Child Support Enforcement And Driver’s License Suspension .

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Child Support Enforcement and Driver’sLicense Suspension PoliciesCarmen Solomon-FearsSpecialist in Social PolicyApril 11, 2011The House Ways and Means Committee is making available this version of this Congressional Research Service(CRS) report, with the cover date shown, for inclusion in its 2012 Green Book website. CRS works exclusivelyfor the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to Committees and Members of both theHouse and Senate, regardless of party affiliation.Congressional Research ServiceR41762CRS Report for CongressPrepared for Members and Committees of Congress

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesSummaryThe Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a federal-state program whose mission is toenhance the well-being of children by helping custodial parents obtain financial support for theirchildren from the noncustodial parent. Child support payments enable parents who do not livewith their children to fulfill their financial responsibility to their children by contributing to thepayment of childrearing costs. As a condition of receiving federal CSE funds, Congress requireseach state to have in effect laws requiring the use of a specified list of collection/enforcementprocedures to increase the effectiveness of the state’s CSE program. P.L. 104-193 (the 1996welfare reform law) added to the CSE program’s array of collection/enforcement methods bygiving states the authority to withhold, suspend, or restrict the driver’s license of certainnoncustodial parents. Although income withholding is the main and most effective way ofcollecting child support (67% of collections), 16% of child support collections in FY2009 wereobtained through un-named methods (often categorized in data reports as “other” or “othersources”), which included money obtained directly from noncustodial parents who were payingtheir child support obligation to avoid having their driver’s license withheld, suspended, orrestricted. The use of these driver’s license suspension procedures is not mandated in every case,but they must be available at a state’s discretion. Because driver’s license suspension proceduresfollow state law, practices vary across the country. States have a great deal of flexibility inimplementing driver’s license suspension programs.In 2008, there were 208 million licensed drivers in the United States (about 87% of the drivingage population). According to survey data, about 5% of the U.S. population who worked tookpublic transportation to their jobs, while 76% commuted to work in a private vehicle and 11%carpooled (the remaining 8% walked, bicycled, rode a motorcycle, or worked at home).Supporters of driver’s license suspension policies re-iterate that a driver’s license is a privilegeprovided by the states. They maintain that noncustodial parents who fail to meet their childsupport obligations are not deserving of driving privileges. They also say that people who cannotafford to pay their child support obligations because of financial circumstances have theopportunity to have their child support payments reduced through state CSE review andmodification procedures and thereby have no legitimate excuse for noncompliance. They contendthat states have been very successful in collecting child support payments through thiscollection/enforcement method.Critics of driver’s license suspension policies contend that having one’s driving privilegesuspended is counterproductive. They assert that it can lessen a person’s ability to keep a job orfind work and thus lessen the person’s ability to fulfill his or her child support obligation. Theynote that some noncustodial parents may become resentful of the government and his or herrelationship with the custodial parent may become antagonistic, which may have a negativeimpact on the child’s (or children’s) well-being. Moreover, they say that some noncustodialparents who feel that they are battling a futile situation may become less engaged with society,their families, and their children and thereby become less concerned about trying to meet theirchild support obligations.This report provides basic information on the CSE program, describes the ways in which stateshave implemented driver’s license suspension policies (see the Appendix for the state table),provides existing data on the amounts collected through driver’s license suspension policies, anddiscusses some concerns regarding the use of driver’s license suspension as a CSE program tool.Congressional Research Service

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesContentsIntroduction. 1Background. 4Driver’s License Suspension Procedures: Highlights of State Practices . 6Authorizing Entity . 7Sanction Triggers. 8Hearing Notice Requirements . 8Reinstatement Procedures . 9Data. 9Issues Associated with Driver’s License Suspension . 10Finding and Keeping Employment Without A Driver’s License. 11Restoring Suspended Driver’s Licenses . 13Encouraging Fairness in the Driver’s License Suspension Process . 15Concluding Remarks . 17TablesTable 1. Total Child Support Collections Received by Methods of Collection, FY2009 . 9Table 2. Access to a Car in 10 Cities, by Employment Status . 12Table A-1. State CSE Driver’s License Suspension Policies. 20AppendixesAppendix. A Synopsis of State Driver’s License Suspension Policies . 19Congressional Research Service

