Delinquent child support obligors could be made public

The Judiciary Committee heard testimony Feb. 3 on a bill intended to improve compliance with child support orders.

LB488, introduced by Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, would require the state treasurer to publish a list of delinquent child support obligors provided by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

An obligor would be included on the list if his or her delinquent court-ordered child support exceeds $5,000 or no child support payments were made in the six months immediately preceding publication. The custodial parent must have signed a confidentiality waiver allowing certain case information to be made public.

The obligor would not be included on the list if involved in bankruptcy proceedings or receiving public assistance.

Under the bill, the list published would include the:
• name of the child support obligor;
• amount of child support owed, including interest;
• time period of delinquency;
• most recent city of residence of the obligor; and
• contact information for HHS to disclose information that may assist in locating the delinquent child support obligors.

The bill also would require a child support obligor to reimburse the child support payee should an annual fee be assessed to the payee of child support. The bill would have an estimated one-time cost of $262,000.

“This is only meant to target those who are intentionally violating a support order,” Nordquist said.

For some people, he said, public scrutiny is enough to make them act.

Lori Tworek, a custodial parent seeking child support, testified in support of the bill.

The proposed website would tell parents who are delinquent in paying child support that “enough is enough,” Tworek said, and that it is time to take responsibility.

“Non-custodial parents are getting off too easy and the state needs to take a tougher stance,” she said.

Crystal Rhoades, also a custodial parent seeking child support, provided neutral testimony. She said $25 billion in child support goes uncollected nationwide each year.

“Parents would be less likely to default if they knew that the public was going to see they were being irresponsible,” she said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.