BILL NUMBER: AJR 17	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Jones

                        MARCH 30, 2005

   Relative to child support penalties.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 17, as introduced, Jones.  Child support penalties.
   This measure would request the Congress of the United States to
revise the method used to assess federal penalties imposed for the
failure of a state to fully implement a certified statewide child
support automation system, as specified.
   Fiscal committee: no.




   WHEREAS, California and other states have been subject to federal
penalties since 1998 due to their failure to fully implement a
certified statewide child support automation system and these
penalties, which have increased from 4 percent to 30 percent of the
federal share of the Department of Child Support Services program's
administrative costs, are levied against the state until the state
has a certified statewide automation system in place; and WHEREAS,
California reached the 30 percent penalty level in the 2002 federal
fiscal year and has incurred a total penalty of $754 million through
the 2004 federal fiscal year; and
   WHEREAS, California's child support automated system is expected
to be operational by the 2006 federal fiscal year, by which time
California's cumulative penalties will have reached $1.2 billion; and

   WHEREAS, California entered into a contract in July 2003 with a
team of vendors led by IBM for development of the child support
enforcement system component of the California Child Support
Automation System, California entered into a services contract in
December 2004 with Bank of America to operate the State Disbursement
Unit, the second component of the California Child Support Automation
System, and California is well along the way toward securing a
statewide automation system that will comply with all the federal
certification requirements and improve program performance; and
   WHEREAS, The federal penalties no longer serve their intended
purpose and in fact: (a) penalize the state for increasing its
spending on program improvements and automation development; (b)
force system procurement and technology decisions to focus on
avoiding federal penalties, rather than prudent technology goals and
system objectives; and (c) reduce the ability of the program to
continue to collect child support payments for largely low-income
families who have left the welfare system or are able to avoid
relying on welfare; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature supports the policy directives of the
National Governors Association, the National Conference of State
Legislatures, the American Public Human Services Association and
other organizations that urge penalty reinvestment to help states
both complete automation and improve child support performance; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature supports changing the penalty structure
to ensure that states are not penalized for increased investment in
the program and for system development costs by imposing penalties
based on the year prior to the year penalties were first imposed,
rather than the prior year; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the Congress
of the United States, and each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States to enact legislation
to (a) allow states that have been assessed federal penalties to
reinvest those child support automation penalties in child support
program improvements and automation system development, which would
allow California and other states to enhance and improve their child
support automation systems; and (b) impose the penalty based on the
year prior to when penalties were first imposed, as opposed to the
prior year, to avoid penalizing states for increased program
investments and system development costs; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the
President of the Senate, and each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States.