SENATE MEMORIAL 12

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A MEMORIAL

EXPRESSING THE SUPPORT OF THE NEW MEXICO SENATE FOR FEDERAL CHANGES TO IMPROVE THE NAVAJO NATION'S ABILITY TO COLLECT AND TRACK CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS.

     WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation is the largest Native American tribe within the boundaries of the United States and is larger than ten of the fifty states; and

     WHEREAS, Navajo children under the age of eighteen comprise almost half the total population, and some sixty-one percent of Navajo grandparents are responsible for grandchildren under the age of eighteen; and

     WHEREAS, over half the population of the Navajo Nation lives below the poverty level, and over forty percent of persons on the Navajo Nation are unemployed; and

     WHEREAS, collecting child support for children whose parents are able to pay child support may be critical in the health and education of a good portion of Navajo children; and

     WHEREAS, the federal government granted the Navajo Nation and thirty-nine other tribes the ability to collect child support, establish paternity and enforce child and medical support obligations, but did not grant the Navajo Nation access to information essential for investigation and enforcement; and

     WHEREAS, the federal government has suggested that states charge the Navajo Nation for access to important personal files of potential payers of child support; and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation has suggested five changes the United States congress can make to improve the ability to collect child support for Navajo Nation members; and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation has collected almost three million dollars ($3,000,000) in past-due child support and received more than ten thousand acknowledgments of paternity for Navajo children; and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation department of child support enforcement has collected a total of seven million two hundred forty-eight thousand two hundred thirty-seven dollars ($7,248,237) in child support during fiscal year 2007;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be encouraged to take appropriate steps on behalf of the Navajo Nation to increase its effectiveness in child support collection and enforcement; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that New Mexico's congressional delegation be urged to take the following steps to improve child support collection on the Navajo Nation:

          A. eliminate the federal prohibition on the Navajo Nation's ability to purchase and develop its own tribal child support computer system and, therefore, remove the need for the Navajo Nation to pay another government, such as the state of New Mexico, in order to get case information on Navajo residents living in New Mexico;

          B. allow the Navajo Nation to access "locate and enforcement tools" directly, removing the need to contract with other governments to provide passport denial or revocation, multistate financial institution data matching, the parent locator service, tax offset data and demonstration grants made available by the federal government;

          C. encourage the federal government to complete its design of a model tribal child support system to increase efficiency and effectiveness;

          D. reduce the percentage of funds required from the Navajo Nation in order to match federal funds so that the Navajo Nation can receive federal funds to help collect child support even during times of declining employment; and

          E. provide the Navajo Nation an appeal of the federal determinations of whether a hardship is severe enough to permit a waiver of strict rules governing required tribal matching funds, and add a possible waiver into federal language for extreme economic problems instead of allowing a waiver only for natural disasters, including extreme weather and calamities such as hurricanes and earthquakes; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to all members of the state's congressional delegation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the president of the Navajo Nation and to the speaker of the house of the Navajo Nation as well as to the secretary of human services.

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