Bill Text: CA SB696 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Child support: compromise of arrears.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-06-29 - Hearing postponed by committee. [SB696 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB696-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 696 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 3, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 17, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 5, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wright
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add and repeal Section 40440.13 of the Health
and Safety Code, relating to the South Coast Air Quality Management
District, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately. An act to amend Section 17560 of the
Family Code, relating to child support.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 696, as amended, Wright. South Coast Air Quality
Management District: CEQA: permits. Child support:
compromise of arrears.
Existing law establishes a statewide compromise of arrears program
pursuant to which the Department of Child Support Services may
accept offers in compromise of child support arrears and interest
accrued thereon owed to the state for reimbursement of aid paid
pursuant to the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to
Kids Act. An offer in compromise must be rescinded and any
compromised liability reestablished unless there is a finding of good
cause or a determination by the director that it is in the best
interest of the state to do otherwise. Existing law provides that the
acceptance of an offer in compromise is deemed to be in the best
interest of the state with regard to arrears that accrued as a result
of a decrease in income when an obligor was a reservist or member of
the National Guard activated to United States military service, and
failed to modify the support order to reflect the reduction in
income.
This bill would provide that acceptance of an offer in compromise
is deemed to be in the best interest of the state with regard to
arrears that accrued as a result of a decrease in income when the
obligor failed to modify the support order to reflect the reduction
in income when an obligor was a reservist or member of the National
Guard activated to United States military service, when the obligor
was incarcerated for more than 90 days and does not have other
sources of income, when the obligor's sole income was based on
specified forms of public assistance, or when the obligor was
receiving inpatient services in a medical facility for more than 90
days and does not have other sources of income.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a
lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and
certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a
project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a
significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative
declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the
environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that
effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as
revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA
exempts certain specified projects from its requirements.
Under existing law, every air pollution control district or air
quality management district in a federal nonattainment area for any
national ambient air quality standard is required to establish by
regulation, a system by which all reductions in emissions of air
contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases
in the emission of air contaminants are banked prior to use. The
South Coast Air Quality Management District (district) promulgated
various rules establishing offset exemptions, providing Priority
Reserve offset credits, and creating or tracking credits used for
offset exemption or Priority Reserve projects. In Natural Resources
Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management District
(Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the superior
court found the promulgation of certain of these district rules to be
in violation of CEQA.
This bill would authorize the district to issue permits under
specified circumstances, notwithstanding this court decision. The
provisions of the bill would be repealed on May 1, 2012.
(2) This bill would state the findings and declarations of the
Legislature concerning the need for special legislation.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3 majority . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 17560 of the Family
Code is amended to read:
17560. (a) The department shall establish and operate a statewide
compromise of arrears program pursuant to which the department may
accept offers in compromise of child support arrears and interest
accrued thereon owed to the state for reimbursement of aid paid
pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The program shall
operate uniformly across California and shall take into consideration
the needs of the children subject to the child support order and the
obligor's ability to pay.
(b) If the obligor owes current child support, the offer in
compromise shall require the obligor to be in compliance with the
current support order for a set period of time before any arrears and
interest accrued thereon may be compromised.
(c) Absent a finding of good cause, or a determination by the
director that it is in the best interest of the state to do
otherwise, any offer in compromise entered into pursuant to this
section shall be rescinded, all compromised liabilities shall be
reestablished notwithstanding any statute of limitations that
otherwise may be applicable, and no portion of the amount offered in
compromise may be refunded, if either of the following occurs:
(1) The department or local child support agency determines that
the obligor did any of the following acts regarding the offer in
compromise:
(A) Concealed from the department or local child support agency
any income, assets, or other property belonging to the obligor or any
reasonably anticipated receipt of income, assets, or other property.
(B) Intentionally received, withheld, destroyed, mutilated, or
falsified any information, document, or record, or intentionally made
any false statement, relating to the financial conditions of the
obligor.
(2) The obligor fails to comply with any of the terms and
conditions of the offer in compromise.
(d) Pursuant to subdivision (k) of Section 17406, in no event may
the administrator, director, or director's designee within the
department, accept an offer in compromise of any child support
arrears owed directly to the custodial party unless that party
consents to the offer in compromise in writing and participates in
the agreement. Prior to giving consent, the custodial party shall be
provided with a clear written explanation of the rights with respect
to child support arrears owed to the custodial party and the
compromise thereof.
(e) Subject to the requirements of this section, the director
shall delegate to the administrator of a local child support agency
the authority to compromise an amount of child support arrears up to
five thousand dollars ($5,000), and may delegate additional authority
to compromise up to an amount determined by the director to support
the effective administration of the offers in compromise program.
(f) For an amount to be compromised under this section, the
following conditions shall exist:
(1) (A) The administrator, director or director's designee within
the department determines that acceptance of an offer in compromise
is in the best interest of the state and that the compromise amount
equals or exceeds what the state can expect to collect for
reimbursement of aid paid pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code in the absence of the compromise, based on the
obligor's ability to pay.
