{
  "id": "R41762",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R41762",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 386022,
      "date": "2011-04-11",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:57:53.278902",
      "title": "Child Support Enforcement and Driver\u2019s License Suspension Policies",
      "summary": "The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a federal-state program whose mission is to enhance the well-being of children by helping custodial parents obtain financial support for their children from the noncustodial parent. Child support payments enable parents who do not live with their children to fulfill their financial responsibility to their children by contributing to the payment of childrearing costs. As a condition of receiving federal CSE funds, Congress requires each state to have in effect laws requiring the use of a specified list of collection/enforcement procedures to increase the effectiveness of the state\u2019s CSE program. P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform law) added to the CSE program\u2019s array of collection/enforcement methods by giving states the authority to withhold, suspend, or restrict the driver\u2019s license of certain noncustodial parents. Although income withholding is the main and most effective way of collecting child support (67% of collections), 16% of child support collections in FY2009 were obtained through un-named methods (often categorized in data reports as \u201cother\u201d or \u201cother sources\u201d), which included money obtained directly from noncustodial parents who were paying their child support obligation to avoid having their driver\u2019s license withheld, suspended, or restricted. The use of these driver\u2019s license suspension procedures is not mandated in every case, but they must be available at a state\u2019s discretion. Because driver\u2019s license suspension procedures follow state law, practices vary across the country. States have a great deal of flexibility in implementing driver\u2019s license suspension programs.\nIn 2008, there were 208 million licensed drivers in the United States (about 87% of the driving-age population). According to survey data, about 5% of the U.S. population who worked took public transportation to their jobs, while 76% commuted to work in a private vehicle and 11% carpooled (the remaining 8% walked, bicycled, rode a motorcycle, or worked at home).\nSupporters of driver\u2019s license suspension policies re-iterate that a driver\u2019s license is a privilege provided by the states. They maintain that noncustodial parents who fail to meet their child support obligations are not deserving of driving privileges. They also say that people who cannot afford to pay their child support obligations because of financial circumstances have the opportunity to have their child support payments reduced through state CSE review and modification procedures and thereby have no legitimate excuse for noncompliance. They contend that states have been very successful in collecting child support payments through this collection/enforcement method. \nCritics of driver\u2019s license suspension policies contend that having one\u2019s driving privilege suspended is counterproductive. They assert that it can lessen a person\u2019s ability to keep a job or find work and thus lessen the person\u2019s ability to fulfill his or her child support obligation. They note that some noncustodial parents may become resentful of the government and his or her relationship with the custodial parent may become antagonistic, which may have a negative impact on the child\u2019s (or children\u2019s) well-being. Moreover, they say that some noncustodial parents who feel that they are battling a futile situation may become less engaged with society, their families, and their children and thereby become less concerned about trying to meet their child support obligations.\nThis report provides basic information on the CSE program, describes the ways in which states have implemented driver\u2019s license suspension policies (see the Appendix for the state table), provides existing data on the amounts collected through driver\u2019s license suspension policies, and discusses some concerns regarding the use of driver\u2019s license suspension as a CSE program tool.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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}