(1) Aid, as defined in ORS 412.001, may not be granted to, or on behalf of, any applicant or recipient and for as long as the applicant or recipient refuses to assign to the state any rights to support from any other person such applicant may have personally or in behalf of any other family member for whom the applicant is applying for or receiving aid, and that have accrued at any time such assignment is executed. If aid is paid and received for the support of a child, the rights to child support that any person may have for the child are deemed to have been assigned by operation of law to the state. Notice of the assignment by operation of law shall be given to the applicant at the time of application for public assistance, and shall be given to any obligee who may hold some interest in such support rights by depositing a notice in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the last-known address of such person. Assignment of support rights to the state shall be as set forth in rules adopted by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Justice.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, an applicant or recipient who receives aid as defined in ORS 412.001 shall cooperate with the Department of Human Services and the Department of Justice in establishing the paternity of the applicant’s or recipient’s child born out of wedlock and in obtaining support or other payments or property due the applicant or child. An applicant or recipient is not required to cooperate if there is good cause or some other exception to the cooperation requirement that takes into account the best interest of the child. The Department of Human Services shall adopt rules defining good cause, other exceptions to cooperation and noncooperation by an applicant or recipient, and setting the sanction for noncooperation. The sanction may include total ineligibility of the family for aid, but in no situation may the sanction be less than a 25 percent reduction of the monthly grant amount. At the time an applicant applies for aid, the Department of Human Services shall inform the applicant, in writing, of the requirement of and exceptions to cooperation and the sanctions for noncooperation, and shall inform recipients, in writing, whenever eligibility for aid is redetermined.
(3) This section shall apply to recipients of aid under ORS 412.001 to 412.069, 412.124 and 418.647 only as long as the aid is funded in whole or in part with federal grants under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act. [Formerly 418.042]
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