BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman

                                           1483 (Alquist)
          
          Hearing Date:  5/15/06          Amended: 5/2/06
          Consultant:  John Decker        Policy Vote: Judic 4-0
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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   SB 1483 would create a five-county pilot project  
          to expedite uncontested modification of child-support orders.
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          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2006-07      2007-08       2008-09     Fund
           Court costs            --- unknown, potential reduction  
          ---------
          State mandated program $60        $125        $60       General
          Compile & report data                 25                General 
          Develop & promulgate regulations   -unknown  
          --------------------------------General                     
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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS:  This bill meets the criteria for referral to  
          the Suspense File.

          Beginning January 1, 2007, the bill establishes a 24-month  
          "pilot," or demonstration, project allowing local child support  
          agencies to modify support orders without going through the  
          courts.  The five participating counties (Alameda, Fresno,  
          Orange, San Mateo, and Santa Clara) must create an expedited  
          process, issue forms and information and report statistics to  
          the state.  Because these duties are required by the bill, the  
          costs associated with performing these mandates could be state  
          reimburseable.  It is difficult to estimate these mandate costs,  
          and the department did not have estimates available at the time  
          of this analysis.  Committee staff estimated, assuming each  
          county devoted a half position to implementing this bill,  
          reimbursements could be $60,000 in the budget year (half year),  
          $125,000 in 2007-08 (full year) and $60,000 in 2008-09 (half  
          year).  These costs could be offset in part or whole by reduced  
          court costs attributable to reducing the volume of child-support  
          cases. 











          In addition, the bill requires the Department of Child Support  
          Services to compile data and report an evaluation of the  
          program's effectiveness.  The report is due on or before January  
          1, 2008.  Assuming the department assigns a half position to  
          complete the report, then state costs could be in the range of  
          $25,000 in 2007-08. 

          Finally, the Department of Child Support Services would likely  
          have to develop and issue emergency regulations for this pilot.   
          The department had not estimated these costs when the analysis  
          was completed, but costs are likely to be less than $25,000.