Reduced Penalties for Missing Child Support Deadline Urged

Moving to avert potentially crippling cuts to child welfare programs in California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday proposed legislation that would scale back penalties for states that miss the federal deadline for installing automated child support enforcement systems.

Child support advocates, however, immediately attacked the Feinstein proposal as counterproductive, setting up a likely clash in Congress between powerful entities that have been frequent allies in the past but have been unable to craft a common agenda on the issue of child support enforcement.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) acknowledged the friction, saying that her proposed measures face an uphill battle and have not won the support of the Clinton administration.

Under the 1996 federal welfare reform law, California could face the loss this year of $4 billion in welfare funding and an additional $300 million in child support administrative funding for failing to centralize its patchwork system of county-run enforcement programs.

The Feinstein legislation would allow states to come up with a new timetable to meet requirements and reduce penalties as states reach their goals. In addition, states would have more flexibility to create alternatives to a centralized, statewide system.

“This legislation would not rescind the requirement for states to develop child support enforcement systems, nor would it remove penalties for noncompliance. What it would do is provide the flexibility needed for large states like California to get the job done without crippling the state’s ability to provide services to families in need,” said Feinstein, speaking at a Los Angeles news conference.

Strict enforcement of child support is a key goal of the welfare overhaul, which requires parents to cooperate with government in obtaining child support payments that could lessen dependence on government grants. California operates one of the nation’s least effective programs, collecting support for 14% of all families that seek help in obtaining support.

Feinstein was joined at the news conference by Eloise Anderson, director of the state Department of Social Services, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and half a dozen other district attorneys from across the state who argued that federal sanctions could have a devastating impact on the very children that the new, tougher child support enforcement laws were intended to help.

More than 2.6 million families on welfare, including 1.7 million children, could lose support services if federal sanctions were imposed, Feinstein said. Los Angeles County, which has about 40% of California’s child support and welfare caseload, would be disproportionately penalized although it has its own federally approved computer system, Garcetti said.

Part of Feinstein’s legislation would exempt a portion of the penalty for counties, like Los Angeles, that have built their own systems.

Anderson complained that federal officials have tried to foist on the state antiquated technology and unrealistic standards.

The state in recent years has spent $100 million in an unsuccessful attempt to build a centralized computer system that would meet federal requirements but has abandoned the project, concluding that it would be too costly to correct problems.

Anderson warned of widespread cuts in child support staffing statewide if U.S. sanctions take effect.

“It would be a nuclear bomb to children,” she said.

However, many experts fault California and other states for allowing child support programs to deteriorate and argue that those authorities should now be held accountable. California’s child support programs are operated by county district attorneys in a decentralized system that hampers collection and monitoring of support payments, they say.

“While I understand the effort to try to reduce penalties on the state, at some point the real question should be what is the most effective way to get the state to operate support programs effectively,” said Leora Gershenzon, directing attorney for the Child Support Project of the National Center for Youth Law.

Under the Feinstein proposal, California’s penalty would be reduced to $3 million in child support administrative funding in the first year. The penalty would increase to $6 million in the second year, $9 million in the third year, $12 million in the fourth year and $15 million in the fifth year and thereafter.

States would be reimbursed for 75% of penalties that they have paid if they later meet their goals for collecting child support.

The Feinstein legislation would be the second bill introduced in Congress aimed at relaxing the child support provisions. A similar bill by Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) would reduce the California penalty to about $12 million for the first year. The new measure was adopted without dissent by the House Ways and Means subcommittee, and awaits a hearing by the full committee. Many child support advocates say that if the language in Shaw’s bill is sufficiently tightened, they could support it.