Child support director tells Senate subcommittee progress continues on $60 million IT replacement; collections at record high

At a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Human Resources Division, Jim Fleming, director of the child support section at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, updated lawmakers on program performance and on a long‑running computer system replacement that has an existing $60 million appropriation.

Fleming told the committee the child support program collected $192,200,000 last year, a record, and that the program’s current support collection rate — the share of monthly support actually collected — is 78.58%, the highest North Dakota has recorded. He said the program manages roughly $254,700,000 in unpaid arrears and serves 87,258 active employers statewide.

Why this matters: the department’s replacement of an aging mainframe system — funded last biennium with a $60 million appropriation (66% federal, 34% state, the state share drawn from the Community Health Trust Fund) — remains unfinished and requires continuity of funding and oversight. Fleming described the procurement steps completed so far and the next…