OHIO LAWMAKERS Officials work to update child-support programs

The bill requires that notices be sent to employers about the past-due support amount.
By MICHELE C. HLADIK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Ohio lawmakers are racing a clock to get some of the state's child-support enforcement programs up to federal standards.
Only a few weeks remain in the Ohio Senate and Ohio House of Representative calendars before both break for the year and the state needs to pass legislation updating its child-support enforcement laws before the new year.
"Its on the fast track," said Sen. Jim Carnes.
The St. Clairsville Republican chairs the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, which is hearing the bill.
Testifying in support of the legislation were bill sponsor Bill Harris, R-Ashland, and Joseph Pilat, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services Office of Child Support.
Medical insurance
One key issue in the bill involves medical insurance for children. Parents can be ordered by a court to provide health insurance as well as monetary support for their children.
Those who have been ordered to provide insurance and don't could soon find the state sending official word to the employer requiring the child be added to the parent's health insurance benefits and the cost be deducted from the parent's paycheck.
"This notice will increase efficiency in the child-support program and will help ensure that children in the state, whose parents are obligated to provide insurance, are getting the health-care coverage they are entitled," Pilat told lawmakers.
According to ODJFS spokesman Jon Allen, 70 percent of monetary child support is collected this way in Ohio.
Changes to SETS
Another component of the bill centers on changes to the Support Enforcement Tracking System, or SETS. The system is Ohio's computerized method of collecting child support.
According to Allen, it only reports and collects current amounts of child support due by a parent.
He said under the bill, SETS would also record and collect past-due child support.
The program was originally instituted after federal mandates in 1998. Before this program, each state had their own computerized record keeping systems.
The bill also requires that notices be sent to employers immediately about the past-due amount and requiring an additional payment.
"This will streamline the collection of unpaid child support so that the children of the state of Ohio receive all that is due to them as soon as it is due, as well as comply with federal law," Pilat said.
Carnes said he expects his committee to vote on the legislation next week and the bill. He said the provisions in the bill need to be in place by the first of the year to assure the state will not lose any federal funding.
Carnes said he is not aware of any opponents of the bill.