for child support/alimony.
There are obvious sound policy reasons why the Government does not want
this to happen to its employees. Hopefully, Congress will place a limit on
the per cent of salary which may be garnished and will allow an administrative
remedy to be established (and exhausted) in lieu of the present situation
which in a sense forces litigation. A paper written by the undersigned in
late April 1975 concerning section 459 is attached for your information.
4. We have no legal objection to the proposed Executive Order.
cc: C/CCS, Atti
D/Security,
D/Personnel
D/Finance, ~
STAT
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G't1 ~u Ts' ~7o
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
Honorable William Eo Colby
Director
Central Intelligence
Agency
Washington, D. C. 20505
Dear Mr,, Colby:
Herewith, in accordance with the provisions of Exec--
utive Order No. 11030, as amended, is a proposed
Executive order entitled "Delegation of Authority to
issue Regulations With Respect to Section 459 of the
Social Security Act and the Support Obligation of
Certain Employee: of the United States and. Members
of Its Armed Forces."
This proposed. Order, along with the enclosed trans-
mittal letter, was submitted by the Chairman, Ad hoc
interdepartmental committee on the implemental on of
Section 459 of Re Social Security Act.
On behalf of the Director of. the Office of Management
and Budget, I would appreciate receiving your comments
concerning this Executive order. Comments or inquiries
may be submitted by telephone to Mr. Ronald A. Kienlen
(.395-5600; IDS 103-5600). I will assume that you have
no objection to the issuance of this proposed Order if
your comments have not been received by gc clnesday,
June 18, 1.975.
Sincerely,
Calvin J. Collier
General. Counsel
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UNITED SATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20530
Addresn It 'Iy to 011
L)i.ialon L?dif.. ed
vnd Ref" to Lni7ud.And Nnmbor
RC, Is
137-01.2
77-012
May 15, 1975
beputy Gencra):Cora rsel
Office of Management and Budget
Room 464 Executive Office Bldg-
Washington, D. C. 20503
Re: Executive Order implementing recent legis-
lation providing for garnishment of
"remuneration for employment" of Federal
f molo es. service men and retirees.
Dear Mtr. Nichols:
Pursuant to the telephone conversation between you and Mr. Irving
Jai: t'e, Acting Assistant Attorney General. for the Civil Eli vision of the
Depart:rlent of Justice, 7 enclose a copy of a draft Ex.ectttive Order for
your consideration and for appropriate clearance.
As you know, Section 1.01(a) of Public Ixaw 93-647 added a new section
459 to the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659) making the Government amen--
able to garnishment for child support and alimony obligations of its em-
ployees and service personnel. Enactment of this provision was unexpected
so that no advance preparations were made. The language of the section
is so cryptic that there were bound to be many problems with the legisla-
tion.
Agency responses to this legislation, are likely to vary widely and
there has been great uncertainty or, the part of lawyers in the private
sector over 11owd to proceed. Thus there is a need for regulations to
impleir,'mt this new legislation and to standardize the response of then
numerous agencies in the Executive Branch which are subject -Lo the 1f:
lation. Issuance of an Executive Order to authorize the promulgation of
regulations is a necessary first step toward the proper implementation
of this legislation.
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The attached proposed Executive Order is the draft which Mr. Ja:t'fe
discussed with you. If I can be of any assistance at any time please
let me know. I can be reached on 739-33322. Thanks!
Sincerely,
RUSSELL CHIAPIN
Chal..rm-an, Ad hoc interdepartmental
committee on the implementation of
section 459 of He Social Security Act
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5-14-75 draft
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO ISSUE REGULATIONS WITH
RESPECT TO SECTION 459 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
AND THE SUPPORT OBLIGATION OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF
THE UNITED STATES AND MEMBERS OF ITS ARMED FORCES
By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of
the United States Codes sections 5527 and 7301. of title 5 of the United.
States Code, and as President: of the United States and Commander in Chief
of its Armed Forces, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. The Secretary of Defense is hereby authorized and empowered,
without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, to
issue regulations implementing this Order and section 459 of the Social.
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 659) as to members and retired members of the
Armed Services of the United States and the Federal agencies paying their
remuneration for employment, as that term is used in the statute. For the
purpose of ,this Order and the implementing regulations the Armed Services
shall include the Coast Guard.
Section 2. The Civil Service Commission is hereby authorized and
empowered, without the approval, ratification or other action of the
President, to issue regulations implementing this Order and section 459
of the Social Security Act as to all other individuals receiving remunera-
tion for employment from any agency, wholly-owned Federal corporation, or
independent commission or establishment of the Federal Government of
any kind, including the Postal Service, and as to the Federal agencies
making payment of such remuneration for employment. Individuals covere
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by section 1 of this Order and those receiving remuneration for employ-
ment directly from the Legislative or Judicial Branches of the Government
shall be excluded from the coverage of the Civil. Service Commission regula-
tions.
Section 3. The regulations authorized by this Order shall establish
procedures to facilitate the payment of valid obligations properly
asserted pursuant to section 459 of the Social Security Act and the regula-
tions and to assure, to the extent practicable, that the United States does
not incur dual liability or make double payments. Such regulations shall
authorize and encourage the execution of allotments to meet the family
support obligations of all individuals covered by this Order and shall
enunciate standards of conduct respecting the support obligation of
individuals subject to this Order who are. currently employed by the
United States or who are currently members of its Armed Services.
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