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S1343.................................................by HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHILD SUPPORT - Amends existing law relating to child support and medical
coverage to revise legislative purpose; and to define the term "reasonable
costs."
01/24 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/25 Rpt prt - to Health/Wel
02/01 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/04 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/05 3rd rdg
02/06 PASSED - 20-15-0
AYES -- Andreason, Bair, Bastian, Bilyeu, Broadsword, Burkett,
Coiner, Darrington, Gannon, Hammond, Kelly, Langhorst, Little, Lodge,
Malepeai(Sagness), McGee, Schroeder, Stegner, Stennett(Thorson), Werk
NAYS -- Cameron, Corder, Davis, Fulcher, Geddes, Goedde, Heinrich,
Hill, Jorgenson, Keough, McKague, McKenzie, Pearce, Richardson,
Siddoway
Absent and excused -- None
Floor Sponsor - Coiner
Title apvd - to House
02/07 House intro - 1st rdg - to Health/Wel
03/21 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/25 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
Rls susp - PASSED - 56-11-3
AYES -- Anderson, Bayer, Bedke, Bell, Bilbao, Black, Block, Bock,
Boe, Bolz, Brackett, Bradford, Chadderdon, Chavez, Chew, Clark,
Collins, Crane, Durst, Eskridge, Hagedorn, Henbest, Henderson,
Jaquet, Killen, King, Kren, Labrador, Lake, LeFavour, Luker,
Marriott, Mathews, Nonini, Pasley-Stuart, Pence, Raybould, Ringo,
Roberts, Ruchti, Rusche, Sayler, Shepherd(02), Shepherd(08), Shively,
Smith(30), Smith(24), Snodgrass, Stevenson, Thayn, Thomas, Trail,
Vander Woude, Wills, Wood(27), Mr. Speaker
NAYS -- Andrus, Barrett, Bowers, Hart, Harwood, Loertscher, Mortimer,
Nielsen, Schaefer, Shirley, Wood(35)
Absent and excused -- McGeachin, Moyle, Patrick
Floor Sponsor - Rusche
Title apvd - to Senate
03/25 To enrol
03/26 Rpt enrol - Pres signed - Sp signed
03/27 To Governor
04/01 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 328
Effective: 07/01/08
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]] Fifty-ninth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2008IN THE SENATE SENATE BILL NO. 1343 BY HEALTH AND WELFARE COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO CHILD SUPPORT; AMENDING SECTION 32-706, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR 3 CODE REFERENCES; AMENDING SECTION 32-1214A, IDAHO CODE, TO REVISE LEGISLA- 4 TIVE PURPOSE; AND AMENDING SECTION 32-1214B, IDAHO CODE, TO DEFINE A TERM. 5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 6 SECTION 1. That Section 32-706, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 7 amended to read as follows: 8 32-706. CHILD SUPPORT. (1) In a proceeding for divorce or child support, 9 the court may order either or both parents owing a duty of support to a child 10 to pay an amount reasonable or necessary for his or her support and education 11 until the child is eighteen (18) years of age, without regard to marital mis- 12 conduct, after considering all relevant factors which may include: 13 (a) The financial resources of the child; 14 (b) The financial resources, needs, and obligations of both the custodial 15 and noncustodial parents which ordinarily shall not include a parent's 16 community property interest in the financial resources or obligations of a 17 spouse who is not a parent of the child, unless compelling reasons exist; 18 (c) The standard of living the child enjoyed during the marriage; 19 (d) The physical and emotional condition and needs of the child and his 20 or her educational needs; 21 (e) The availability of medical coverage for the child at reasonable cost 22 as defined in section 32-1214B, Idaho Code; 23 (f) The actual tax benefit recognized by the party claiming the federal 24 child dependency exemption. 25 (2) If the child continues his high school education subsequent to reach- 26 ing the age of eighteen (18) years, the court may, in its discretion, and 27 after considering all relevant factors which include those set forth in sub- 28 section (1) of this section, order the continuation of support payments until 29 the child discontinues his high school education or reaches the age of nine- 30 teen (19) years, whichever is sooner. 31 (3) All child support orders shall notify the obligor that the order will 32 be enforced by income withholding pursuant to chapter 12, title 32, Idaho 33 Code. Failure to include this provision does not affect the validity of the 34 support order. The court shall require that the social security numbers of 35 both the obligor and obligee be included in the order or decree. 36 (4) In a proceeding for the support of a child or a minor parent the 37 court may order the parent(s) of each minor parent to pay an amount reasonable 38 or necessary for the support and education of the child born to the minor 39 parent(s) until the minor parent is eighteen (18) years of age, after consid- 40 ering all relevant factors which may include: 41 (a) The financial resources of the child; 42 (b) The financial resources of the minor parent; 43 (c) The financial resources, needs and obligations of the parent of the 2 1 minor parent; 2 (d) The physical and emotional condition and needs of the child and his 3 or her educational needs; and 4 (e) The availability of medical coverage for the child at reasonable cost 5 as defined in section 32-1214B, Idaho Code. 6 (5) The legislature hereby authorizes and encourages the supreme court of 7 the state of Idaho to adopt and to periodically review for modification guide- 8 lines that utilize and implement the factors set forth