BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Joseph L. Dunn, Chair
2005-2006 Regular Session
AB 667 A
Assembly Member Jones B
As Amended June 27, 2005
Hearing Date: June 28, 2005
Family Code 6
MJM:rm 6
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SUBJECT
Child Support Enforcement Study
DESCRIPTION
This bill would require the Legislative's Analyst's Office
to contract with an appropriate and qualified entity to
conduct an evaluation of the child support program, as
specified, and to convene an advisory committee to oversee
the process.
BACKGROUND
The Assembly Judiciary Committee held an informational
hearing on March 1, 2005, entitled "The Child Support
Program in California: Current Challenges, Future
Objectives." The committee report explains that the
federal government, in the Child Support Performance and
Incentive Act of 1998 (CSPIA) established federal
performance standards for state child support programs.
The CSPIA also contained an incentive and penalty structure
to fund and motivate states to improve their child support
enforcement. The federal incentives are based on total
support collections and state performance in five areas:
1) paternities established; 2) support orders established;
3) current support collected; 4) arrears collected; and 5)
cost-effectiveness.
To increase efficiency and performance, the responsibility
for the enforcement and collection of child support in
(more)
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Page 2
California was transferred from the Department of Social
Services to the newly created Department of Child Support
Services (DCSS) in 2000. [SB 542 (Burton/Schiff) Chapter
480, Statutes of 1999; AB 196 (Kuehl) Chapter 478, Statutes
of 1999; AB 472 (Aroner) Chapter 803, Statutes of 1999.]
Since then, California's performance has improved, but the
state still trails behind the nation on three of the five
federal measures: arrears collection, current support
collections, and cost-effectiveness.
Because the federal incentive pool is capped, California's
incentive is based not only on its performance on the five
federal measures and its total support collections, but
also on the performance of other states. The federal
incentive pool is $446 million for fiscal year 2005.
California is currently receiving roughly $50 million in
federal incentives. Notably, the federal incentive dollars
are matched $2 for each $1 with federal match dollars,
making the current incentives worth $150 million.
Additionally, the federal government required all states to
implement automated child support systems for all cases by
October 1997. States that have not automated are penalized
by the loss of federal administrative funding of the child
support program. California is currently developing the
California Child Support Automated System (CCSAS). The
first phase is expected to be completed by September 2005
and the second phase by September 2008. Although it was
initially expected that the implementation of phase one
would satisfy federal requirements and end the federal
penalties, the federal Department of Health and Human
Services informed California last fall that the penalties
would continue to accrue until phase two is complete. The
automation penalties are expected to reach a cumulative
$1.2 billion through 2006. Accordingly, California can
expect to pay well over $1 billion in federal penalties
unless the CCSAS implementation schedule is accelerated.
As introduced, this bill sought to address the problem of
lost federal incentives by proposing to institute
performance targets for the child support program and
penalties for failing to meet the required performance
standards. In response to opposition concerns that a more
complete study of the child support program is required,
the bill has been overhauled. Instead, the bill would
require a study be made of the child support program and
AB 667 (Jones)
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recommendations made to the Legislature regarding the
improvement of the program. All opposition is now removed.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law places responsibility for administering all
services and performing all functions necessary to
establish, collect and distribute child support with the
Department of Child Support Services. [Family Code Section
17200.]
Existing law requires DCSS to reduce the cost of and
increase the speed and efficiency of child support
enforcement operations. [Family Code Section 17208.]
Existing law requires DCSS to maximize the use of federal
funds available for the costs of administering the child
support services department and to obtain funds from
federal financial incentives, to the extent feasible.
[Family Code Section 17208.]
This bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO) to contract with a qualified and appropriate entity
to conduct an evaluation of the child support program.
This bill would require the evaluation to consider, at a
minimum, the impact of the following factors on the
budgeting methodology for local child support programs:
1)the current state and federal statutory and regulatory
environment for child support services;
2)state-of-the-art advancement and best practices;
3)the potential impact of the California Child Support
Automated System on the workload of workers in the
system;
4)the workload levels and statutory and regulatory
requirements in other states;
5)the impact on workload of timely establishing and
collecting child support; and
6)recruitment and retention issues affecting staff.
This bill would require that the LAO convene an advisory
committee to provide oversight of the process of selecting
an entity to conduct the study and to provide oversight and
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technical assistance to the entity conducting the study.
