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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Begaye

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/27/08

HB 322

SHORT TITLE Navajo Nation Child Support Enforcement

SB

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$160.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Duplicates SB275

Responses Received From

Human Services Department (HSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 322 appropriates $160 thousand from the general fund to the Human Services

Department for case fees and program expenses for child support enforcement cases involving

clients on the Navajo Nation.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $160 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall revert to

the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HSD reports that currently, the Navajo Nation contracts for child support enforcement services

via a JPA with HSD-CSED in the amount of $792,615 annually. The Navajo Nation uses tribal

funds (20% of total) and Federal Matching Funds (80% of total) to pay the annual charges. The

bill apparently proposes to replace the tribal funds with State General Funds. HSD would need

to transfer the appropriation to the Navajo Nation to achieve the enhanced federal matching rate

of 80% rather than the 66% that HSD-CSED receives. The Navajo Nation would then pay HSD-

CSED the agreed upon charges for child support services rendered.

MW/bb