Panel Delays Action on ‘Deadbeat Parents’

A City Council committee agreed Wednesday to postpone making a recommendation on a proposed ordinance that would prohibit “deadbeat parents” from being employed by the city.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who sponsored a motion in November calling for tougher city penalties for parents who fail to pay their child support, requested the continuation to allow city staff members to “fine tune” the ordinance.

Alarcon’s original motion called for the city attorney to explore the possibility of disciplining so-called deadbeat parents or prohibiting them from being employed by the city.

Modeled after a similar law in Sacramento, the ordinance would have also prohibited the city from awarding contracts, grants, loans or other business assistance to parents who owe child support.

Alarcon said Wednesday that his intent was never to deny people employment, but to attach conditions to their employment that would require they comply with the law.

“The purpose of this motion is not to exclude people from employment and it’s not to diminish the pool of contractors for the city,” Alarcon said. “It’s to get more people to voluntarily comply with their child-support payments.”

On Wednesday, Alarcon called for a panel of experts, such as child-welfare advocates and labor attorneys, to work with the city attorney on a new version of the ordinance that would toughen measures that could be taken against city employees while avoiding legal pitfalls.

The city attorney was instructed to report back to the committee after 30 days.

About 700,000 children in Los Angeles County are owed $2 billion in unpaid support, officials said.