STATE CAPITOL- A new bill has been introduced in the Legislature that if passed would post the information online of parents who aren’t paying child support. AB 1498 is authored by Assemblymember Lackey and targets those who owe child support in excess of $5,000, have been in arrears for 12 months, and haven’t made a payment in 6 months. The following information would be made public:
- Name
- Picture
- Amount of outstanding child support owed
- Zip code
- Number of children they owe for
The top 50 violators would also be posted on social media. If signed into law, everything will go into effect January 1, 2021.
Below is the text of the bill:
“This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2021, to create an internet website and make publicly available information regarding persons who are delinquent in the payment of court-ordered child support, as specified, including the obligor’s name, photograph, and the amount of child support owed. The bill would require the department to comply with specified notification procedures before publishing an obligor’s information on the website. The bill would require the department to update the amount of support payments in arrears for each obligor on a quarterly basis, and to maintain an obligor’s information on the website until the department is notified that the obligor has made support payments for at least 90 days. The bill would allow the department to publish a list of “top child support deadbeats” on one or more social media platforms. The bill would prohibit the use of information published on the website for specified purposes relating to credit, employment, and housing, among other things. The bill would impose a fine of at least $10,000 on a person who uses information from the website to commit a misdemeanor, and a fine of up to $50,000 on a person who uses information from the website to commit a felony.”
