SACRAMENTO — Determined to elevate the stature and performance of California's child support programs, legislative leaders unveiled sweeping proposals Wednesday for a new Department of Child Support and authority for counties to decide if programs should stay with district attorneys or go to other agencies.
The package of reforms came one day after an unprecedented summit on child support where experts outlined a range of possibilities for rescuing California's $442-million program--the country's largest and widely considered among its worst.
"This gets us to an entirely new child support network in California," Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said after an hourlong meeting with half a dozen leaders of both houses. "It gives [child support] more visibility . . . leadership . . . resources and clout."
State Sen. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) added: "The issue is simply ripe and with a new administration, there is a great opportunity to overhaul child support in the state and we intend to do it."
But even as both lawmakers said they expect support from the new administration of Gov. Gray Davis, one legislator with a long history on child support issues voiced caution that lawmakers are moving too fast.
"The ideas are beginning to germinate but I don't think we have a vaccine yet," said state Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Daly City), who intends to hold a meeting next week with advocates, prosecutors and others.
And the powerful California District Attorneys Assn., while supporting some proposals, left no doubt it will oppose efforts to take primary responsibility for child support away from the state's 58 prosecutors. "That would be troublesome from our standpoint," said the association's executive director, Lawrence Brown.
Still, legislators, stressing that the proposals will inevitably be refined, said they were optimistic that the early agreement on major reforms will eventually lead to landmark restructuring of the child support program.
"This takes the pieces that we've got and puts them in some order," said Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley), "and finally says to the public and everyone else that this is so important, we're going to give it its own department."
Among the other key proposals outlined by those legislators and others:
