From Deseret News archives:
Lawmakers seek to change system of child support
"We're badly out of sync," Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said. "We need to address it."
Bell asked the Judiciary Interim Committee to support a bill calling for changes to the calculation of monthly child-support payments. Bell would be the Senate sponsor of the contemplated bill, along with Rep. Julie Fisher, R-Fruit Heights.
Among the problems of the current payment scale, Bell said, is that the bottom of the table is mathematically disproportionate to the rest of it, leaving parents with lower incomes paying more than those in higher pay grades.
Additionally, the current table tops out at a $10,100 joint monthly income, leaving the courts to make different interpretations when handling cases where parents make more than that, he said.
Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, an attorney, agreed that the rate tables need updating.
"I have clients that have been dealing with interstate divorces, and they all want to use Utah's child support table because it's less than anybody else's," Fowlke said.
Utah's child support rates are evaluated every four years, although lawmakers have not accepted any recommendations for changes since 1994. In 2003, the Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee found that Utah's rates, particularly those for only one child, were below those in neighboring states. The committee recommended updating the current rates, which are based on child-rearing data gathered between 1996 and 1999.
Bell acknowledged that any changes would likely be opposed by either custodial or noncustodial parents, depending on which direction the rates were adjusted.
Still, he said, "I see a lot of courage on this committee, and I think we ought to take this under advisement this year and present a bill in 2006."
Bell indicated Wednesday he would open a bill file and draft proposed legislation, which he would present to the interim committee at its next meeting.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com
