SB281 Summary

• Establishes the Office of Debt Recovery within the Alabama Department of Revenue to collect delinquent debts (60+ days past due) owed to state agencies and, under formal agreements, to political subdivisions.

• Authorizes the office to charge debtors a collection fee up to 25% of total liability and use any state collection remedies including income tax refund offsets to recover debt.

• Creates a centralized electronic debt registry to compile debtor information from state agencies and political subdivisions for consolidated collection efforts and cross-referencing of multiple debts.

• Establishes the Debt Recovery Fund as a special treasury fund to support office operations, funded through general appropriations and authorized to invest unobligated balances.

• Requires financial institutions to provide account holder information to the office for data matching purposes quarterly; financial institutions receive participation fees for actual costs incurred and are granted liability protection for information disclosure.