Legislature(1997 - 1998)

04/29/1998 03:50 PM Senate RES

Audio Topic
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
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        SB 252 - PATERNITY/CHILD SUPPORT/NONSUPPORT CRIMES                     
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to              
order at 3:50 p.m.  He brought SB 252 before the committee as the              
first order of business.                                                       
                                                                               
JULI LUCKY, staff to Senator Halford, directed attention to a new              
draft CSSB 252(RES), version "H," and two amendments to that work              
draft.  Ms. Lucky then outlined the following changes between the              
new draft and the work draft (version "F") adopted at a previous               
hearing on the bill:                                                           
                                                                               
  -  In Section 2 "recreational licensing" wording adopted at the              
     previous hearing has been incorporated.  This language                    
     differentiates between a recreational hunting or fishing                  
     license and a license required for subsistence or personal                
     use.                                                                      
                                                                               
  -  Sections 3 and 5, which were in the HESS version of SB 252 but            
     were not in the previous Resources CS, have been incorporated             
     into version "H."                                                         
                                                                               
  -  Section 4 will disallow sale of a list of social secuirty                 
     numbers collected by the state agency required by this bill.              
                                                                               
                                                                               
  -  Section 6 relates to confidentiality and would require the                
     Department of Fish and Game at the time that they allow a                 
     vendor to sell licenses to notify them of the consequences if             
     social security numbers are let out.                                      
                                                                               
  -  Sections 7 through 10 were in the HESS version of the bill and            
     require the Department of Fish and Game to provide social                 
     security numbers to CSED upon request.                                    
                                                                               
  -  Section 11 is a court amendment that requires the court to                
     provide copies of records for CSED for child support services.            
                                                                               
  -  Section 13 is the mediation amendment that was offered and                
     adopted at the previous hearing on the bill.                              
                                                                               
  -  In Section 22 the reference to first-class mail has been                  
     deleted and it now provides that service will be by certified             
     mail, return receipt requested, or served personally.                     
                                                                               
  -  In Section 24 the amounts the employer would have to pay as a             
     civil penalty have been changed.                                          
                                                                               
  -  In Section 25 the language relating to subpoenas has been                 
     reworded for clarity.                                                     
                                                                               
Number 145                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN inquired as to the status of an amendment to                   
Section 12 she had proposed at the previous hearing, which relates             
to withholding orders, an would delete the phrase "shall                       
immediately send" and replace it with "may enforce the order by                
sending."  She said she thought it was agreeable with the                      
department to change that language so that it is more permissive.              
                                                                               
                                                                               
SENATOR GREEN voiced her concern of a person being notified in a               
timely manner if an order has been issued but the language provides            
that it "may" be sent.  That means that person is left out of a                
loop and then could be held liable for nonpayment.                             
                                                                               
BARBARA MIKLOS, Director, Child Support Enforcement Division,                  
Department of Revenue, clarified that this is not the section that             
requires the Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) to  send out            
withholding orders.  This is a special court order that a person               
gets directly and they may send it, but it is separate of the                  
legislation, and it is not  used very often.                                   
                                                                               
DAN BRANCH, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, said he             
thought the word "shall" was put in by the drafters to make sure               
that if you wanted to enforce a withholding order that you                     
accompany it with all of the other documents that are listed.  He              
said if the amendment is adopted, he doesn't think it is going to              
diminish the ability of a non-custodial parent who is not using the            
agency to enforce an income withholding order.  He said the purpose            
of the amendment is to clarify and perhaps alleviate some of the               
concern that a newly divorced custodial parent might have that they            
are obligated by the statute to take a copy of the divorce order               
and send it off to anybody who might have money belonging to the               
child support debtor.                                                          
                                                                               
                                                                               
MS. LUCKY continued her overview of the changes made in CSSB
252(RES), version "H."                                                         
                                                                               
  -  Sections 26 and 27 relate to a person filing a response when              
     served with a notice of paternity and financial                           
     responsibility.  The deadline has been extended to 30 days for            
     financial information and for admitting or denying paternity,             
     and to 45 days to comply with genetic testing.                            
                                                                               
  -  Section 52 makes the Act nonseverable.                                    
                                                                               
Number 261                                                                     
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD requested a motion to adopt the new Resources CS.             
                                                                               
SENATOR GREEN moved the adoption of CSSB 252(RES), version "H."                
Hearing no objection, the motion carried.                                      
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN moved the following amendment to CSSB 252(RES):                
                                                                               
Page 9, line 10:  Delete the language "shall immediately send" and             
replace it with "may enforce the order by sending"                             
                                                                               
SENATOR TAYLOR objected to the adoption of Senator Lincoln's                   
amendment.   He said if the court was obligated every time to issue            
an income withholding order, why should someone be given the                   
opportunity to sit on it.  He added he couldn't see where the                  
amendment, in any way, benefits that person.                                   
                                                                               
MR. BRANCH stated that the department is neutral on the amendment.             
He added that the statutes provide that every child support order              
issued in the state shall contain a income withholding order.  The             
Court System has made provisions in the child support order form to            
allow the court to not make the income withholding order immediate             
in certain circumstances.  He added that the particular subsection             
that the amendment addresses is going to be used more by the                   
custodial parent that chooses not to go through CSED than by the               
agency.                                                                        
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD called for a hand vote on the adoption of Senator             
Lincoln's amendment.  By a vote of 1-5, the amendment failed.                  
                                                                               
SENATOR LEMAN moved that CSSB 252(RES) be passed out of committee              
with individual recommendations.  Hearing no  objection, it was so             
ordered.                                                                       

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