Sunday, December 27, 2009
THE MESS AT SC DSS--HOW THEY GOT THERE AND SOME THINGS TO DO ABOUT IT
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law 104-193. Better known as "The Welfare Reform Bill." this law changes how governmental financial assistance is administered to the States, including: changing federal funding to states from an open-ended entitlement to a series of capped block grant allocations; sets time limits on entitlements and cash assistance to welfare recipients; requires most welfare recipients to engage in job activities (this includes work experience, community service, job training, vocational education); changes the disability definitions for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for children who apply; mandates that states establish methods to enforce collection of unpaid parental child support; denies many legal immigrants from collecting SSI and food stamps; consolidates all child care programs into the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and changes foodstamp recertification requirements.
One requirement imposed upon the States by The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was the installation of a centralized computer system to track and collect child support. A second requirement imposed upon the States by The Welfare Reform Bill was that each State create a centralized New Hire Directory so that the child support enforcement agency of each State could compare the information contained in the Registry with the information contained in the centralized computerized child support tracking system and, when appropriate, Wage Garnishment Orders could be issued.
In order to insure that the States would be able to comply with federal mandates, the Federal Government provided them not only with assistance in understanding the Law, but monetary assistance as well. In order to insure that the States would be motivated to comply with The Welfare Reform Bill, the Bill included penalties against States that failed to comply with the mandates of the Act. These "disincentives" dovetail with The Child Support and Incentive Act of 1998 which rewards States for such things as reducing their child support arrearages and penalizes them for failing to meet certain performance goals.
As of today's date, the State of South Carolina has received approximately $100 Million in Federal Grants to implement its computerized child support tracking and collection system and has been fined approximately $80 Million for its failure to install the system; to our knowledge, South Carolina has neither been fined for its failure to establish a New Hire Directory nor been fined for its failure to make New Hire reporting mandatory. However, while South Carolina AG Henry McMaster has campaigned on a promise to go after "Deadbeats," South Carolina remains the only State lacking the mandated computer system, and South Carolina's arrearages are increasing by $100 Million a year, give or take a few $ Million. Therefore, it should not take long for one of McMaster's political opponents to make the problems at DSS regarding child support collections a political issue. After all, McMaster's actions have been called "shady" by The Wall Street Journal and worse by FITSNEWS. And surely, his pandering and posturing regarding the Health Care Reform Legislation will not be ignored for very long by folks in the Obama Administration.
We have already made suggestions regarding some ways in which South Carolina could increase its child support collection rate, but, those suggestions have been ignored. So, under the circumstances, if we were South Carolina Legislators running for Governor, we would start addressing the problems at DSS by introducing Legislation to insure that South Carolina is in compliance with Federal Law or, at the very least, asking ole Henry for an AG's Opinion on the subject. Likewise, if we were Republican South Carolina Legislators who wanted to divert criticism from the Republican Governor, we would ask Attorney General McMaster for an Opinion regarding the legality of South Carolina Code ยง63-17-1210 and, if appropriate, introduce Legislation to amend the statute.
One requirement imposed upon the States by The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was the installation of a centralized computer system to track and collect child support. A second requirement imposed upon the States by The Welfare Reform Bill was that each State create a centralized New Hire Directory so that the child support enforcement agency of each State could compare the information contained in the Registry with the information contained in the centralized computerized child support tracking system and, when appropriate, Wage Garnishment Orders could be issued.
In order to insure that the States would be able to comply with federal mandates, the Federal Government provided them not only with assistance in understanding the Law, but monetary assistance as well. In order to insure that the States would be motivated to comply with The Welfare Reform Bill, the Bill included penalties against States that failed to comply with the mandates of the Act. These "disincentives" dovetail with The Child Support and Incentive Act of 1998 which rewards States for such things as reducing their child support arrearages and penalizes them for failing to meet certain performance goals.
As of today's date, the State of South Carolina has received approximately $100 Million in Federal Grants to implement its computerized child support tracking and collection system and has been fined approximately $80 Million for its failure to install the system; to our knowledge, South Carolina has neither been fined for its failure to establish a New Hire Directory nor been fined for its failure to make New Hire reporting mandatory. However, while South Carolina AG Henry McMaster has campaigned on a promise to go after "Deadbeats," South Carolina remains the only State lacking the mandated computer system, and South Carolina's arrearages are increasing by $100 Million a year, give or take a few $ Million. Therefore, it should not take long for one of McMaster's political opponents to make the problems at DSS regarding child support collections a political issue. After all, McMaster's actions have been called "shady" by The Wall Street Journal and worse by FITSNEWS. And surely, his pandering and posturing regarding the Health Care Reform Legislation will not be ignored for very long by folks in the Obama Administration.
We have already made suggestions regarding some ways in which South Carolina could increase its child support collection rate, but, those suggestions have been ignored. So, under the circumstances, if we were South Carolina Legislators running for Governor, we would start addressing the problems at DSS by introducing Legislation to insure that South Carolina is in compliance with Federal Law or, at the very least, asking ole Henry for an AG's Opinion on the subject. Likewise, if we were Republican South Carolina Legislators who wanted to divert criticism from the Republican Governor, we would ask Attorney General McMaster for an Opinion regarding the legality of South Carolina Code ยง63-17-1210 and, if appropriate, introduce Legislation to amend the statute.
Labels: Computerized Child Support System, Institutional Mismanagement, New Hire Reporting, Problems at DSS
