| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: |
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| | Sec. 1. 19-A MRSA §2302, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. B, §2 | and affected by Pt. E, §2, is repealed and the following enacted | in its place: |
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| §2302.__Support obligations when obligor receives public |
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| | 1.__Definitions.__As used in this section, unless the context | otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following | meanings. |
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| A.__"Assisted obligor" means an obligor under a court or | administrative child support order who receives: |
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| (1)__Supplemental security income; or |
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| (2)__Public assistance for the benefit of a child of | that obligor. |
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| B.__"Order" means a court or administrative child support | order in existence at the time an obligor becomes an | assisted obligor. |
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| C.__"Public assistance" has the same meaning as set forth in | section 2101, subsection 11, except that it does not include | medical care only. |
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| | 2.__Presumption.__There is a rebuttable presumption that an | assisted obligor does not have the capacity to pay child support. |
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| | 3.__Child support obligation during period that obligor is | assisted obligor.__For the period during which an obligor is an | assisted obligor and for 2 weeks thereafter, the assisted | obligor's child support obligation is automatically suspended.__ | At the end of the 2 weeks, the obligor's child support obligation | resumes automatically at the same level at which it was suspended | unless modified by an order entered pursuant to subsection 4. |
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| A debt previously incurred under section 2301 may not be | collected from a responsible parent while that parent is an | assisted obligor. |
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| | 4.__Obligee's opportunity for modification.__The obligee may | seek to modify the effect of subsection 3 by filing a petition | for modification with the court or the department, whichever | issued the affected order.__The court or administrative hearing | officer may, by order after hearing, modify the effect of | subsection 3.__The court or administrative hearing officer, in |
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