The commissioners court or domestic relations office must put reasonable terms into the contract, and the private entity must disclose when it is enforcing child support and keep related information confidential except for enforcement.
Sec. 204.003. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT. The commissioners court or domestic relations office shall include all appropriate terms and conditions in the contract that it determines are reasonable to secure the services of a private entity as provided by this chapter, including: (1) provisions specifying the services to be provided by the entity; (2) the method, conditions, and amount of compensation for the entity; (3) provisions for the security of funds collected as child support, fees, or other amounts under the contract or that otherwise provide reasonable assurance to the county of the entity's full and faithful performance of the contract; (4) provisions specifying the records to be kept by the entity, including any records necessary to fully account for all funds received and disbursed as child support, fees, or other amounts; (5) requirements governing the inspection, verification, audit, or explanation of the entity's accounting or other records; (6) the county's right to terminate the contract on 30 days' notice to the private entity if the private entity engages in an ongoing pattern of child support enforcement that constitutes wilful and gross misconduct subjecting delinquent obligors to unconscionable duress, abuse, or harassment; (7) provisions permitting an obligor and obligee to jointly waive the monitoring procedure, if not required by law, by written request approved by order of the court having jurisdiction of the suit in which the child support order was issued; and (8) provisions for the disclosure or nondisclosure of information or records maintained or known to the entity as a result of contract performance, including a requirement for the private entity to: (A) disclose to any child support obligor that the private entity is attempting to enforce the obligor's child support obligation; and (B) make no disclosure of the information or records other than in furtherance of the effort to enforce the child support order. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1053, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Redesignated from Human Resources Code Sec. 153.003 and amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 118, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.