Davis Poised to Act on Child Support Reform

With groundbreaking child support reforms approved by both houses of the Legislature, the future of any new California system rests with the one state official who to date has been noticeably quiet about the measures: Gov. Gray Davis.

But even if the state’s chief executive has been publicly silent about proposals to strip California’s child support system from the hands of district attorneys, others in Sacramento say they are convinced that Davis is not only aware of the problems but determined to correct them.

In recent days, several state legislators who have championed reforms say that their discussions with Davis, or his staff, suggest he is open to a concept that heretofore was unheard of--shifting local child support programs to new agencies that would be held to tough statewide standards.

“I think he agrees with the fact that something has to be done,” Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) said of Davis. “And I believe he is open to this [reform],” Burton said.

Even if Davis’ willingness to try such a vastly different approach is uncertain, those in his office say that he is determined to lift California’s program from the bottom rung of programs nationwide.

“He is as passionate about this issue as any of the advocates,” said one top Davis administration official. “Now whether that means he will completely support the current proposals, I can’t say. But he is paying attention.”

Another Davis aide, press secretary Michael Bustamante, put it another way.

“Gov. Davis has a long history with the issue of chasing deadbeat parents to pay on child support. This has been an issue he first attacked as controller and now as governor,” Bustamante said.

“He hasn’t made a decision on the bills working their way through the legislative process. But given his long history with this, the governor intends on looking at changes that can be made that will more effectively collect debt that parents owe and children deserve. Because no matter which way you look at it, [the system] is a mess.”

When Davis served as state controller from 1987 to 1995, he pioneered the highly praised use of the Franchise Tax Board to help collect delinquent child support. The tax board currently attaches wages for many counties whose debtor parents have not paid their bills. The tax agency also withholds tax refunds for delinquent parents.

In a January interview with The Times, Davis said the state’s child support system needs major improvements and recognized that “you’re talking a turf battle here with the D.A.s.” He made those comments before Democratic leaders in both houses introduced bills to unilaterally strip the program from district attorneys.

Now, that legislation has been approved in each house. And as the authors of reforms prepare to take their bills to alternate houses, they say they are determined to make this year a watershed in California’s child support system.

“I think the major work now is really sitting down with the governor,” said Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica).

In recent weeks, Kuehl said, she has met several times with Davis’ staff to discuss the child support reforms and their relationship to California’s disastrous experience with computerization--an automation debacle that leaves the state facing more than $4 billion in federal fines.

Largely because of the computer crisis, Kuehl and others say, Davis’ staff is focusing even more attention on the proposed child support reforms. Among the key questions, they say, is how California logically can move toward a statewide child support computer system while continuing a decentralized program run by county prosecutors.

“This is really about whether the state of California and the executive branch is going to step up to the plate,” Kuehl said. “I believe the governor is convinced that we need to do better . . . and I believe that the governor will sit down with Sen. Burton and I and say, ‘All right, we are going to bring this all together in one program, and here is what I want.’ ”