§576D-18  Investigators; access to
information.  (a)  The attorney general shall commission
child support enforcement investigators who shall have all powers and authority
of a police officer or a deputy sheriff to fulfill their official
responsibilities; provided that a person so appointed and commissioned
shall not carry firearms.



(b)  The duties of the commissioned
investigators shall be to locate absent parents for the establishment of
paternity, and for obtaining and enforcing orders of support.



(c)  The agency and other state or
territorial agencies administering a program
under Title IV-D shall have access, including automated inquiry access, to the
records of all entities in the State for information on the employment,
compensation, and benefits of any individual member, employee, or contractor
of the entity, to accomplish the purposes of the child support program.  The
entities include but are not limited to for-profit, nonprofit, and labor
organizations, and any agency, board, commission, authority, court, or
committee of the State or its political subdivisions,
notwithstanding any provision for confidentiality.  Subject to safeguards on
privacy and confidentiality and subject to the nonliability of entities that
afford access under this section, the agency and other state or territorial
agencies administering a program under Title IV-D shall also have
access to records held by private entities with respect to individuals who owe
or are owed support, or against or with respect to whom a support obligation is
sought consisting of:



(1)  The names and addresses of individuals and the
names and addresses of the employers of such individuals as appearing in
customer records of public utilities and cable television companies, pursuant
to an administrative subpoena authorized pursuant to section 576E-2; and



(2)  Information, including information on assets and
liabilities, on such individuals held by financial institutions.



(d)  Other federal, state, and territorial
agencies conducting activities under the Title IV-D program shall have access
to any system used by the State to locate an individual for purposes relating
to motor vehicles or law enforcement.



(e)  Notwithstanding section 338-18, the
agency, through the offices of county corporation counsels, county attorneys,
or the attorney general, shall have access, including automated inquiry access,
to the public health statistics records of the department of health and may
make only such use of identifying information in those records as is necessary for
purposes consistent with Title IV-D and applicable state laws.  The United
States Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Secretary's agent,
notwithstanding section 338-18, shall also have access, including automated
inquiry access, to the public health statistics records of the department of
health solely for purposes of funding and oversight under Title IV-D. [L 1997,
c 293, pt of §6; am L 1998, c 153, §7; am L 2002, c 84, §5; am L 2004, c 80,
§2]