BILL NUMBER: SB 1355	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 5, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to add Section 4007.5 to the Family Code, relating to child
support.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1355, as amended, Wright. Child support: suspension of support
order.
   Existing law provides that if a court orders a person to make
payments for child support until the occurrence of a specified event,
the obligation of the person ordered to pay support terminates on
the happening of the contingency.
   This bill would provide that the obligation of a person 
ordered  to pay child support  pursuant to an order that
is being enforced under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act 
is suspended for the period of time in which the  person
ordered to pay support   obligor  is incarcerated
or  involuntarily  institutionalized, with a specified
exception.  The bill would require that, upon the release of the
obligor, the obligation to pay child support immediately resume in
the amount specified in the child support order prior to the
suspension of that obligation. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4007.5 is added to the Family Code, to read:
   4007.5.  (a) Every money judgment or order for support of a child
 that is being enforced under Title IV-D of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 651 et seq.)  shall provide that the
obligation of the person ordered to pay support shall be suspended
for any period exceeding 30 consecutive days in which the person
ordered to pay support is incarcerated or  involuntarily 
institutionalized. 
   (b) Upon the release of the obligor from a period of incarceration
or involuntary institutionalization, the obligation to pay child
support shall immediately resume in the amount specified in the child
support order prior to the suspension of that obligation. 

   (b) 
    (c)  Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the court may
continue the obligation of the person ordered to pay support of a
child during a period in which the person ordered to pay support is
incarcerated or  involuntarily  institutionalized upon the
request of the person to whom the support payments are to be made,
and upon a finding that the obligor has the means to pay support
while incarcerated or  involuntarily  institutionalized.

   (c) 
    (d)  For purposes of this section, "incarcerated or 
involuntarily  institutionalized" includes, but is not limited
to, involuntary confinement to a state prison, county jail, juvenile
facility operated by the Division of Juvenile Facilities in the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or a mental health
facility. 
   (e) For purposes of this section, "suspend" means that the child
support order is modified and set to zero dollars ($0) for the period
in which the obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily
institutionalized.