Friday, April 09, 2010
MAJOR FEDERAL FUNDING AT RISK IN SOUTH CAROLINA
[States that fail to install computerized child support collection and tracking systems] may lose federal funding under both Title IV-D (child support enforcement) and Title IV- (TANF). See 42 U.S.C. § 655(a)(1)(A); 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(2). Alternatively, a State may opt for an alternative penalty in lieu of disapproval of their state plan and the withholding of federal funds if the State is making a good faith effort to comply with the program’s requirements and the State has submitted a corrective compliance plan. See 42 U.S.C. § 655(a)(4). South Carolina has elected to incur the alternative penalty.
To date, South Carolina has "opted" to be penalized approximately $82,000,000 in "alternative penalties" for its failure to install the mandated computerized child support tracking and collection system. The State has argued that it is making a "good faith effort" to comply with federal law and that, therefore, Title IV-D (child support enforcement) and Title IV-A (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funding should not be with-held.
Assuming, arguendo, that anyone at South Carolina DSS can argue with a straight face that South Carolina is making a good faith effort* to comply with federal law, we wondered why South Carolina would elect to be fined $82,000,000 in lieu of loosing Title IV-D and Title IV-A funding. So we asked Vicki Turetsky, Commissioner for Child Support Enforcement in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, "What is the total yearly combined Title IV-D (child support enforcement) and Title IV-A (TANF) funding received by South Carolina?" A few days later we received an e-mail from Rob Cohen of the ACF:
Commissioner Turetsky referred your email to me for response.The latest Title IV-D expenditure information available can be found in our FY 2006 Report to Congress at [this link]. Please see table 38. We are in the process of posting the ’07 Report – it should be on our website next week.The latest Title IV-A information available can be found in the Office of Family Assistance’s FY 2008 TANF Financial Data page at [this link]. Please see table A.
Mr. Cohen did not directly answer our question. However, the charts he referenced indicate that the total yearly combined Title IV-D and Title IV-A funding received by South Carolina is approximately $77,115,727. We derived this figure by combining the most recent South Carolina figures on Table A (COMBINED FEDERAL FUNDS SPENT IN FY 2008 SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURES ON ASSISTANCE IN FY 2008) with the most recent South Carolina figures on Table 38 (Total Administrative Expenditures for Five Consecutive Fiscal Years). $36,834,443 + $40,281,284 = $77,115,727.
Again, as long as South Carolina has not installed the federally mandated computerized child support tracking and collection system, it risks having all Title IV-D and TANF funding terminated. So South Carolina needs to get cracking before someone in Commissioner Turetsky's office with a law degree considers the question of whether South Carolina is actually making good faith efforts to comply with the mandates of the PRWORA.
*See, Black’s Law Dictionary 701 (7th ed. 1999), defining good faith as, “A state of mind consisting in (1) honesty in belief or purpose, (2) faithfulness to one’s duty or obligation, (3) observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in a given trade or business, or (4) absence of intent to defraud or to seek unconscionable advantage.”
Labels: Computerized Child Support System, Federal Fines, Institutional Mismanagement, Welfare Reform
