H.B. 937

VETOES

enforcement services except for services performed in connection with the State and
Federal Income Tax intercept programs.

Since 1988, Congress has significantly increased the responsibilities of state child support
enforcement agencies by steadily increasing mandated services to be performed by those
agencies. However, in both 1991 and 1993 the General Assembly enacted legislation
further limiting CSEA's ability to offset the costs associated with providing more
sophisticated services, such as the establishment of paternity and medical support orders.

In 1992, the Department of Human Resources introduced House Bill 1193, which would
have allowed CSEA to charge both custodial and non-custodial parents fees representing
the costs of certain child support services. The fees would have been chargeable only to
parents who could afford to pay for those services. The bill was supported by the
Governor's Commission on Efficiency and Economy in Government. The Commission
believed it was appropriate for clients served by certain government programs to pay fees,
to the extent possible, that were commensurate with the cost of providing the service.
House Bill 1193 failed in committee.

In addition to the growth in mandated responsibilities that CSEA has experienced over
the past few years, Congress is currently considering legislation that may further expand
the range of services that CSEA must provide. In my view, it is inadvisable to enact
legislation that further limits CSEA's ability to offset costs when additional mandated
responsibilities may be required in the near future..

For these reasons, I have vetoed House Bill 937.

Sincerely,

William Donald Schaefer

Governor         

House Bill No. 937

AN ACT concerning

Family Law - Child Support Enforcement - Collection of Fees

FOR the purpose of permitting the Child Support Enforcement Administration to collect
an initial application fee of not more than a certain amount for support services;
repealing a provision of law that allowed the Administration to collect certain fees
to defray the costs of providing support enforcement services; prohibiting the
Administration from collecting fees from the child support obligee or from
deducting fees from the child support payment under certain circumstances; and
generally relating to the enforcement of child support obligations collection and
deduction of certain fees by the Child Support Enforcement Administration under
certain circumstances.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article - Family Law
Section 10-110
Annotated Code of Maryland

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