(A) The department and any other governmental entity may contract to allow the department to collect any outstanding liabilities owed the governmental entity. In administering the provisions of such agreements, the department has all the rights and powers of collection allowed it under this title for the collection of taxes and all such rights and powers authorized the governmental entity to which the liability is owed.
(B) The department may charge and retain a reasonable fee for any collection effort made on a governmental entity's behalf. The department may expend the funds resulting from any fees so charged and retained and may carry the funds forward from one fiscal year to the next. The amount of the fee must be negotiated between the governmental entity and the department.
(C) Governmental entities that contract with the department pursuant to this section shall indemnify the department against any injuries, actions, liabilities, or proceedings arising from the department's collecting or attempting to collect the liability owed to the governmental entity.
(D) As used in this section:
(1) "Governmental entity" means the State and any state agency, board, committee, department, public institution of higher learning; all political subdivisions of the State; and all federal agencies, boards, and departments. "Political subdivision" includes the Municipal Association of South Carolina and the South Carolina Association of Counties when these organizations submit claims on behalf of their members.
(2) "liabilities owed the governmental entity" means a debt which is certified by the governmental entity to be owed it for which all rights of administrative or judicial appeal have been exhausted or all time limits for these appeals have expired.