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***PRESS RELEASE***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ed StockhausenJuly 30, 2010 614-466-4857
Senator Smith Prepares to Introduce Comprehensive Child Support Reform
Columbus – Senator Shirley Smith announced that she will soon introduce legislation to significantly revise the laws governing Child Support in Ohio.
“Ohio’s Child Support laws are outdated, and they no longer effectively serve the children meant to benefit from them,” Senator Smith said. “They have not been adjusted for inflation, there is no adequate schedule for shared parenting agreements, and support for medical expenses is poorly contrived. My legislation will address all of these issues.”
In a memo to her Senate colleagues, Senator Smith explained why this legislation is needed and how interested parties, such as the Ohio Office of Child Support and the Ohio Child Support Enforcement Agencies Directors Association, have been working with her to craft comprehensive legislation. The bill’s provisions include:
“These legislative changes are all based on the 2009 Child Support Guidelines Advisory Council’s recommendations, which were issued last year,” Senator Smith said. Last year, Senator Smith served on the fifth Ohio Child Support Guidelines Advisory Council, which is statutorily obligated under ORC 3119.024 to meet every four years and make recommendations to the General Assembly on improving Ohio’s Child Support laws. (That report can be accessed by clicking here.) While the Council has regularly issued its recommendations in earnest, the legislature has not adopted substantive reforms in nearly two decades. -30- |
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This bill officially died at the end of the 128th General Assembly. In reality, it was dead shortly after introduction thanks to all of you who voiced your concerns and some good backdoor politicking that took place by our Board members. But we need to be aware that because another group opened their mouth and decided to negotiate with Senator Smith, we may need to go after it again.
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The following letter went out to all legislators in this state. We need this killed BEFORE it hits the floor.
It has come to my attention that Senator Shirley Smith has announced that she will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Ohio Child Support laws. As President, I come to you today to inform you that we will be opposing any such changes to these laws.
After reviewing the 2009 Guideline Report I must say that I am very disturbed with the method with which these “changes” were approached. There were no voting members of this committee with a voice for the parents of this state who are most affected by these laws. Instead, we see no one but members of the Court, Ohio Jobs, and Family Services, CSEA, and ACES (who have advocated for increases nationwide with little regard to need). I have to question how this could give all parents affected a place at the table in something so important. In reviewing public forum times, many appear to have taken place when most parents are working and unable to attend. A note is made that an advocacy group was supplied data and info while this was ongoing yet nowhere does the report name that group.
The only voting members are those who stand to benefit from increases in child support through additional funding by federal incentives. Can we say, “ Ohio’s children are for sale”
Throughout this report, I see nothing but massive increases in child support amounts despite the current economic times. I can only conclude that Senator Smith intends to make Ohio further parent and family-unfriendly.
I am seeing support amounts that are constantly increasing by as much as 20% for even the poorest of parents in this state. These increases will cause further damage to the children and families that are obligated under these orders. I am seeing minimum support orders being increased by 160%, these are the parents who require the most assistance due to their economic hardships.
Further review shows conflicts with how the proposed law was written so that the suggested changes of the committee were not even properly addressed causing more confusion in these changes.
I am seeing many insistences on what can be best described as fuzzy math throughout the guidelines report. To cite an example there is a discussion of adjustments for parenting time contained in the report where they state that a deviation might be called for when a non-custodial parent has the child for 40-60% of the time. Wouldn’t having the child 60% of the time make someone the custodial parent? Parenting time adjustments must happen but they need to start at a much lower threshold than what this commission suggests.
These are items that I have found in only a quick review of the report.
I don’t know if Ms. Smith is playing election-year politics with the parents of this state but I can tell you that I am not going to play that game. Anyone who supports this legislation will have members of our organization supporting their opponent and working for them in the coming elections. Do you want to be fired for a stance of being family unfriendly?
Kill this before it even hits the floor!!!! Bring the Ohio Fatherhood Commission and OPFE in on a thorough review of all data in this report and allow us to submit a minority report to you that should have happened in the first place.
Ray R. Lautenschlager
Legislative Director