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesIntroductionChild support is the cash payment that noncustodial parents are obligated to pay for the financialcare of their children. It is usually established when a couple dissolves their relationship (e.g.,divorce, separation) or when a custodial parent applies for welfare assistance.1 The Child SupportEnforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program (Title IV-D of theSocial Security Act; P.L. 93-647) to recover the costs of providing cash welfare assistance tosingle-parent families with children and to secure financial support for children from theirnoncustodial parent on a consistent and continuing basis, thereby helping some families to remainself-sufficient and off public assistance. The CSE program has evolved over time from a “welfarecost-recovery” program into a “family-first” program that seeks to enhance the well-being offamilies by making child support a more reliable source of income. The child support order orobligation is established administratively by a state (through the CSE agency) or through a state’sfamily court system.The CSE program provides seven major services on behalf of children: (1) locating absentparents, (2) establishing paternity, (3) establishing child support orders, (4) reviewing andmodifying child support orders, (5) collecting child support payments, (6) distributing childsupport payments, and (7) establishing and enforcing support for children’s medical needs. All 50states and four jurisdictions (the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. VirginIslands) and some tribal nations operate CSE programs.2 The CSE program is administered by thefederal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), which is in the Department of Health andHuman Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF).3 The CSE programprovides services to both welfare families (who are automatically enrolled free of charge) andnonwelfare families (who must apply for services and pay an application fee).4Collection/enforcement methods used by state CSE agencies include income withholding;intercept of federal and state income tax refunds; intercept of unemployment compensation; liensagainst property; reporting child support obligations to credit bureaus; intercept of lotterywinnings; sending insurance settlement information to CSE agencies; authority to withhold orsuspend driver’s licenses, professional licenses, and recreational and sporting licenses of personswho owe past-due support; and authority to seize assets of debtor parents held by public orprivate retirement funds and financial institutions. Moreover, federal law authorizes the Secretaryof State to deny, revoke, or restrict passports of debtor parents. All jurisdictions also have civil orcriminal contempt-of-court procedures and criminal nonsupport laws. In addition, federalcriminal penalties may be imposed in certain cases.1Also, in cases where a child is born outside of marriage, paternity may be acknowledged at the time of the baby’sbirth and procedures to establish a child support order may be initiated shortly thereafter.2In FY2009, 36 Indian tribes or tribal organizations operated comprehensive tribal CSE programs and 11 Indian tribesor tribal organizations operated start-up tribal CSE programs. For additional information on tribal CSE programs, seeCRS Report R41204, Child Support Enforcement: Tribal Programs, by Carmen Solomon-Fears.3For additional information on the CSE program, see CRS Report RS22380, Child Support Enforcement: ProgramBasics, by Carmen Solomon-Fears. Also see CRS Report R41431, Child Well-Being and Noncustodial Fathers, byCarmen Solomon-Fears, Gene Falk, and Adrienne L. Fernandes-Alcantara.4In FY2009, 14% of the 15.8 million families on the CSE caseload were Temporary Assistance for Needy Families(TANF; i.e., welfare) families, 44% were families who were formerly on TANF, and 42% were families who had neverbeen on TANF.Congressional Research Service1

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesBetween FY1978 and FY2009, total distributed child support payments collected by CSEagencies increased from 1 billion in FY1978 to 26.4 billion in FY2009. Also, in FY2009 theCSE program collected 4.78 in child support payments from noncustodial parents for every 1 itspent. However, the program still collects only 62% of child support obligations for which it hasresponsibility; if arrearage payments (i.e., past-due child support obligations) are taken intoaccount, the percentage drops to 20%.5P.L. 104-193, the 1996 welfare reform law, included over 50 provisions to improve the CSEprogram. It was P.L. 104-193 that added the requirement that states have procedures to withhold,suspend, or restrict driver’s licenses as a sanction for failure to pay child support. Althoughincome withholding is the primary and most effective way of collecting child support payments(67% of collections), 16% of child support collections in FY2009 were obtained through unnamed methods (often categorized in data reports as “other” or “other sources”), which includedmoney obtained directly from noncustodial parents who were paying their child supportobligation to avoid having their driver’s license withheld, suspended, or restricted.6 (See Table 1in the “Data” section.)Recent data indicate that about 5% of the United States population who worked took publictransportation to their jobs, 76% commuted to work in a private vehicle, and 11% carpooled.7 Theother 8% walked, bicycled, rode a motorcycle, or worked at home.8 According to one report:Access to driving—including a reliable, affordable vehicle and a valid driver’s license—isvital to economic security, strong communities, and a healthy economy. Most communitiesnow depend on private vehicle access to ensure that workers can fill and retain jobs byeffectively managing the distance and travel time between work and home, as well as accessgoods and services not well served by public transit. Workers commuting from center city tosuburb often find that mass transit does not go where or when they need to go. Driving offersmore flexibility than public transit, especially since bus and subway stops are not locatedwithin a reasonable distance of every employer, and many transit providers do not offerservice during off-peak hours. Access to driving also saves time lost to long waits andtransfers on public transit, allows travel door-to-door, increases safety, offers moreprotection in bad weather, and permits people to transport heavy or bulky items likegroceries.9In 2008, there were 208 million licensed drivers in the U.S. (about 87% of the driving-agepopulation).10 Moreover, an automobile was the asset most likely to be owned by persons in the5In FY2009, 139.8 billion in child support obligations ( 32.2 billion in current support and 107.6 billion in past-duesupport) was owed to families receiving CSE services, but only 27.4 billion was paid ( 19.9 billion current, 7.5billion past-due).6According to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), the category referred to as “other sources” includesbut is not limited to administrative enforcement in interstate cases; payments received directly from the noncustodialparents; collections received through the Internal Revenue Service’s full collection process; collections received as aresult of the administrative offset process; and collections received through the Financial Institution Data Match. Note:the named CSE collection/enforcement categories consist of income withholding, unemployment intercept offset,federal income tax refund offset, state income tax refund offset, and collections from other states.7U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 2005-2009 ACS 5-Year Estimates, Table S0802—Meansof Transportation to Work by Selected Characteristics.8Clara Reschovsky, Journey to Work: 2000, U.S. Census Bureau, March 2004, p. 3.9Sandra Gustitus, Melody Simmons, and Margy Waller, Access to Driving and License Suspension Policies for theTwenty-First Century Economy, The Mobility Agenda, June 2008, p. 4.10U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Our Nation’s Highways 2010, Publication no.(continued.)Congressional Research Service2

