CHILD SUPPORT AMNESTY PROGRAM H.B. 5259 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSIS
House Bill 5259 (Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Representative John Stahl
House Committee: Family and Children Services
Senate Committee: Families and Human Services
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Friend of the Court Act to prohibit a Friend of the Court office from initiating a support enforcement measure to collect a payer's child support arrearage while he or she had amnesty for that arrearage (as proposed by House Bill 4654).
The bill would take effect June 1, 2005. It is tie-barred to House Bills 4654 and 5262, which would establish the amnesty program and prohibit the prosecution of an individual for desertion and abandonment, failing to pay support as required by a court order, or refusing or neglecting to support one's family, while he or she had amnesty.
MCL 552.511 Legislative Analyst: Julie Koval
FISCAL IMPACT
To the extent that a child support amnesty program would potentially decrease the number of child support cases with arrearages, the bills would provide indeterminate, and likely insignificant, savings in the administrative costs of collecting on cases with past due amounts and in the criminal justice costs of prosecuting such cases and incarcerating individuals convicted of failing to pay child support. By providing for the waiver of fines associated with failure to pay child support, the bills could decrease penal fine revenue, which is dedicated to public libraries.
Date Completed: 12-8-04 Fiscal Analyst: Bethany Wicksall
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. hb5259/0304