HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS

HB 420

BYRepresentatives Appelwick, Armstrong, Valle, Brekke, Holm, Sutherland, Locke and Winsley; by request of Department of Social and Health Services

Creating the Washington state support registry.

House Committe on Judiciary

Majority Report:     The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (11)

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

Minority Report:     Do not pass.  (4)

     Signed by Representatives Heavey, Padden, Patrick and Schmidt.

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY FEBRUARY 27, 1987

BACKGROUND:

A parent who is entitled to receive payments for child support may seek the assistance of independent counsel or the office of support enforcement to collect the support obligation.  At the time of dissolution of marriage proceedings, the court may order support payments to be made directly to the other party, to the department of social and health services, or to the clerk of the court.  The court may also order an assignment of earnings.  Any court order establishing a duty of support must include notice to the obligated parent that a mandatory wage assignment may be ordered if the support obligation becomes past due by more than one full payment.

The Governor's Executive Task Force on Support Enforcement has recommended that a centralized registry be established to collect and disburse all support payments and centralize records relating to support obligations in the state.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  The Washington State Support Registry is established within the Office of Support Enforcement.  The registry is responsible for collecting support payments and paying received funds to the parent entitled to them and maintaining records relating to support orders and debts.

An employer must notify the registry within five days of employment of a new employee's name, address, and social security number. The employer is required to notify the department of employees who are hired for more than twelve hours per week and forty-eight hours per month.  The notification may be made by sending a copy of the W-4 form, calling on a toll-free telephone line to be maintained by the registry, or by any other means approved by the department.  If the employee does not owe a support debt, the information will be destroyed.

Any superior court order and any administrative determination which establishes or modifies support obligations must include a notice that if one month's support payment is more than 15 days past due, payroll deduction may be initiated without further notice to the person obligated to pay support.  The court may order child support payments to be made to the registry or, if the court approves, in the manner the parties agree.  The court or administrative agency must send to the registry a copy of the order establishing or modifying the support obligation.  The clerk of court will be reimbursed for the costs of making the copies sent to the registry.

The department of social and health services may initiate payroll deduction of a parent obligated to pay child support if the support obligation is more than 15 days past due in one month's support amount.  The employer is liable to the registry for one hundred percent of the amount of support which could collected if the employer fails to make required payroll deductions or fails to respond to the notice of payroll deduction.  The employer may deduct ten dollars from the employee's pay to cover the cost of the first payroll deduction and then one dollar for each payroll deduction after the first.

A person obligated to pay support who is subject to a payroll deduction may petition the court to have the payroll deduction terminated if the person was not past due in support payments or if the payroll deduction causes extreme hardship or substantial injustice.  A person who has been subject to payroll deduction for one year may also petition to have the deduction stopped if there is no past due support.

The department must establish a procedure for establishing support obligations as a fixed dollar amount if the order establishing the support obligation does not do so.  The procedure must provide for notification to the party owing support.  The notice must contain an initial finding of a support amount and direct the responsible parent to appear at an administrative hearing on whether this amount should be set at the support obligation.

Records maintained by the support registry are confidential and may be released only when authorized by statute or when necessary for child support enforcement purposes.  The address of a party to a custody action may be released to the other party after the notice of the request for the information has been given.  If the party whose address has been requested shows that a court has limited the right of a party to contact the other party or has prohibited the disclosure, the department shall not release the information.  Disclosure of information in violation of the act is a gross misdemeanor.

If a party to a custody proceeding initiates a mandatory wage assignment, the employer shall pay the funds withheld to the support registry.

The act takes effect January 1, 1988.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The original bill required employers to report any employee who the employer anticipated paying for more than eight hours in a pay period.  The notice had to be given by sending in a W-4 form.  The employer was also required to state the anticipated salary and notify when employment was terminated.  Failure to notify the registry would have resulted in liability for support amounts which could have been collected.  The substitute eliminates these provisions and, instead, requires notice when an employee will work more than twelve hours a week and forty- eight hours a month.  The notice to the department can be by W-4 form, by toll-free telephone call, or by any other means approved by the department. The substitute bill also requires the department to destroy information on a person for whom it has no record of a support obligation.

The original bill also would have required all support payments to be paid through the registry and would have made payroll deduction automatic.  The substitute bill allows the parties to agree to another payment procedure or to have payments go to the department.  Payroll deduction may be initiated only if the support payments are at least 15 days past due.

The substitute bill also eliminates several amendments to existing statutes dealing with the amount of child support which must be established and enhances the original bills provisions relating to the confidentiality of registry records.

Fiscal Note:    Requested March 3, 1987

Effective Date:The bill takes effect January 1, 1988.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Lucille Christenson, DSHS.

House Committee - Testified Against: Gary Smith, Independent Business Association.

House Committee - Testimony For:     There are substantial amounts of child support payments which are not collected.  Although the department currently receives information from the department of labor and industries on employees, this information is usually nine months out of date and not very helpful.  The support registry will enable the department to assist in the efficient collection of child support and will help to reduce public assistance payments for children who are not receiving support from an obligated parent.

House Committee - Testimony Against: Requiring employers to report anticipated salary, termination dates, and other information will be a severe hardship on small businesses, particularly since there is a substantial penalty for failure to report a new employee.