BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 610
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
610 (Jones-Sawyer) - As Amended April 8, 2015
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Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This urgency bill would extend the sunset date from July 1,
2015, to January 1, 2020, of the pilot program to suspend the
obligation of a noncustodial parent, in the state child support
system, to pay child support, while that parent is incarcerated
AB 610
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or involuntarily institutionalized, unless that parent otherwise
has the means to pay support.
In addition, the bill would expand the pilot to include all
child support cases and would permit the local child support
agency to administratively adjust the arrears, provided no party
objects. The bill would also require an evaluation of the
program be performed, with a report to the legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time minor costs of approximately $100,000 to accommodate
changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) System. It is
anticipated that this one-time cost is absorbable within
existing resources.
2)One-time minor and absorbable costs to Department of Child
Support Services (DCSS) to develop new forms and prepare the
evaluation report.
3)On-going minor and absorbable costs to the (DCSS) for
increased administrative workload to send notifications, file
motions, and serve copies.
4)No significant costs to the courts. This bill allows an
administrative modification of support awards which
potentially reduces the workload on courts. Costs to
create/modify forms are minor and absorbable.
5)The suspension of the child support orders for those who are
incarcerated is not expected to result in increased revenues
and collections; although it may limit the accumulation of
child support arrears. The estimated impact on child support
arrears will likely have a negligible impact on federal
performance incentives earned.
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. The existing pilot program has not proved very
successful at preventing the build-up of uncollectible
arrears. Data from DCSS show that very few noncustodial
parents sought to have their arrears suspended once out of
prison - just 178 petitions were filed - and of those only 14
(or 8 percent) were granted under the pilot program. That
program is scheduled to sunset on July 1st of this year. This
bill seeks to extend and expand that pilot to apply to all
cases, not just cases within the state child support program,
and creates a process that allows local child support agencies
to administratively adjust any arrears in the hopes that the
expanded pilot program can be more successful at helping
reducing uncollectible child support and in helping
noncustodial parents better support their children.
2)Background. When noncustodial parents are incarcerated, unless
they seek a modification of their child support order, their
support obligation continues unabated, and interest accrues on
the unpaid debt. According to a study of California's child
support caseload by the Urban Institute, only about half of
incarcerated child support obligors had reported incomes in
the two years prior to their incarceration and, of those,
their median annual net income was just under $3,000. Their
median arrears were $14,564. Researchers have discovered that
the build-up of uncollectible child support while an obligor
is incarcerated has implications not just for the obligor, but
also for the state and the family. A just-released obligor,
with a large support debt and few employment prospects, is far
more likely to avoid the formal economy and, therefore, pay no
child support and have little or no contact with his or her
children. In addition, the failure to collect ongoing child
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support will result in the state receiving less incentive
funding from the federal government. Finally, recidivism
rates appear to increase for obligors with large child support
debts.
3)Federal Incentive Funding. CDSS earns federal incentive
funding based on California's relative performance regarding
child support collections as compared to other states and
territories. To the extent that suspending child support
orders encourages incarcerated noncustodial parents to resume
paying child support upon their release, it could result in an
increase in the amount of child support that is successfully
collected.
Furthermore, the accumulation of past due child support, along
with the reduction in current support payments reduces the
state's performance on federal child support measures This
bill, by suspending child support orders and reducing the
amount of past due child support, could increase California's
performance thereby increasing the amount of federal incentive
funding for DCSS. However, based on the pilot program, the
estimated impact on federal performance incentives is
negligible.
4)Prior Legislation.
a) SB 1355 (Wright), Chap. 495, Stats. 2010, created a
pilot program to suspend child support when an obligor is
incarcerated, which expires on July 1, 2015.
b) AB 862 (Bass), 2005, would have required that
information and other materials regarding child support
modification be distributed to any parent with minor
children, while the parent is in the custody of CDCR. This
bill was vetoed.
c) AB 2245 (Wright), 2002, would have, among other things,
required that a child support order be suspended, including
any arrearage, interest, or penalty that may accrue, if the
support obligor is or was incarcerated in a penal
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institution for more than 29 consecutive days, and is
without the resources to pay child support. That bill
failed passage in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081