MORE FLEXIBLE PENALTY PROCEDURE TO BE APPLIED FOR FAILING TO PERMIT INTERJURISDICTIONAL ADOPTION.

SEC. 301. MORE FLEXIBLE PENALTY PROCEDURE TO BE APPLIED FOR FAILING TO PERMIT INTERJURISDICTIONAL ADOPTION. (a) Conversion of Funding Ban Into State Plan Requirement.—Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended— (1) by striking “and” at the end of paragraph (21); (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (22) and inserting “; and”; and (3) by adding at the end the following: “(23) provides that the State shall not— “(A) deny or delay the placement of a child for adoption when an approved family is available outside of the jurisdiction with responsibility for handling the case of the child; or “(B) fail to grant an opportunity for a fair hearing, as described in paragraph (12), to an individual whose allegation of a violation of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph is denied by the State or not acted upon by the State with reasonable promptness.”. (b) Penalty for Noncompliance.—Section 474(d) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 674(d)) is amended in each of paragraphs (1) and (2) by striking “section 471(a)(18)” and inserting “paragraph (18) or (23) of section 471(a)”. (c) Conforming Amendment.—Section 474 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 674) is amended by striking subsection (e). (d) Retroactivity.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section 202 of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (Public Law 10589; 111 Stat. 2125).