BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 646|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 646
Author: Jackson (D)
Amended: 8/31/15
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/7/15
AYES: Jackson, Vidak, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 6/1/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner,
Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/2/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Uniform Interstate Family Support Act
SOURCE: Department of Child Support Services
DIGEST: This bill revises and recasts the Uniform Interstate
Family Support Act (UIFSA) to provide guidelines for the
registration, recognition, enforcement, and modification of
foreign support orders from countries that are parties to the
Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support
and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (2007 Hague Convention).
This bill identifies the Department of Child Support Services as
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the agency designated by the United States central authority, as
defined, to perform specific functions under the Convention.
This bill makes other technical, clarifying, and conforming
changes.
Assembly Amendments were technical and clarifying.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Mandates, through the Preventing Sex Trafficking and
Strengthening Families Act, the adoption of UIFSA 2008
verbatim by all states by the end of the state's 2015
legislative session as a condition of continued child support
program funding. (Pub. Law 113-183.)
2)Establishes, through UIFSA, rules regarding the establishment
and enforcement of child support orders across state lines,
and provides that the issuing state shall exercise continuing,
exclusive jurisdiction over the order as long as the obligor,
obligee, or child remains a resident of the state. (Fam. Code
Sec. 4900 et seq.)
This bill:
1)Clarifies that a state loses continuing, exclusive
jurisdiction if the parties agree, in writing, for another
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state to assume jurisdiction.
2)Requires tribunals to permit a party or a witness residing in
another state to participate in a proceeding telephonically,
by audiovisual means, or any other electronic means designated
by the tribunal.
3)Requires, upon the request of the appropriate agency, the
issuing state agency to redirect payments to the agency in the
obligee's state and issue an administrative notice of change
to the obligor's employer that reflects the redirected
payments.
4)Provides the framework for the exchange of cases between
parties to the 2007 Hague Convention. Specifically, this
bill:
prescribes the role and responsibilities of Central
Authorities in Convention countries;
expands the ability to challenge a Convention support
order upon registration in this state; and
requires the state to seek to establish a new support
order if the registration of a Convention support order is
denied, without further request from the other country.
Background
UIFSA is a comprehensive model act focused on intergovernmental
establishment, modification, and enforcement of child support
obligations. It was first developed by the National Conference
of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1992, amended in 1996,
2001 and again in 2008. All states were required to enact UIFSA
in 1998 as a condition to receive federal funds for family
support enforcement. As a result, UIFSA is currently state law
in all 50 states and jurisdictions. (See Fam. Code Secs.
4900-5005.)
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However, as states operated under UIFSA 1996, the need for
clarification of some sections became apparent. UIFSA 2001 and
2008 addressed this need by making a number of technical and
clarifying changes. In addition, UIFSA 2008:
allowed states to redirect support payments to a new state
when all parties have left the state that originally issued a
support order;
required courts to permit out-of-state parties to appear
telephonically in proceedings to establish, modify, or enforce
a support order; and
allowed for the provision of child support services to
residents of other countries pursuant to the 2007 Hague
Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and
Other Forms of Maintenance.
In September of 2014, Congress passed, and the President signed
into law, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening
Families Act (Pub. Law 113-183.) That Act requires the adoption
of the UIFSA 2008 verbatim by all states by the end of the
state's 2015 legislative session as a condition of continued
child support program funding. Accordingly, this bill repeals
the 1996 and 2001 versions of UIFSA, and adopts the 2008 version
in California as required by federal law.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, requiring
the state to enforce child support orders across state and
national borders could result in increased workload for DCSS and
local child support agencies. It is anticipated that the
overall number of cases will increase should the bill be signed,
but the extent of the increase is unknown. Likely fiscal
impacts include:
Unknown, potentially significant increase in DCSS
administrative costs (General Fund (GF)/Federal Fund)
associated with payment redirect requests from interstate
cases.
Unknown, potentially significant one-time automation costs
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(GF/Federal Fund) for necessary automation changes to the
Child Support Enforcement (CSE) system to process
international child support orders.
Unknown, likely minor state-reimbursable costs (GF) to local
child support agencies for increased administrative workload.
Unknown, potentially significant increase in annual child
support collections to the extent adoption of UIFSA 2008
results in a greater number of child support orders and/or
increases in child support collection amounts.
Adoption of UIFSA 2008 would enable the State to retain
continued receipt of approximately $680 million (Federal Fund)
annually in federal child support payments.
SUPPORT: (Verified9/2/15)
Department of Child Support Services (source)
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/2/15)
None received
According to the Department of Child Support Services, sponsor:
SB 646 will help ensure that a child gets the financial
support they need regardless of where they reside. The bill
synchronizes the provisions of UIFSA with the 2007 Hague
Convention, enabling international child support cases to move
forward upon ratification. Finally, the bill would protect
California from hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties
and ensure that California law does not pose any impediments
to the ability of the United States to ratify the treaty of
the Convention.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/02/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
9/2/15 15:42:29
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