Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2303, H.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to streamline the child support enforcement process by allowing income withholding to continue when current child support terminates and there are outstanding arrears owed.

This measure also enables the Child Support Enforcement Agency to adopt administrative rules as necessary to implement income withholding requirements of chapter 576D and Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that presently, when a non-custodial parent's obligation to pay current child support ends, income withholding is normally stopped even if the individual owes back child support. Either a judicial or administrative action must then be initiated to establish an order to liquidate the arrears and concurrently establish a new withholding order for the liquidation. This measure would permit the Child Support Enforcement Agency to utilize the existing income withholding order and would negate the need for the time-consuming process of reinstitution of income withholding for the payment of unpaid child support. Enabling the Child Support Enforcement Agency to have income withholding collection continue when current support terminates and apply these collections to arrears is expected to increase the performance level for collection on arrears without expending more resources. This measure will assist in making the child support enforcement process a more efficient one.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2303, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.