JOB OPPORTUNITIES TASK FORCE
Advocating better skills, jobs, and incomes
TO: Hon. Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., Chair, and members of the Judiciary Committee
FROM: Kevin Griffin Moreno, Senior Policy Advocate/Communications Director
DATE: February 23, 2006
The Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) is an independent, nonprofit organization that develops and advocates policies and programs to increase the skills, jobs, and incomes of low-skill, low-wage workers in Maryland. We support HB 1264 as a means of ensuring better outcomes for low-income non-custodial parents and their children.
Thousands of low-income non-custodial parents have accumulated unpayable child support arrearages as a result of a change in their economic status, such as joblessness or incarceration. This debt is owed to the State, because custodial parents who receive public assistance benefits are required to sign over child support rights to the State. In addition to their State-owed debt, obligors continue to owe ongoing child support payments to the custodial parent.
The accrued State-owed debt, which can amount to as much as $30,000 for a single child support order, functions as a disincentive for these parents to engage in mainstream work, since the principal method of collecting child support is through wage garnishment. Obligors who are forced out of the mainstream economy in this manner often are dissuaded from paying their current child support orders to custodial parents. Consequently, the accumulation of State-owed arrearages negatively impacts these parents’ relationships with their children.
Neither the child nor the State benefits when low-income parents are driven into underground economies by unpayable State-owed arrearages. According to the MD Department of Human Resources, the total amount of uncollected Maryland child support arrears in 2002 was $1.1 billion. Eighty-two percent of that debt was owed by non-custodial parents earning between $0 and $20,000 per year.
HB 1264 would help remedy this gap by establishing a Child Support Incentive Program that encourages low-income non-custodial parents with State-owed arrearages to find legitimate employment and do right by their children. Provided that eligible participants remain current on their existing child support orders to their children, the State will agree to reduce the accumulated debt owed to the State. Further debt reduction would be contingent upon participants’ continued engagement in the workforce and continued payment of child support to their children.
HB 1264 would promote positive work habits and responsible parenting among low-income non-custodial parents with State-owed arrearages. It would mean more money for children, more mainstream employment for their parents, and more child support collected by the State. It is a solution that balances the needs of low-income families with the concerns of the State. We respectfully urge a favorable report for HB 1264.