44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

REQUESTING THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT TO FAMILIES FOR WHICH IT HAS RECEIVED PAYMENT; REQUESTING A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL; REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO APPOINT AN INTERIM COMMITTEE TO REVISE LEGISLATION RELATING TO THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT.

WHEREAS, the human services department, which collects child support from absent parents is not paying the child support it has collected to the families to which it is due; and

WHEREAS, this devastates children who live in homes where much of the child support comes from absent parents; and

WHEREAS, payments that have been made to the human services department are distributed late by as much as three months and frequently are only a portion of the full amount owed; and

WHEREAS, the problem is statewide and is hitting the population that is least able to defend against this adversity, and that the system is supposed to be serving; and

WHEREAS, one man who had paid his child support received a notice from the human services department that he was ninety days delinquent and that the human services department would garnish his pay; and

WHEREAS, that action also threatened his job; and

WHEREAS, victims of such incompetence have retained an attorney for the purpose of filing a class action lawsuit against the state; and

WHEREAS, the state is potentially at risk; and

WHEREAS, efforts to get the human services department to correct the problem have been met with an absolute disregard for urgency and a lack of willingness to correct the abuse;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the human services department be requested to make child support payments received from absent parents to the dependent family members immediately; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the attorney general be requested to initiate a criminal investigation of the human services department and personnel within that department of potential criminal conduct; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico legislative council appoint an interim committee to draft legislation to revise the statutes for the human services department and submit the legislation to the second session of the forty-fourth legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of human services, the attorney general and the New Mexico legislative council.