This committee would consist of representatives of the
department, the judiciary, the Child Support Directors
Association of California, the California State Association
of Counties, child support services consumers, children's
advocacy organizations, child support worker organization
and appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature.
This bill would require the LAO to report the findings and
recommendations of the evaluation to the appropriate fiscal
and policy committees of the Legislature by January 1,
2007.
This bill would make legislative findings that child
support is critical to the financial security of children
in California and that maximizing federal incentive
payments and adequately funding child support services
programs are crucial to ensuring effective child support
enforcement.
COMMENT
1. Need for the bill
According to the author:
Child support is critical to the financial security of
millions of children across the nation and throughout
California. Child support helps lift families off of
welfare and out of poverty. It accounts for 40% of
income for low-income families who receive it. It
also saves the state money by recouping welfare
expenditures and reducing the need for welfare
entirely. California's child support collection
efforts still lag behind the nation on key measures,
resulting in fewer collections for children and less
incentive dollars for the state.
To achieve optimal performance of the state child support
program, this bill would require that a study of the
child support program be conducted and recommendations be
made to guide the state in improving child support
collections.
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2. Is the scope of the study broad enough?
This bill would require the LAO to contract with an
appropriate and qualified entity to conduct a study of
the child support program. The evaluation must address
collections and cost-effectiveness, possible additional
enforcement tools, and the current level of funding for
child support services and budgeting methodology. In
considering the funding and budgeting methodology, the
evaluation would be required to consider, at a minimum,
the impact of the following factors:
1) the current state and federal statutory and
regulatory environment for child support services;
2) the state-of-the-art advancement and best
practices;
3) the potential impact of the California Child
Support Automated System on the workload of workers in
the system;
4) the caseload and workload levels, as well as
statutory, policy, and regulatory requirements, in
other states;
5) the impact on workload of timely establishing and
collecting child support to meet children's needs; and
6) recruitment and retention issues affecting child
support staff in local programs.
The study must also make recommendations for revising
collection options, allocation methodology, and program
operations, including management practices, protocols,
and procedures.
Given that California is facing close to a billion
dollars in federal penalties for failing to automate the
child support system, should the study also focus on that
issue? Four of the six issue areas in AB 667 are
personnel-related. Are the deficiencies in the child
support system likely to be solved by throwing bodies at
the problem? Perhaps not, yet this is what the focus of
the study suggests.
Should the study be expanded to also address lost dollars
due to California's non-compliant Child Support Automated
System?
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3. Timing of the study
The evaluation and recommendations must be reported by
the LAO to the Legislature by January 1, 2007. In
response to concerns that with California accruing
hundreds of millions of dollars in federal penalties each
year, this deadline should be moved forward, the author's
staff agreed that ideally, the study and recommendations
would be completed sooner. However, author's staff
indicated that the deadline was carefully considered and
ultimately chosen to ensure there was adequate time for
LAO to locate and contract with an appropriate entity and
for the entity to conduct a careful and thorough study.
This bill would provide one year for these requirements
to be completed.
4. Advisory committee to oversee the study
This bill would require that LAO convene an advisory
committee which includes representatives of DCSS, the
judiciary, the Child Support Directors Association of
California, the California State Association of Counties,
child support services consumers, children's advocacy
organizations, child support worker organizations, and
appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature. This advisory committee would both provide
oversight of the process of selecting an entity to
conduct the study and provide oversight and technical
assistance to the entity conducting the study.
Support: Service Employees International Union
Opposition: None Known
HISTORY
Source: National Center for Youth Law
Related Pending Legislation: None Known
Prior Legislation: AB 1752 (Committee on Budget) Chapter
225, Statutes of 2004, required among other
things the Department of Child Support
Services to develop a program pursuant to
which the department may accept offers in
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compromise of child support arrears until
January 1, 2007, and report to the results of
the program by June 30, 2006.
SB 542 (Burton/Schiff) Chapter 480, Statutes
of 1999; AB 196 (Kuehl) Chapter 478, Statutes
of 1999; AB 472 (Aroner) Chapter 803,
Statutes of 1999, restructured the child
support enforcement program by creating the
Department of Child Support Services and
vesting it with responsibility to establish,
collect and distribute child support;
transferring local responsibility for program
enforcement to local child support agencies;
and created a complaint resolution and fair
hearing process for resolving child support
complaints.
Prior Vote: Assembly Floor (58 Ayes, 14 Noes)
Assembly Appropriations (13 Ayes, 5 Noes)
Assembly Judiciary (9 Ayes, 0 Noes)
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