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

SPONSOR Pinto

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01-25-08

HB

SHORT TITLE Navajo Nation Child Support Payment Tracking

SM 12

ANALYST Padilla

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Memorial 12 expresses the support of the New Mexico Senate for federal changes to

improve the Navajo Nation’s ability to collect and track child support payments. The New

Mexico Congressional Delegation is encouraged to take appropriate steps on behalf of the

Navajo Nation to increase its effectiveness in child support collection and enforcement. Copies

of this Memorial shall be transmitted to all members of the State’s Congressional Delegation and

to the President of the Navajo Nation, the Speaker of the House of the Navajo Nation, and the

Secretary of Human Services.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Memorial declares as follows:

•

The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American Tribe within the boundaries of the

United States ad is larger than ten of the 50 states. Almost half of the total Navajo

population is comprised of children under the age of 18. Sixty-one percent of Navajo

grandparents are responsible for grandchildren under the age of eighteen.

•

Over half of the population of the Navajo Nation lives below the poverty level, and over

40 percent of persons on the Navajo Nation are unemployed.

•

Collecting child support for children whose parents are able to pay child support may be

critical in the health and education of a good portion of Navajo children.

•

The federal government granted the Navajo Nation and 39 other tribes the ability to

collect child support, establish paternity and enforce child and medical support

obligations, but did not grant the Navajo Nation access to information essential for

investigation and enforcement.

•

The federal government has suggested that states charge the Navajo Nation for access of

important personnel files of potential payers of child support.

•

The Navajo Nation has suggested five changes the United States Congress can make to

improve the ability to collect child support for Navajo Nation members.

•

The Navajo Nation has collected almost three million dollars ($3,000,000) in past-due

Senate Memorial 12 – Page

2

child support and received more than 10,000 acknowledgements of paternity for Navajo

children.

•

The Navajo Nation Department of Child Support Enforcement has collected a total of

seven million two hundred forty-eight thousand two hundred thirty-seven dollars

($7,248,237) in child support during fiscal year 2007.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The Memorial states that New Mexico’s Congressional Delegation be urged to take the

following steps to improve child support collection on the Navajo Nation as follows:

A.

Eliminate the federal prohibition on the Navajo Nation’s ability to purchase and develop

its own tribal child support computer system and, therefore remove the need for the

Navajo Nation to pay another government, such as the State of New Mexico, in order to

get case information on Navajo residents living in New Mexico.

B.

Allow the Navajo Nation to access, “locate, and enforcement tools," directly, removing

the need to contract with other governments to provide passport denial or revocation,

multi-state financial institution data matching, the parent locator service, tax offset data

and demonstration grants made available by the federal government.

C.

Encourage the federal government to complete its design of a model tribal child support

system to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

D.

Reduce the percentage of funds required from the Navajo Nation in order to match

federal funds so that the Navajo Nation can receive federal funds to help collect child

support even during time of declining employment.

E.

Provide the Navajo Nation an appeal of the federal determinations of whether a hardship

is severe enough to permit a waiver of strict rules governing required tribal matching

funds, and add a possible waiver into federal language for extreme economic problems

instead of allowing a waiver only for natural disasters, including extreme weather and

calamities such as hurricanes and earthquakes.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The consequences of not enacting this bill will result in lack of support from the Senate for

federal changes to improve the Navajo Nation’s ability to collect and track child support

payments.

JRP/mt