GOING AFTER DAD: For deadbeat dads, 1996...

GOING AFTER DAD: For deadbeat dads, 1996 could be rough if they don’t shape up. Effective Jan. 1, authorities may seize the driver’s license of anyone who doesn’t pay up when behind on child support. . . . Kevin Harrison, an Orange County family law specialist, says it may place a strain on the legal system at first, but “it will have a dramatic impact keeping people on track.” . . . Also new: A legislative resolution will ask the federal government to provide deadbeat dads’ Social Security numbers so tracking will be easier.

PLASTIC HELP: The government also plans to make it easier for you to pay with plastic. The Legislature has ordered almost all state agencies to spend 1996 getting themselves ready to accept credit or bank card payments--beginning Jan. 1, 1997. . . . Says a spokeswoman for Assemblywoman Jackie Speier (D-Burlingame), who sponsored the bill: “We wanted to make it easier for consumers to make payments, but we also thought it would make it easier for the government to collect its money.”

PEACE OR JAIL: Those like Adele Faulkner Quinn, who works with battered women, are hailing a new law sponsored by Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) that will put an end to diversion programs for those accused of domestic violence. They’ll be prosecuted instead. Diversion, the experts say, wasn’t curbing the violence any. . . . Says Quinn, a longtime supporter of the local Interval House program for domestic abuse victims: “This will send a clear message to the batterer--that it no longer is a private issue. It’s society treating domestic violence as a criminal act.”

STALKING STALKERS: The new year will be tough--or at least annoying--for stalkers too. Beginning next month, the state will require those convicted of stalking to register with police in the county they live in, as child molesters must do now. . . . It’s more a tool for law enforcement than the public, says Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Smith: “It lets the police keep tabs on who’s in the community.”