Deadbeat Parents in Newtown Will Have to Pay Up if Proposed Bill Passes

By Wendy Ann Mitchell (Patch Staff)

State Senators Kevin Kelly and Paul Doyle, and State Representative Laura Hoydick proposed legislation that will improve Connecticut’s collection rate for past-due child support payments. The bill, HB 5315, An Act Implementing the Recommendations of the Task Force to Study Methods for Improving the Collection of Past Due Child Support, was issued into the January session of the General Assembly.

“Connecticut has a consistently poor record in collecting delinquent child support compared to other states, and a large part of that is simply due to poor practices and obsolete technology,” Rep. Hoydick said in a release.

“Our Task Force has identified a number of key areas where child support collection can be dramatically improved by implementing some new technologies and policies currently in place in other states that are successful in this area.”

Se, Kelly said, “This bill is about supporting Connecticut’s children and eliminating inadequacies in the current system. We need to advance Connecticut and make sure we are doing the best job we can when it comes to enforcing the law. Child support collection is currently riddled with problems that impact families across the state. We have identified multiple ways to improve the system and it’s time to put these solutions into action.”

The legislators estimate that the amount of uncollected child support in Connecticut is nearly $1.5 billion dollars. According to the press release, the federal government reimburses 66 percent of expenditures in child support collection cases.

“Connecticut’s children should not be denied the financial support that they are entitled to because of outdated tactics and obsolete technology,” said Sen. Doyle. “This legislation will modernize the technology and methods by which Connecticut collects delinquent child support. It will implement data-driven case management and online tools, automated systems, and proven collection procedures to improve our state’s success rate so that Connecticut families can feel confident in the reliability of their child support payments.”

“In Connecticut we use a legacy computer system from 1993 which is inadequate in keeping up with the more than 200,000 child support cases,” said Hoydick. “Connecticut has no web-based services for families such as on-line applications or on-line case and payment information. Without an electronic document management reporting system or dashboard staff must manage their caseloads by dealing with paper records.”

The bill, HB 5315, seeks to implement data-driven case management tools, mobile and online tools, a paternity tracking system, automated interfaces, and a modification computer system.

The bill also seeks to increase special police officers from 6 to 8 for the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) for the Department of Social Services (DSS) so officers can serve warrants for child support collection.

The 2015 legislation has been referred to the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, June 3.

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