in subsections (1) 9 through (4) of this section to create a uniform procedure for reaching fair 10 and adequate child support awards. There shall be a rebuttable presumption 11 that the amount of the award which would result from the application of the 12 guidelines is the amount of child support to be awarded, unless evidence is 13 presented in a particular case which indicates that an application of the 14 guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate. If the court determines that cir- 15 cumstances exist to permit a departure from the guidelines, the judge making 16 the determination shall make a written or specific finding on the record that 17 the application of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in the par- 18 ticular case before the court. When adopting guidelines, the supreme court 19 shall provide that in a proceeding to modify an existing award, children of 20 the party requesting the modification who are born or adopted after the entry 21 of the existing order shall not be considered. 22 SECTION 2. That Section 32-1214A, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 23 amended to read as follows: 24 32-1214A. PURPOSE. The state of Idaho has an interest in ensuring that 25 its children receive health insurance benefits through private means when 26 available at reasonable cost as defined in section 32-1214B, Idaho Code. 27 Therefore, the legislature hereby adopts the national medical support notice 28 required by 42 U.S.C. section 666(a)(19) and the employee retirement income 29 security act, 29 U.S.C. section 1169(a), to allow the department of health and 30 welfare or an obligee to enforce an order for medical support. 31 SECTION 3. That Section 32-1214B, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 32 amended to read as follows: 33 32-1214B. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this chapter, the following 34 definitions apply: 35 (1) "Child" means any child including an adopted minor child, of a par- 36 ticipant in a health benefit plan, recognized under a medical child support 37 order as having a right to enrollment under a health benefit plan. 38 (2) "Department" means the department of health and welfare. 39 (3) "Health benefit plan" means a group or individual health benefit plan 40 or combination of plans, other than public assistance programs, that provides 41 medical care or benefits for a child. 42 (4) "Insurer" means every person engaged as indemnitor, surety or con- 43 tractor in the business of entering into contracts of insurance or annuity. 44 (5) "Medical child support order" means any order, including those that 45 meet the requirements of 29 U.S.C. section 1169, or notice issued by either a 46 court or administrative agency that requires a plan administrator, or if none, 47 the employer, to enroll an eligible child in a health benefit plan. 48 (6) "Obligee" means a party or parent other than the parent ordered to 49 carry or provide a health benefit plan for the parties' minor child. 50 (7) "Obligor" means the parent ordered by the court to carry or provide 51 health insurance benefits for the parties' minor child. 3 1 (8) "Party" means the department, grandparent or any person who is the 2 custodian, other than the parent who owes a duty of medical support. 3 (9) "Plan administrator" means a person or entity, designated under the 4 terms of the health benefit plan or health insurance policy or related con- 5 tract or agreement, responsible for the administration of plan duties. If no 6 plan administrator is designated under the terms of the policy, contract or 7 agreement, the plan administrator is the plan sponsor. 8 (10) "Plan sponsor" means an employer, employee organization, association, 9 committee, joint board of trustees, or other similar group, including a state 10 or local government agency or church, that establishes or maintains an 11 employee benefit plan. 12 (11) "Reasonable cost" means the cost to the obligor does not exceed five 13 percent (5%) of his or her gross income.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 17428
The federal government has mandated that states implement an income
based reasonable cost definition regarding the cost of health
insurance or cash medical support as ordered in a medical child
support order.
Idaho does not currently have an income based definition of
reasonable cost, but requires enrollment in health insurance
programs whenever insurance is available through employment.
This legislation will meet the federal mandate by adopting the
federal reasonable cost definition. This will assure more equitable
insurance enrollment, encouraging longer term employment for
parents who are court ordered to carry medical insurance.
FISCAL NOTE
There is no fiscal impact to the Child Support Program; however,
this legislation has the potential to increase costs to Medicaid as
some insured recipients will no longer meet the criteria for
mandatory private health insurance enrollment. It is possible that
some parents who are currently paying in excess of 5% of their
gross income for medical coverage for their children pursuant to a
court order would be otherwise eligible to participate in Medicaid.
This impact is estimated at $984,000 based upon 500 children
being covered by Medicaid at $164 per month for a full year. We do
not have any statistical data to support the number of children
used in this estimate so the actual impact may be less than the
amount shown.
CONTACT
Name: Kandee Yearsley
Agency: Health and Welfare
Phone: 334-0620
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1343