REPORT TITLE:
Child Support Enforcement


DESCRIPTION:
Allows a parent who does not contest his or her child support
obligations and who is in good standing with the parent's
payments to opt out of the child support enforcement agency
payment system.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            816         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The child support enforcement agency provides
 
 2 assistance to children by locating parents, establishing
 
 3 paternity and support obligations, and enforcing those
 
 4 obligations.  As one of the greatest causes of poverty is the
 
 5 lack of child support from absent families, the child support
 
 6 enforcement agency provides a valuable service to these children
 
 7 and to the State in helping to obtain a better standard of living
 
 8 for them.  The receipt of child support has been linked to more
 
 9 years of school attendance, greater attainment of educational
 
10 goals, increased grade point averages, and reduction in
 
11 behavioral problems.
 
12      However, in recent years the child support enforcement
 
13 agency workload has left the agency swamped, unable to handle and
 
14 correctly process their voluminous caseload.  In December 1998,
 
15 according to the child support enforcement agency administrator,
 
16 the average caseload was about one thousand cases per staff
 
17 member, which was termed "ridiculous".  While increasing the
 
18 staff is one way to deal with the immense workload, in a time of
 
19 economic austerity, that is not the first path to be chosen.  An
 

 
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 1 alternative approach is to review what the agency does, and
 
 2 determine whether all of it is necessary.
 
 3      One of the most time-consuming tasks the child support
 
 4 enforcement agency performs is the collection of child support.
 
 5 However, not all obligor parents are delinquent on child support,
 
 6 or would be delinquent if there were no agency enforcement
 
 7 mechanism.  The current law allows obligors to opt out of the
 
 8 system through court approval of an alternative arrangement for
 
 9 direct payment from the obligor to the custodial parent.  While
 
10 this has bled off some of the agency's child support workload, it
 
11 tends to be used not as often as it might as, unless selected at
 
12 the time of the custody decree, it requires an extra trip to
 
13 court.
 
14      If the child support enforcement agency itself were allowed
 
15 to approve such alternative payments, more parents might take
 
16 advantage of them.  Having this option instead of requiring a
 
17 court order would be less expensive than returning to court and
 
18 would allay the fears of obligor parents who do not want to go
 
19 back to court.  This would reduce the burden on the child support
 
20 system and allow it to focus on the parents who do not pay.
 
21      The purpose of this Act is to permit the child support
 
22 enforcement agency to allow an alternative method of direct
 
23 payment of child support obligations, parallel to the existing
 

 
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 1 right of the court to order such alternative payments.
 
 2      SECTION 2.  Section 576D-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 3 amended to read as follows:
 
 4      1.  By amending subsection (a) to read:
 
 5      "(a)  The agency shall collect and disburse child support
 
 6 payments when an order requires the collection and disbursal[.];
 
 7 subject to this section.  Notwithstanding any other law to the
 
 8 contrary, the agency shall maintain a special interest bearing
 
 9 account for child support payments.  Moneys collected by the
 
10 agency for child support payments shall not be deposited into the
 
11 state treasury, but shall be deposited into this account.  Moneys
 
12 to be disbursed by the agency for child support payments shall be
 
13 disbursed from this account without appropriation or allotment.
 
14 The interest realized from this account shall be used for related
 
15 costs of the maintenance and operation of the account and the
 
16 balance shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit
 
17 of the general fund."
 
18      2.  By amending subsections (c) and (d) to read:
 
19      "(c)  At the time a child support obligation is first
 
20 established or at any time thereafter, the court or the agency
 
21 may approve an alternative arrangement for the direct payment of
 
22 child support from the obligor to the custodial parent as an
 
23 exception to the provisions for income withholding through the
 

 
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 1 agency, as required by sections 571-52.2(a)(1), 571-52.3, and
 
 2 576E-16(a).
 
 3      (d)  The court or the agency may approve an alternative
 
 4 arrangement for the direct payment of child support where either:
 
 5      (1)  The obligor or custodial parent demonstrates and the
 
 6           court or agency finds that there is good cause not to
 
 7           require immediate withholding; or
 
 8      (2)  A written agreement is reached between the obligor and
 
 9           the custodial parent and signed by both parties;
 
10 provided that in either case where child support has been ordered
 
11 previously, an alternative arrangement for direct payment shall
 
12 be approved only where the obligor provides proof of the timely
 
13 payment of previously ordered support.  For purposes of this
 
14 section, good cause to approve an alternative arrangement shall
 
15 be based upon a determination by the court or agency, either in
 
16 writing or on the record, that implementing income withholding
 
17 would not be in the best interests of the child.  Such a
 
18 determination shall include a statement setting forth the basis
 
19 of the court's or agency's conclusion."
 
20      3.  By amending subsection (f) to read:
 
21      "(f)  The alternative arrangement for direct payment
 
22 agreement shall include the most recent addresses of the
 
23 custodial and obligor parent.  If the obligor parent alleges
 

 
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 1 direct payment of child support to the custodial parent after the
 
 2 subject dependents of the court-approved or agency-approved
 
 3 alternative arrangement become recipients of public assistance,
 
 4 including but not limited to public assistance from the
 
 5 department of human services under chapter 346, foster care under
 
 6 section 571-48, Title IV-E or Title XIX of the federal Social
 
 7 Security Act (42 U.S.C. §1396), or after the custodial parent
 
 8 applies for services from the agency, and after receiving proper
 
 9 notification of the change of payee to the agency, then the
 
10 obligor shall have the burden of proving that the child support
 
11 payments were made by presenting written evidence, including but
 
12 not limited to cancelled checks or receipts."
 
13      4.  By amending subsection (i) to read:
 
14      "(i)  The alternative arrangement for direct payment shall
 
15 become effective upon approval and filing by the court or
 
16 approval by the agency and sent to both parties.  For any order
 
17 approved pursuant to this section on or after October 1, 1998,
 
18 each party must send a certified copy of the order to the state
 
19 case registry established under section 576D-6."
 
20      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
21 New statutory material is underscored.
 

 
 
 
 
 
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 1      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 2 
 
 3                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________
 
 4 
 
 5                                         _________________________