Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Support topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House floor debate centers on tying child-support orders to state guidelines when payments change 25%
Summary
Lawmakers debated a bill to require noncustodial parents to pay amounts consistent with Utah child-support guidelines when there is a 25% change between current payments and guideline figures; supporters cited federal compliance and an unchanged fiscal note, while opponents urged waiting for federal guidelines and warned of courts needing flexibility.
Supporters on the House floor argued the bill simply enforces the child-support guidelines already adopted by the Legislature, saying it would require a noncustodial parent to pay the guideline amount when there is a 25% change between what they currently pay and what the guidelines prescribe.
A floor member (Speaker 2) reminded colleagues the body enacted earlier measures establishing guidelines (citing prior House bills) and said an amended fiscal note showed no new cost to the state. The sponsor framed the proposal as a fairness measure for children and urged members who backed the original guidelines to back this implementing bill.
Representative Smedley countered that the House should not act in advance of federal guidelines. She said judges had told her that income is only one of several factors they consider when modifying child-support awards and warned that the courts should retain latitude to consider debts, illness and other family circumstances.
Representative Stevens called the question to end debate and the motion to close debate passed. The sponsor made a final summation citing a legal opinion (named in the transcript) that the statute would not excuse the state from federal penalties for noncompliance in the absence of regulations, and reiterated that the amended fiscal note showed no greater cost.
The floor later recorded the passage of a different numbered bill (announced as House Bill 150 as amended) in a separate vote. The transcript does not record a final roll-call outcome for the 25% child-support-specific language discussed in the initial debate; it records the debate, a successful motion to end debate and the sponsor
presentation of the bill's policy and legal rationale.
