Audit urges stronger enforcement, insurer outreach for Washington child‑support insurance intercept law

A performance audit presented June 4, 2025, to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) found gaps in insurer reporting under Washington’s child‑support insurance intercept law and recommended the Legislature add monitoring and enforcement authority to increase collections for families owed past‑due support.

The Washington State Auditor’s Office, represented by senior performance auditor Lisa Weber, told the committee that mandatory reporting — enacted after a 2020 audit and effective Jan. 1, 2022 — coincided with higher collections from insurance intercepts, rising from about $1.7 million in 2021 to just over $3.5 million in 2022. Weber said DCS staff estimate they learn about roughly one in 10 eligible insurance claims through channels other than insurer reports and that the average claim brings in about $7,300 toward past‑due child support.

“We found that OIC could help educate insurers about child‑support insurance intercepts,” Weber said, adding that reporting gaps stem from insurers being unaware of their obligations, administrative errors, or misjudging whether a claim will reach the $500 reporting threshold.

The audit identified several operational barriers. The Division of Child Support (DCS), within the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), lacks a comprehensive list of insurers and contact information, which limits its ability to notify the right person at a company when a required report is missing. DCS has created a web page with guidance and used a partnership with a network referred to in the audit as CSLN to notify some insurers, but the audit said CSLN does not maintain a comprehensive statewide insurer list and tends to reach larger, multistate carriers.

The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) does not currently post guidance about the child‑support intercept reporting obligation on its website, according to the audit, but OIC maintains a list of insurers licensed in Washington and contact information for each insurer’s government‑relations person. The audit recommended OIC share that list with DCS and add explanatory material to OIC’s website to help insurers find obligations where they typically look.

Representing the insurance commissioner, Brian Welch told JLARC the commissioner is willing to help. “She’s expressed a willingness to help educate insurers, about their responsibility to comply with the child intercept law, including … providing information, contact information to DSHS, posting information on our website, [and] sharing individual insurer contact information,” Welch said.

The audit also recommended the Legislature consider amending the statute to provide explicit authority for monitoring and enforcement. Weber told legislators that the current law places the reporting requirement in the domestic‑relations chapter while enforcement authority for insurance matters resides in the insurance‑code chapter, leaving neither DCS nor OIC clearly empowered to monitor or impose sanctions for noncompliance.

States vary in how they handle enforcement of similar laws; the audit noted examples that range from market‑conduct review by insurance regulators to monetary penalties or civil liability for noncompliant insurers. The report asked the Legislature to consider where to assign monitoring and enforcement responsibilities — to OIC, to DCS, to both jointly, or to another arrangement — and to weigh tradeoffs such as existing agency structures, expertise, and the need for interagency cooperation.

During Q&A, Rep. Paulette asked whether the State Auditor’s Office discussed a coordinated enforcement plan with the two agencies. “Did you have a conversation with them about the recommendations and how they could coordinate rather than choosing one or the other?” she asked. Weber replied the audit team spoke with both agencies about options but did not develop detailed implementation plans, saying those are policy decisions for the Legislature.

No formal motions or votes were taken at the JLARC hearing. Committee members were invited to submit written comments to JLARC following the briefing, and agency representatives indicated willingness to continue discussions with legislators and each other about next steps.

The audit and the agencies’ responses make clear two near‑term routes that could improve collections: targeted outreach and education by OIC and DCS to reach insurers that did not receive earlier notices, and legislative action to clarify monitoring and enforcement authority. JLARC members signaled interest in follow‑up but made no binding assignments at the June 4 session.