BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 610
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
610 (Jones-Sawyer)
As Amended August 31, 2015
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: |69-4 |(May 7, 2015) |SENATE: |40-0 |(September 3, |
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Original Committee Reference: JUD.
SUMMARY: Reinstates, effective immediately as urgency
legislation until January 1, 2020, a pilot program to suspend
the obligation to pay child support while an obligor is
incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, except as
specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides, until January 1, 2020, that the obligation to pay
child support, as defined, is suspended for the period of time
in which the obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily
institutionalized, as defined, for any period exceeding 90
consecutive days, unless the obligor has the means to pay
support while incarcerated or institutionalized or was
incarcerated for any domestic violence offense or as a result
of failure to pay child support. Takes effect immediately as
urgency legislation. Provides that the suspension applies to
all orders issued or modified after the enactment of this
provision.
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2)Provides that the suspension only applies during the period of
incarceration or institutionalization and automatically
resumes to the amount of the pre-suspension order on the first
day of the first full month after release.
3)Allows a local child support agency (LCSA) to administratively
adjust the order based on the suspension during incarceration
or institutionalization if: a) The LCSA verifies the arrears
and interest that accrued during the period of incarceration
or institutionalization; b) the LCSA notifies the obligor and
the obligee, in writing, of the possible adjustment and
neither objects within 30 days; and c) the LCSA confirms that
the obligor did not have the means to pay child support while
incarcerated and was not incarcerated for domestic violence or
for failure to pay child support.
4)Prohibits the LCSA, if either the child support obligor or the
oblige objects, from administratively adjusting the arrears
and requires the LCSA instead to file a motion to adjust the
arrears with the court and to serve copies of the motion on
the parties.
5)Requires, by January 1, 2016, the Department of Child Support
Services (DCSS), in consultation with the Judicial Council, to
develop forms to implement the administrative adjustment
process.
6)Requires DCSS and the Judicial Council to conduct an
evaluation of the effectiveness of the administrative
adjustment process and to report the results of the review, as
well as any recommended changes, to the Assembly and Senate
Judiciary Committees by January 1, 2019. Requires the
evaluation to include a review of the ease of the process to
both the obligor and obligee, as well as an analysis of the
number of cases administratively adjusted, the number of cases
adjusted in court, and the number of cases not adjusted.
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The Senate amendments delete the re-establishment of the old
pilot program on the expiration of the new pilot, limit the
interest that may be suspended, and make the bill effective for
all orders issued or modified after enactment of this bill.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes DCSS as the single statewide agency responsible
for the administration and management of California's child
support enforcement program.
2)Requires, at the local level, the child support enforcement
program to be run by local child support agencies, which shall
have the responsibility for promptly and effectively
establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support
obligations.
3)Provides that a support order may be modified or terminated at
any time as the court determines necessary. Provides that
such support modification or termination may only be made
pursuant to the filing of a motion or an order to show cause.
4)Prohibits states from enacting laws providing for the
retroactive modification or termination of a support order,
except that an order modifying or terminating a support order
may be made retroactive to the date of the filing of a notice
of motion or order to show cause to modify or terminate the
order.
5)Effective July 1, 2011 until July 1, 2015, provided that the
obligation to pay child support pursuant to an order that was
being enforced under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act was
suspended for the period of time in which the obligor was
incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, as provided.
Allowed the obligor, upon release from incarceration or
institutionalization, to petition the court to adjust the
arrears pursuant to the suspension. Required the obligor to
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show proof of dates of incarceration or involuntary
institutionalization, as well as proof that the obligor did
not have the means to pay support. Required the obligor to
serve copies of the petition on the support obligee and the
LCSA, who could file objections to the petition.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Forms and legislative report: Minor and absorbable one-time
costs to the Judicial Council and the DCSS to develop the
required forms, evaluate the process and report to the
Legislature, as specified, on or before January 1, 2019.
2)LCSA administration: Potential minor to moderate increase in
LCSA administrative costs (Federal Funds/General Fund) to
comply with this bill's provisions.
3)CalWORKs impact: Minor, if any, loss of child support payment
revenue to offset CalWORKs program costs, as only those
obligors who do not have the means to pay support will have
their child support orders automatically suspended.
COMMENTS: 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
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support and have little or no contact with his or her children.
In addition, the failure to collect ongoing child 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.
In response to these grim findings, the Legislature created a
pilot program - only through July 1, 2015, and only for cases
being enforced by the state child support program - to suspend
the obligation to pay child support for the period of time in
which an obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily
institutionalized, unless the obligor otherwise had the means to
pay support while incarcerated or institutionalized. Upon
release, the obligation to pay child support immediately resumed
to the amount specified in the child support order prior to the
suspension of that obligation.
Unfortunately, that now expired program did not prove very
successful at preventing the build-up of uncollectible arrears.
Data from DCSS show that very few noncustodial sought to have
their arrears suspended once out of prison - just 178 petitions
were filed - and of those only 14 (or 8%) were granted under the
pilot program. This bill seeks to reestablish and extend the
pilot until 2020 and expand the pilot to all new or modified
cases, 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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN:
0001893
AB 610
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