(B) Acceptance of an offer in compromise shall be deemed to be in
the best interest of the state, absent a finding of good cause to the
contrary, with regard to arrears that accrued as a result of a
decrease in income when an obligor the
obligor's income when the obligor failed to modify the support order
to reflect the reduction in income and under any of the following
circumstances:
(i) The obligor was a reservist
or member of the National Guard , was activated to
United States military service , and failed to modify the
support order to reflect the reduction in income. Good
.
(ii) The obligor was incarcerated for more than 90 days and does
not have other sources of income.
(iii) The obligor's sole income was based on Supplemental Security
Income/ State Supplementary Payments (SSI/SSP), CalWORKs, or any
other public assistance program for which eligibility is determined
on the basis of need.
(iv) The obligor was receiving inpatient services in a medical
facility for more than 90 days and does not have other sources of
income.
(2) Good cause to find that the
compromise is not in the best interest of the state as described
in paragraph (1) shall include circumstances in which the
service member's obligor's failure to
seek, or delay in seeking, the modification were not reasonable under
the circumstances faced by the service member .
The director, no later than 90 days after the effective date of the
act adding this subparagraph, shall establish rules that compromise,
at a minimum, the amount of support that would not have accrued had
the order been modified to reflect the reduced income earned
during the period of active military service under
the above circumstances .
(2)
(3) Any other terms and conditions that the director
establishes that may include, but may not be limited to, paying
current support in a timely manner, making lump-sum payments, and
paying arrears in exchange for compromise of interest owed.
(3)
(4) The obligor shall provide evidence of income and
assets, including, but not limited to, wage stubs, tax returns, and
bank statements as necessary to establish all of the following:
(A) That the amount set forth in the offer in compromise of
arrears owed is the most that can be expected to be paid or collected
from the obligor's present assets or income.
(B) That the obligor does not have reasonable prospects of
acquiring increased income or assets that would enable the obligor to
satisfy a greater amount of the child support arrears than the
amount offered, within a reasonable period of time.
(C) That the obligor has not withheld payment of child support in
anticipation of the offers in compromise program.
(g) A determination by the administrator, director or the director'
s designee within the department that it would not be in the best
interest of the state to accept or rescind an offer in compromise in
satisfaction of child support arrears shall be final and not subject
to the provisions of Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17800) of
Division 17, or subject to judicial review.
(h) Any offer in compromise entered into pursuant to this section
shall be filed with the appropriate court. The local child support
agency shall notify the court if the compromise is rescinded pursuant
to subdivision (c).
(i) Any compromise of child support arrears pursuant to this
section shall maximize to the greatest extent possible the state's
share of the federal performance incentives paid pursuant to the
Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 and shall comply
with federal law.
(j) The department shall ensure uniform application of this
section across the state.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) As a result of the superior court decision in Natural
Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality Management
District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS 110792) holding
that the South Coast Air Quality Management District (district)
violated the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code) in the promulgation of certain district rules, the
district is unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that rely
on the district's internal offset bank to offset emissions.
(b) The district may also have to set aside several thousand
permits that were previously issued in reliance on the district's
internal offset bank.
(c) Prompt legislative action is necessary as an interim measure;
otherwise projects will be stopped from going forward or frozen in
place, representing significant losses to the economy and the loss of
numerous well-paying jobs.
(d) Nothing in the case described in subdivision (a) requires the
setting aside of any permit issued by the South Coast Air Quality
Management District to any essential public service, that relied on
Rule 1309.1, nor any permit that relied on Rule 1304, between
September 8, 2006, and November 3, 2008.
SEC. 2. Section 40440.13 is added to the Health
and Safety Code, to read:
40440.13. (a) Notwithstanding the decision of the court in
Natural Resources Defense Council v. South Coast Air Quality
Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles County, 2007, No. BS
110792), the south coast district may issue permits in reliance on,
and in compliance with, south coast district Rule 1304, as amended on
June 14, 1996, except for an electrical generation facility, and
Rule 1309.1, as amended May 3, 2002, for essential public services,
as defined in subdivision (m) of Rule 1302, as amended December 6,
2002.
(b) Nothing in this section affects the decision in the case
described in subdivision (a) concerning the adoption, readoption, or
amendment, or environmental review, of south coast district Rule
1315.
(c) In implementing subdivision (a), the south coast district
shall rely on the emission reduction credit tracking system used
prior to the adoption of Rule 1315, until a new tracking system is
approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and is
in effect, at which point that new system shall be used by the south
coast district in implementing subdivision (a). The south coast
district shall make information concerning the credits, and the
tracking of these credits, available to the public.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until May 1, 2012,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before May 1, 2012, deletes or extends that date.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that
a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of unique circumstances concerning
the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and
shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity
are:
Due to the court decision in Natural Resources Defense Council v.
South Coast Air Quality Management District (Super. Ct. Los Angeles
County, 2007, No. BS 110792), the South Coast Air Quality Management
District is unable to issue over a thousand pending permits that are
either exempt from offset requirements or qualified to use offset
credits from the district's Priority Reserve and is required to set
aside thousands of permits already issued. Therefore, in order to
allow the district to issue permits in an expeditious manner as an
urgent interim measure, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.
