Legislature(2001 - 2002)
2001-01-09 Senate Journal
Full Journal pdf2001-01-09 Senate Journal Page 0028 SB 19 SENATE BILL NO. 19 BY THE SENATE RULES COMMITTEE BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR, entitled: "An Act repealing the termination date of changes made by ch. 87, SLA 1997 and ch. 132, SLA 1998 regarding child support enforcement and related programs; repealing the nonseverability provision of ch. 132, SLA 1998; repealing certain requirements for applicants for hunting and sport fishing licenses or tags, and for certain hunting permits, to provide social security numbers for child support enforcement purposes; and providing for an effective date." was read the first time and referred to the Resources, Health, Education and Social Services and Finance Committees. The following fiscal information was published today: Fiscal Note No. 1, zero, Department of Revenue. Governor's transmittal letter dated January 8: Dear President Halford: Alaska's Child Support Enforcement Division collected and distributed a record $85 million in Fiscal Year 2000 and is headed toward a new record this year. This bill I transmit today guarantees the state can retain the tools that enabled this success in helping thousands of children receive the financial support they need. It also keeps Alaska in compliance with federal welfare reform laws and eligible for nearly $80 million in annual federal funding to operate Alaska's family assistance and child support programs. This bill continues the state program begun in 1997 and 1998 as part of Alaska's compliance with federal welfare reform which has reduced dependence on government-funded public assistance programs by increasing child support collections. The Alaska legislature chose to sunset those compliance measures on July 1, 2001. 2001-01-09 Senate Journal Page 0029 This bill is important to the lives of the children and parents who make up the nearly 48,000 child support cases in Alaska. It will keep in place those successful provisions of the 1997 and 1998 legislation which have improved child support collections, including: · Enhanced due process protections in paternity proceedings. · Requirements that all employers report newly hired employees to the child support agency. · Authorization to use financial institution data matches to locate assets of delinquent parents. · Immunity from civil liability for employers and financial institutions that comply with child support income- withholding orders. · Prohibitions against disclosing identifying information of a parent or child when there is evidence of domestic violence. · Requirements for Social Security numbers on certain vital statistics and court records, and on applications for some state licenses. To protect an individual's privacy, the numbers are not required on the actual licenses but only on the applications. · Authorization for the child support agency to obtain orders requiring delinquent parents to seek work and orders to set aside a parent's fraudulent transfer of property if it was done to avoid a child support obligation. · Improved access to records of other government agencies and financial institutions to locate delinquent parents and their assets. I also want to point out that this bill repeals one controversial part of the earlier legislation. Alaska recently received a waiver from the federal requirement to collect Social Security numbers on applications for sport fishing and hunting licenses, allowing us to remove that requirement from law. 2001-01-09 Senate Journal Page 0030 In the years since passage of the 1997 and 1998 legislation, the state has found the provisions of those bills effective at ensuring children receive the support they need from both parents. Failure to adopt this bill would jeopardize several years of progress in helping Alaska's families. Sincerely, /s/ Tony Knowles Governor