HOUSE BILL REPORT

SHB 419

BYHouse Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representatives Hargrove, Wineberry, Padden, Brekke, Holm, Patrick, Winsley, Brough, Silver and Moyer; by request of Department of Social and Health Services)

Providing for administrative determination of paternity.

House Committe on Judiciary

Majority Report:     The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (10)

     Signed by Representatives Armstrong, Chair; Appelwick, Brough, Hargrove, Locke, Niemi, Padden, Scott, Wang and Wineberry.

Minority Report:     Do not pass.  (2)

     Signed by Representatives Crane, Vice Chair; and Heavey.

House Staff:Harry Reinert (786-7110)

Rereferred House Committee on Ways & Means/Appropriations

Majority Report:     The substitute bill by Committee on Judiciary be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (22)

     Signed by Representatives Locke, Chair; Belcher, Braddock, Brekke, Bristow, Ebersole, Fuhrman, Grant, Grimm, Hine, Holland, McLean, McMullen, Nealey, Niemi, Peery, Sayan, Silver, L. Smith, H. Sommers, Sprenkle and B. Williams.

House Staff:    Sandi Gray (786-7154)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 19, 1987

BACKGROUND:

Washington has adopted the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA).  The UPA provides for a judicial means to establish whether there is a parent-child relationship.  The UPA establishes circumstances in which a parent-child relationship is presumed to exist.  These include instances where the mother and the alleged father were married at the time of conception, or had attempted to be married, when the alleged father receives the child into his home as his child, or if the alleged father acknowledges paternity in writing.  The UPA also establishes procedures for notifying an alleged father of the initiation of a court proceeding to establish paternity and for hearings on the issue of paternity.

The court, as part of the UPA proceeding, may order blood tests.  If it makes a determination of paternity, the court may also enter an order for support and visitation.  The support order must include notice that the party receiving support may seek a mandatory wage assignment if one full support payment is more than 15 days past due. The support order may be for expenses incurred up to five years prior to the entry of the order.

In investigating a claim for support enforcement, the department may not question the mother about her sexual activity except to resolve a dispute about the child's parentage.  If the mother states that a particular man is the father, the department may not question the mother further on her personal life unless the man denies that he is the father.

The Governor's Task Force on Support Enforcement has recommended the adoption of an administrative process for establishing paternity.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) through the Office of Support Enforcement (OSE) may bring an administrative action to establish paternity in any case in which OSE is providing support enforcement services.

The administrative proceeding is initiated by personal service of a notice and allegation of paternity on a man or men alleged by the mother to be the father of a child.  The proceeding may be initiated either before or after the child's birth.  The notice must include an assessment of current, future, and past due support, an assessment of responsibility for medical expenses, and a statement of the current custodial arrangement for the child.  The alleged father must also be notified of the right to file an action for determination of paternity under the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), of the need to file a separate action for visitation with the superior court, if desired, and of the right to request an administrative hearing on the question of paternity.

If an alleged father who is served with notice and finding of paternity does not respond to the notice within twenty days, a default order of paternity may be entered in the administrative proceeding. If the alleged father files an action under the UPA, the administrative proceeding is deemed withdrawn.

If a default order is entered, OSE may initiate a collection action on any support debt.  The default order must also be filed with the superior court and entered on the judgment docket of the court.  Once the order is docketed, it has the same force and effect as a superior court order or decree.  For up to one year after the default order is entered, the alleged father, as a matter of right, may petition the superior court to vacate the default order and proceed under the UPA.  After one year from entry of the default order the alleged father may petition the superior court to vacate the default order on the grounds established in superior court civil rule 60 or for good cause. If the court grants the petition in the latter instance, it shall proceed as though the father had filed a paternity action in superior court.

The administrative law judge may order blood tests on the alleged father, the mother, and the child upon the request of any party or the OSE.  If the alleged father fails to appear for a required blood test, a default order of paternity may be entered by the administrative law judge.  If the mother fails to appear for a required blood test, the alleged father may move for dismissal of the proceedings.  Any party may request a superior court order to enforce the request for a blood test.

If an alleged father contests paternity, an administrative hearing must be scheduled within 90 days of the date of the request for hearing.  The hearing shall be conducted as a contested hearing under the Administrative Procedures Act and rules adopted by DSHS and the Office of Administrative Hearings. OSE has the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the alleged father is the father of the child, unless the alleged father is a presumed father under the UPA.  If the alleged father is a presumed father under the UPA, the alleged father has the burden of showing by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that he is not the father of the child.

If the current or future support obligation or the support debt is at issue, the amount of support debt may be determined in the administrative proceeding.  A support debt may not be assessed for any period prior to five years before commencement of the administrative paternity action.

A final order of paternity of the administrative law judge is filed with the superior court and shall have the same force and effect as a decision of the superior court. Either party or OSE may appeal from the decision of the administrative law judge in the same manner as for other contested hearings under the administrative procedures act.

The department is authorized in the course of its investigation to determine the paternity to question the mother about her sexual activity to the extent necessary to identify and locate possible fathers and establish paternity.

EFFECT OF SENATE AMENDMENT(S):  The Senate amendment strikes the provisions for administrative establishment of paternity.  The Senate amendment instead directs the Department of Social and Health Services to augment its present paternity establishment practice by hiring additional assistant attorneys general or contracting with private attorneys.  Private attorneys may be hired only on six-month contracts and only in counties or judicial districts where prosecutors or the attorney general are unable to handle the caseload.  The department is required to report to the Judiciary committees of the House and Senate and to the prosecutors about circumstances in which it hires private attorneys.  The amendment appropriates $467,787 to the Department of Social and Health Services for the next biennium to comply with the act.  The Senate amendment retains the provision allowing the department to question the mother about her sexual activity.

Fiscal Note:    Attached.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     (Judiciary)  Lucille Christenson, DSHS Revenue Division; Dan Radin, Assistant Attorney General.

(Ways & Means/Appropriations)  Lucille Christenson, DSHS Revenue Division.

House Committee - Testified Against: (Judiciary)  Deborah Perluss, Evergreen Legal Services; Mike Redman, WAPA.

(Ways & Means/Appropriations)  None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:     (Judiciary)  The current judicial process for establishing paternity has resulted in a significant backlog of cases.  The federal government is threatening to withhold funds if this backlog is not reduced.  The administrative process established by this bill will create a supplement to the current judicial process that will help to ease the backlog.

(Ways & Means/Appropriations)  Same as testimony presented in Committee on Judiciary.

House Committee - Testimony Against: (Judiciary)  There are a number of potential constitutional difficulties in the bill in the notice, process, and appeals procedures.  Permitting additional questioning of mothers about their sexual practices will reopen an area of trouble that the Legislature has previously had to close because of abuses by support enforcement personnel.  There have been a number of improvements in the handling of cases under the judicial process in the last year and the added administrative process created by this bill may be unnecessary.

(Ways & Means/Appropriations)  None Presented.

VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE:

     Yeas 91; Nays 4; Absent 1; Excused 2

Voting Nay:     Representatives Crane, Heavey, Niemi and Patrick

Absent:    Representative Fisher

Excused:   Representatives Moyer and Pruitt