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 E, §2, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§2302.__Support obligations when obligor receives public

assistance

1.__Definitions.__As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

A.__"Assisted obligor" means an obligor under a court or administrative child support order who receives:

(1)__Supplemental security income; or

(2)__Public assistance for the benefit of a child of that obligor.

B.__"Order" means a court or administrative child support order in existence at the time an obligor becomes an assisted obligor.

C.__"Public assistance" has the same meaning as set forth in section 2101, subsection 11, except that it does not include medical care only.

2.__Presumption.__There is a rebuttable presumption that an assisted obligor does not have the capacity to pay child support.

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.

A debt previously incurred under section 2301 may not be collected from a responsible parent while that parent is an assisted obligor.

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