Bill Summary for Bill Number Presentation of Draft Interim Legislation

Date: 09/22/2014

Final
BILL SUMMARY for Presentation of Draft Interim Legislation - Bill 1

EARLY CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL READINESS LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Move that Bill 1 be included as one of the bills t	PASS

10:00 AM -- Presentation of Draft Interim Legislation - Bill 1

Ms. Brita Darling, Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS), presented Bill 1 (Attachment D). Bill 1 concerns the distribution of child support payments while a recipient is receiving benefits under the Colorado Works program. Ms. Darling explained that the bill requires the state to pass-through child support payments assigned to the state to the intended recipient, rather than keeping it during the time the recipient is receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) support. She said that the bill changes the pass-through from being permissive, to being a requirement. She said that the current requirement for recipients to assign the child support payments to the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) will remain in place, but the pass-through will be a requirement under the bill. She said that the amount of pass-through will be the entire child support payment, not a percentage. Ms. Darling walked the commission through each section of the bill and discussed including a safety clause versus a petition clause in the bill.

14EarlyChildhood0922AttachD.pdf

The following people testified:

10:16 AM -- Ms. Gini Pingenot, representing Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI), testified on the bill. She said that CCI has not taken a position on the bill, but discussed concerns that have been communicated to her by county executives regarding the proposal. She talked about child support enforcement and the requirement that county human services departments work with the families receiving TANF to collect these payments. Ms. Pingenot said that if pass-through is required, the state will need to revaluate the role of counties in collecting the payments. She said that under the current structure, the ability to retain child support is an incentive for counties to do the enforcement. Another concern she shared was whether or not the additional child support being passed-through would be considered income and in effect make families ineligible for program support, creating a cliff effect.

10:22 AM

Ms. Darling stated that the bill is silent on income eligibility, so no change to current requirements will change with the bill. Ms. Pingenot continued her comments. She said that if the bill passes and counties no longer receive funds to enforce the collection of the child support payments, then state General Fund backfill will be necessary. She estimated that the amount of backfill would be around $6 million annually. She talked in greater detail about funding for the Colorado Works program, and noted that the program has about $150 million which is split up between counties, most of which are federal and county dollars. She said that no state General Fund monies are currently included. She said that counties want General Fund dollars to be included so that the basic cash assistance grants will provide more than $150 million per year in support to recipients. Ms. Pingenot responded to questions from the commission concerning child support enforcement and General Fund backfill to counties.

10:32 AM -- Mr. Terry Scanlon, representing the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), testified in favor of the bill. He said that the goal of the bill is to reduce poverty and advance economic security. He said that child support payments from non-custodial parents increase when the parent knows that the money will be retained by the child and not go to the state. He said that he thinks the bill will increase parental income in Colorado. He talked about the way assigned child support payments are currently distributed: about half goes to the state and counties, and the other half goes to the federal government. He said that, essentially, non-custodial parents in low-wage jobs whose children receive support under TANF are supporting governmental enforcement efforts, and that this is a major flaw of the system. He said that a few years ago, the federal government changed the system to allow a portion of the federal government's share to be waived; $100 for one child families and up to $200 for two or more children. He said that the bill will allow more money to stay in Colorado. Mr. Scanlon disagreed with Ms. Pingenot on the estimated amount of county backfill that would be required, and said that DHS has estimated it will cost $4.1 million to backfill counties. He added that there would be approximately $1 million in additional funds required to update computer systems for the change. Mr. Scanlon talked about TANF and said that it is a revenue source that the state gets from the federal government, and that Colorado Works is Colorado's effort to meet the goals of the federal TANF program. He said that around 2001 or 2002, the state had a nice TANF reserve, but that the state dialed back on General Fund support for the Colorado Works program. He would like to see the Joint Budget Committee appropriate money to the Colorado Works program from the General Fund. He added that it is not the best use of parents' money to support state and federal enforcement programs, and that the General Fund has sufficient resources. Mr. Scanlon responded to questions from the commission. Ms. Chaer Robert, also representing the CCLP, joined Mr. Scanlon at the table to respond to questions.


BILL:	Bill 1
TIME:	10:50:50 AM
MOVED:	Kefalas
MOTION:	Move that Bill 1 be included as one of the bills to be forwarded to Legislative Council. The motion passed on a vote of 5-0, with one member excused.
SECONDED:	Pettersen
		VOTE
	Kefalas	Yes
	Marble	Yes
	McCann	Yes
	Wilson	Excused
	Todd	Yes
	Pettersen	Yes

FINAL YES: 5 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

10:51 AM

The bill will start in the Senate and Senator Kefalas and Senator Marble will be the co-prime sponsors in the Senate. Representative Pettersen will be the prime sponsor in the House. Senator Todd will be a co-sponsor.