(a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, for any debt not excepted by law from the Central Collection Unit’s responsibilities under Title 3, Subtitle 3 of the State Finance and Procurement Article or otherwise, the Central Collection Unit may:

(i) certify to the Comptroller the existence of any debt that has been referred to it for collection by a State agency; and

(ii) request the Comptroller to withhold the sum certified from any income tax refund to which a debtor is entitled.

(2) A debt may not be withheld if the State agency or the Central Collection Unit has been advised by the Attorney General that the validity of the debt is legitimately in dispute or an alternate means of collection is pending and believed to be adequate.

(b) (1) The Department of Budget and Management shall establish by regulation those classes or categories of debts, including any minimum debt amount, that may be referred to the Central Collection Unit for withholding.

(2) Subject to § 13-918 of this subtitle, if more than one State agency is owed money by the same debtor, any amount withheld from an income tax refund shall be applied in the order of referral of the debt by the State agencies.

(c) (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this subsection, the withholding of debt from an income tax refund authorized by this part does not preclude use of any other remedy provided by law for the collection of debts owed to the State and this part shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes.

(2) This part shall be interpreted in a manner that does not deprive a debtor of any rights or defenses that would be available to that debtor in defending against a claim of setoff incident to a judicial proceeding.