Panel OKs Bill to Strip D.A.s of Their Child Support Role

With a consensus building that California’s child support system should be taken away from district attorneys, an Assembly committee approved a sweeping reform bill Tuesday and set the stage for a showdown between key legislators and prosecutors.

The 6-2 vote Tuesday along party lines by the Assembly Human Services Committee is significant because it propels a concept now endorsed by the leadership of both houses of the Legislature: stripping the program from the control of district attorneys.

“I am very pleased to see this bill move along,” said its author, Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), who has been designated point person on child support by Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles). “I think it is the best answer to the complete overhaul of the child support system in California.”

Initially, Kuehl had proposed a massive restructuring that still left prosecutors in charge of child support. But after Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) began pushing a bill to centralize collections in a new state agency, Kuehl last week amended her own bill to remove the program from prosecutors’ jurisdiction.

In the past, the powerful California District Attorneys Assn. has repeatedly killed efforts to shift the program--and the millions of dollars in federal funding that accompany it--from county prosecutors’ offices. Although Kuehl’s approach differs from Burton’s--she would create county offices of child support services--child support advocates are hopeful that the differences can be ironed out.

Prosecutors say Kuehl’s amended bill--co-authored by Villaraigosa and Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley)--goes too far. “It ignores the fact that there are many successfully run district attorney child support programs in the state,” said Lawrence Brown, executive director of the prosecutors association.

“With the bill as it is now, the line has been drawn in the sand,” he added. “It allows for a debate over whether removing the program from the district attorneys is in the best interests of the children.”

As the committee approved restructuring there was a reminder Tuesday of the sort of mistakes that prompted the reform drive.

Due to a computer error, the state in the past few months has improperly confiscated nearly 800 tax refunds from debtor parents who have actually met their child support obligation, officials said.

Karen Perkins, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Social Services, said a processing error led the state to leave the names of parents who have paid up on the list of taxpayers targeted by both the state Franchise Tax Board and the Internal Revenue Service.

Perkins said that it is unknown how many people will have federal refunds withheld but that 791 state returns are being held up. It is unclear when the money can be returned, she said.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said Tuesday that parents in his county whose taxes are erroneously held should call his child support office to receive a refund.