BILL ANALYSIS
AB 667
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 667 (Jones)
As Amended May 26, 2005
Majority vote
JUDICIARY 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 13-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Jones, Harman, Berg, |Ayes:|Chu, Bass, Berg, |
| |Haynes, Laird, Leslie, | |Calderon, Mullin, |
| |Levine, Lieber, Montanez | |Karnette, Klehs, Leno, |
| | | |Nation, Oropeza, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, |
| | | |Yee |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Sharon Runner, Emmerson, |
| | | |Haynes, Nakanishi, |
| | | |Walters |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Directs the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to
study child support funding. Specifically, this bill :
1)Declares that child support is critical to the financial
security of children and that it is in the best interest of
children to determine if the current approach to budgeting and
funding of the child support program is effective as a means
of maximizing child support collections, maximizing federal
incentive funding and adequately funding the program.
2)Requires LAO to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of child
support budgeting methodology and to make recommendations for
revising the budgeting methodology, including appropriate
caseload standards, in order to ensure accurate and adequate
funding of the child support program. Requires LAO to
consider factors, as specified. Requires LAO to consult with
specified groups in preparing its evaluation. Requires LAO to
report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature on
or before January 1, 2007.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the director of the Department of Child Support
AB 667
Page 2
Services (DCSS) to, among other things, establish caseworker
to case staffing ratios and attorney to caseworkers ratios,
adjusted as appropriate to meet the varying needs of local
programs.
2)Requires local child support agencies to provide DCSS with
data on child support performance and costs, as specified, and
requires DCSS to compile the data semi-annually and report to
all members of the county boards of supervisors, county chief
executive officers, local child support agencies and the
Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations staff,
unknown costs, likely less than $50,000, to the LAO to complete
the child support study.
COMMENTS : On March 1, 2005, this Committee held an
informational hearing on child support, entitled The Child
Support Program in California: Current Challenges, Future
Objectives. That hearing, which included participation by state
and local officials, as well as experts and advocates, focused
on child support performance and automation efforts. At the
hearing, it was revealed that while the state has improved child
support collections substantially in the last five years, it
still lags well behind the nation on several key measures.
Concerns have been raised about whether this low performance is
the result of inadequate funding of the program.
The child support program is funded by federal and state funds.
The federal government provides a two-to-one match of state
funds. In addition, the federal government has established
federal performance measures and an incentive and penalty
structure to fund and motivate states to improve their child
support performance efforts. States receive federal incentives
based on performance on five federal performance measures: 1)
paternities established; 2) support orders established; 3)
current support collected; 4) arrears collected; and, 5)
cost-effectiveness. The penalty, for states that perform below
specified levels, is a loss of one to two percent of the state's
welfare block grant. The incentive pool for the states is
capped. Thus, California's incentive is based not only on its
performance on the five measures, but also on the performance of
the other states. The federal incentive pool for federal fiscal
year 2005 is $446 million, increasing to $458 million in 2006
AB 667
Page 3
and $471 million in 2007. In addition, the incentive dollars
are matched $2 for each $1 with federal match dollars.
The results of California's child support performance efforts
since 1999 are for the most part positive. California has
improved performance on three of the five federal measures
(paternities established, orders established and current support
collections) held relatively flat on one measure (arrears
collections) and lost ground on one measure
(cost-effectiveness). Of the five measures, California performs
above the national average on two measures (paternity and
support order establishment), below on one (arrears collections)
and significantly below on two (current support collections and
cost-effectiveness).
This bill would require LAO to conduct an evaluation of the
adequacy of child support budgeting methodology and to make
recommendations for revising the budgeting methodology,
including appropriate caseload standards, in order to ensure
accurate and adequate funding of the child support program. In
preparing its evaluation, the LAO would be required to consider
various factors, as specified in the bill, and consult with
specified interest groups. Under the bill, LAO would be
required to report its findings and recommendations to the
Legislature on or before January 1, 2007.
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916)
319-2334
FN: 0010571