State Helps County Collect $29 Million in Child Support

A red-tape-slashing partnership between state and Los Angeles County officials has netted about $29 million in delinquent child support payments and attracted the attention of the President, officials announced Friday.

Overall, six counties in California have joined a pilot program utilizing the state tax agency’s database to collect monies from “deadbeat” parents. In those counties, a total of $32 million has been collected from more than 100,000 parents. The amount far exceeds the $14 million officials had predicted at the beginning of the one-year program.

“The absent parents who do not support their children got a rude awakening,” said Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, whose office enforces child support laws. “The children of Los Angeles are $29 million richer because of that rude awakening.”

A bill authored by Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame) helped create the program by allowing district attorneys and the state tax board to share previously confidential financial information.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said the state can collect debts by freezing bank accounts, attaching wages and seizing the assets of people who owe child support without having to obtain a court order. “That’s why the (tax board) can get you so fast.”

Parents who fall behind in child support payments receive letters from the state warning them that their assets and property may be seized, state Controller Gray Davis said. The $32-million figure does not include money that parents paid voluntarily, Davis said.

The state controller plans to meet with President Clinton in Washington early next week. White House officials have been following the program’s success, he said, and are considering launching a similar nationwide program using the Internal Revenue Service.

Most of the money collected went to reimburse agencies that provided public assistance for children when parents failed to make support payments. The first $50 collected from a delinquent parent each month goes to the family caring for the children, as does any money collected over the amount owed welfare agencies, said Wayne Doss, director of the Bureau of Family Support in the district attorney’s office.

Some families have received checks for thousands of dollars because of interest accrued on unpaid child support payments, Doss said.

So far, only Los Angeles, Fresno, Nevada, Ventura, Santa Clara and Solano counties have participated in the program. But there are plans to begin integrating more counties next year, officials said.