Utah is seeing a surge in child support payments over the past year, a change that state officials credit in part to a new state law that withholds hunting and fishing licenses to people who fall significantly behind on payments.
“I came up with the idea for the bill, actually, in talking with some of my constituents who had noncustodial partners that were overdue on child support and going out and spending lots and lots of money hunting and fishing,” said state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, who wrote and passed the bill enacting the new law two years ago. It went into effect in 2021.
File photo of a Red Fish is readied to be weighted during the 13th Annual STM Fishing Rodeo at Quintana Landing on Saturday, August 6, 2022 in Cypremort Point, La.. ORG XMIT: BAT2208061738132275
The law blocks anyone from obtaining a hunting or fishing license if they are past due more than $2,500 in child support for a year.
“A lot of people talk about sending people to jail or prison instantly when they hear 'noncollection of child support, nonpayment of child support.' But in reality, if they’re going to prison or jail, they’re not working, so that’s not helping solve the problem,” said Utah Office of Recovery Services director Liesa Stockdale, whose agency manages child support in the state.
“And when they get out ... they have legal marks on their record that could prevent them from getting future employment. So that’s not helping. And then there’s a stigma for the children involved that their parent has had to go to jail or prison. And that’s not helping anything.”
In their conversations, Stockdale encouraged Lisonbee to think about “creative incentives” that are important to the people who owe child support but that wouldn’t affect their ability to support their children.
File photo of an alligator being placed in a boat during the beginning of alligator hunting season in St. Charles Parish, La., Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. The season in Louisiana is cut into 2 zones, the east and west. The east alligator hunting season starts the last Wednesday of August and continues for 60 days, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The west zone starts the first Wednesday of September. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“I think that hunting and fishing are fairly popular in almost every state,” Lisonbee said.
Some states have embraced the policy, including Pennsylvania. Failure to make child support for three months allows the state to suspend a driver’s or professional license.
In Utah, data provided by Stockdale suggests child support payments have gone up since the law was put into place. On July 1, 2021, they blocked the hunting and fishing licenses of 2,959 people.
“Out of those people, when we looked at it again, this year, during the first week of July, 494 of those people had come into compliance with the law at some point during that first year,” she said.
Stockdale acknowledged that the law may not be the only reason the people caught up on child support.
“There’s really no way to 100% say that’s why these people were paying their support,” she said.
File photo of a fisherman stands in a ray of sun before the afternoon rains came while fishing at the pond at the Burbank Park on Monday, August 29, 2022 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
With that context in mind, Stockdale reports an increase in payments by nearly $2 million a year after the new law took effect, specifically coming from the people whose licenses were withheld.
Lisonbee also worked with lawmakers to update the law this year to add flexibility to its enforcement. One change she made was to allow people to still obtain licenses if they missed one month’s of payment because of a transition to a new job.
Ultimately, Stockdale believes that Utah’s experience provides a lesson about how creative solutions can be used to change people’s behavior.
“It’s a matter of finding that right incentive for your community, even for different parents within your community,” she said. “We need to continue to be creative to find those little incentive niches that will speak to different parents and will mean something to them.”
Louisiana Inspired is a weekly Sunday section that focuses on people and organizations in Louisiana who are working toward solving problems and making the world a better place. The section is published in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Acadiana. If you know of someone or an organization that is doing exceptional work to make Louisiana better, please let us know by emailing us at jan.risher@theadvocate.com.
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To boost child support payments, Utah officials said: No payment? No hunting, fishing license. - NOLA.com
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