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesUnited States.11 The CSE program, which has a long history of coming up with innovativeapproaches to secure more child support for children living apart from one of their parents,stipulated (pursuant to P.L. 104-193) that states had the authority to withhold, suspend, or restrictthe driver’s licenses of certain noncustodial parents who fail to meet their child supportobligations.Proponents of CSE driver’s license suspension policies generally contend that because vehiclesplay such an important role in the lives of many noncustodial parents, controlling their usethrough licensing authority gives CSE agencies a powerful tool in their mission to obtain childsupport for children. Proponents assert that license suspension is an appropriate tool to motivatenoncustodial parents, who can afford to pay child support but resist paying, to come intocompliance with their child support obligations. Opponents contend that for some low-incomenoncustodial parents who cannot meet their child support obligations, suspending their drivingprivilege only exacerbates their dire financial situation and may result in them losing a jobbecause they cannot legally drive to their place of employment, or it may prevent them fromeffectively searching for a job.In support of its mission to collect child support on behalf of children not living with both of theirparents, state CSE agencies have broad authority to collect and enforce the payment of childsupport through a wide array of collection/enforcement methods. While these methods may beuseful in compelling financially stable noncustodial parents to fulfill their child supportobligations, they may have devastating consequences for low-income noncustodial parents whodo not have a stable and dependable source of income. Moreover, if a CSE tool is usedinappropriately it may result in higher levels of nonpayment of child support and/or higher childsupport arrearages and may result in noncustodial parents disconnecting from their children,which in most cases would not be in the best interest of the child.As part of its oversight duties, Congress periodically examines the effectiveness and efficiency ofthe CSE program.12 This report provides basic information on the CSE program, describes theways in which states have implemented driver’s license suspension policies, provides existingdata on the amounts collected through driver’s license suspension policies, and discusses someconcerns regarding the use of driver’s license suspension as a child support enforcement tool.Table A-1 provides a state-by-state description of several components in the specified state’sdriver’s license suspension policy.(.continued)FHWA-PL-10-023, pp. 28-30.11In 2004, 86% of U.S. households had a motor vehicle, 68% of households owned their own home, and 66% had aninterest-earning asset in a financial institution. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household EconomicStatistics Division, “Asset Ownership Rates for Households, by Selected Characteristics: 2004,” table 2, last revisedJuly 07, 2010, 2.html.12As part of its agenda for the 112th Congress, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources plansto review and consider proposals to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program andrelated welfare reform programs (of which CSE is one); examine barriers to increasing self-sufficiency among lowincome families with children; and review the role that related programs such as CSE play in facilitating economicopportunity for low-income families. Source: Oversight Plan of the Way and Means Committee, February 15, 2011.Congressional Research Service3

Child Support Enforcement and Driver’s License Suspension PoliciesBackgroundChild support payments enable parents who do not live with their children to fulfill their financialresponsibility to their children by contributing to the payment of childrearing costs. There is agrowing consensus that the CSE program can play a major role in reducing poverty by helpingcustodial families obtain a reliable source of income from noncustodial parents. According to ananalysis of Census Bureau data, about 48% of children living in female-headed families that didnot receive child support were poor in 2008. In contrast, 42% of children in such families thatreceived child support were poor, before counting the child support those families received. Aftercounting child support, about 32% of such families were poor; their poverty rate drops by nearlyone-quarter after counting income from child support payments.13 A recent report indicates thatamong poor households who receive it, child support constitutes about 40% of family income.14States are responsible for administering the CSE program, but the federal governm

carpooled (the remaining 8% walked, bicycled, rode a motorcycle, or worked at home). Supporters of driver’s license suspension policies re-iterate that a driver’s license is a privilege provided by the states. They maintain that noncustodial parents who fail to meet their child support obligations are not deserving of driving privileges.

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