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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Trujillo		DATE TYPED:	02/05/02		HB	227
SHORT TITLE:		Expand Child Enforcement Division				SB
					ANALYST:		Weber

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
	$590.1			Recurring	General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue		Subsequent Years Impact	Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04
	1180.0		Recurring	Federal Funds

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

Human Services Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 227 appropriates $590,100 from the General Fund to the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Human Services Department to increase the number of hearing officers, expand the support staff and for general operational expenses.

Significant Issues

Pursuant to State Supreme Court Order 02-8110, a committee was formed to address the increasing demands on the judiciary from child support cases and identify solutions to the increased child support problems.

Starting in May 2001, the Child Support Enforcement Division implemented a six month phased-in approach to specialize caseworkers, which resulted in an increase in support legal activities. In addition, since October 2001 a federal 1115 Grant has focused on an initiative to improve the percent of cases under the order with an intense outreach campaign and a centralized pilot work unit concentrated on the improvement of paternity and support order establishment. For May 2001, activities of this nature required a total of 823 legal interactions. One year later this total had ballooned to 1,834, an increase of over 1,000. A continuing caseload of this volume led to the October 2002 Supreme Court Order establishing a committee to explore a resolution to the problem. What was previously a backlog of un-worked child support cases is moving to a backlog in the courts due to the success of the specialized training and grant unit.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $590.1 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of Fiscal Year 2004 shall revert to the General Fund. A federal match of approximately 2 to 1 will generate an additional $1,1800 million that can be applied to this effort.

MW/nw/ls