BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT REPORT	Page 1 of  2

DATE:  February 26, 2001	Submitted by: TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPT.
	T. GLENN ELLINGTON, SECRETARY
BILL NUMBER: SB-427

SPONSOR:  Senator Maes

BILL SHORT TITLE: Exceptions to penalties for nonpayment of child support

DESCRIPTION: This legislation would make changes in the Support Enforcement Act, Parental Responsibility Act and the Motor Vehicle Code. Under these statutes, individuals may be denied driver's licenses and other licenses when they are not in compliance with a judgement or court order for child support or subpoenas or warrants relating to paternity or child support proceedings. Proposed changes to the statutes would allow, among other things, the Department to issue restricted driver's licenses to these people in order to allow them to seek or maintain gainful employment. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: Not stated, assume 90 days after adjournment --June 15, 2001 

FISCAL IMPACT (Thousands of dollars):  	Note: Parenthesis ( ) indicate a revenue loss:
				
	  Estimated Impact on Revenues	Recurring or Nonrecurring	
Funds 	
		Full Year 	     Impact   t	             Affected         .	
Federal Grants		(*,000)	Recurring	State Road Fund	
					
*How many millions is not known, but millions it is.  Please see the "Other Issues" section below.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT: The measure would impose moderate administrative impacts on the Department.

TECHNICAL ISSUES:
	Section 1:  This section seeks to amend Section 40-4A NMSA 1978 (The Support Enforcement Act) in a manner that will preclude incarceration of an “obligor” (defined, in 40-4A-2, essentially as the delinquent parent) for the delinquency if such incarceration would have the effect of keeping the obligor from “seeking or maintaining gainful employment.”  At least two big problems are associated with this.  People are not incarcerated for the failure to pay child support.  When incarcerated, it is for contempt of court, even though the contempt results from the person’s failure to comply with a court order of support. Also, even if that problem were to be corrected, what defendant would not demand freedom under this proposed law on the ground that he needed to “seek employment”?  An improvement would be to delete the “seeking” part and limit the benefit to those already employed.
	Another problem seems to be placing these changes in Section 4A, rather than, perhaps 5A.  4A, the Support Enforcement Act, primarily deals with the obligations of persons under an obligation to withhold an obligor’s income and pay it over to a state agency under an order of income withholding.  Section 5A, the Parental Responsibility Act, has to do with sanctions for delinquent obligors, especially license issues.
	Section 2: contains the phrase, “to seek or maintain gainful employment”. It would probably result in the same problem mentioned above with respect to the “seek” language. MVD could never refuse issuance of a restricted driver’s license so long as the person alleged he needed it to “seek” employment.  Likewise, law enforcement could never cite, nor could prosecutors convict, a person for operating outside the restrictions of the license so long as the person alleged he was seeking employment, no matter when, where, and under what circumstances he was stopped.  Solution:  Again, remove the “seek.”
	Section 3: amends Section 40-5A-5 NMSA 1978 to allow a person who would otherwise be ineligible for a commercial or operator’s license under the Parental Responsibility Act to obtain a restricted license to enable him to “seek or maintain” gainful employment.  Same problem:  remove “seek.”
	Section 4: amends Section 40-5A-6 to allow a person whose license (which is defined in 40-5A-2 as any license, a driver’s license or any professional license) has been suspended by the board or agency which issued the license, to apply for a restricted commercial or operator’s license to “seek or maintain” gainful employment.  Again, remove “seek.”  Also, a bigger problem:  What good is a driver’s license, restricted to seeking or maintaining employment, if the professional license (contractor’s license, law license) required to engage in the person’s profession, is suspended?  The bill does not address this huge problem.  It may also be an equal protection of the law problem, because a non-professional would be given the means to work, but a professional person wouldn’t.  Furthermore, Part B of Section 4 says, “A person may, if there are grounds for suspension or revocation of his license, apply for a restricted commercial or operator’s license…”  The underlined language should say, if his license has been suspended.  
	Section 5: of the bill amends the restricted license statute (66-5-19) to make it consistent with the other changes which the bill proposes. The “seek” issue arises again in the new Subsection E of 66-5-19.  The other problem is that Section A of 66-5-19 limits applicability of the statute to restrictions related to the licensee’s ability to operate a vehicle with safety. 
	Finally, if there are to be any changes to the law providing licenses to persons to enable them to engage in gainful employment, the change should be made to Section 66-5-35 (Limited Licenses) rather that to Section 66-5-19 (Restricted Licenses) as proposed. The reason is that 66-5-19 deals with restrictions placed on licenses that are required by medical conditions or physical deficits and to promote safety while still allowing the affected person to drive. 66-5-35, on the other hand, deals with licenses granted to persons whose licenses are revoked or suspended and who may meet the criteria for obtaining a license limited to allow them to engage in gainful employment.  

OTHER ISSUES: If New Mexico amends any law that would allow any type of limited/restricted commercial driver's license for child support, the state would be "non-compliant" with federal laws.  As a result, five percent of federal support for highways would be lost as well as federal grant money, and any commercial driver's license issued by New Mexico would not be recognized by any other state-- a substantial loss of income for the state.