CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
2003 ANNUAL REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As required by law (A.R.S. §25-323.01), the Child Support Committee,
jointly chaired by Representative Peter Hershberger and Senator James
Waring, submits to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of
the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme
Court the following report.
The Child Support Committee (“Committee”) was created in 2002 to
continue the work of its predecessor, the Child Support Coordinating
Council Subcommittee. The Committee’s purpose (exploring concepts for
improving the child support system) again proved to be successful and
beneficial to Arizona’s residents as evidenced by the passage of legislative
proposals designed to enhance the child support system.
Several
workgroups appointed by the Committee comprised of technical experts in
the child support system deliberated over and made recommendations to the
Committee for improvements to the child support guidelines and various
child support laws. A new workgroup focused on development of a strategic
plan for the future of child support in Arizona.
The Committee was originally conceived as a forum for all system
stakeholders to develop and coordinate policies and strategies to improve the
child support system. The Committee’s efforts evidenced the wisdom and
importance of forging collaborative solutions. Efforts of various Committee
workgroups have produced additional recommendations intended for
introduction to the Legislature and Arizona Supreme Court in 2004.

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CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
2003 ANNUAL REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Historical Background
Session law establishing the original Child Support Enforcement and
Domestic Relations Reform Committee grew from the work of a legislative
advisory committee.
In June 1993, Senator John Greene, President of the Senate, and
Representative Mark Killian, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
appointed a Joint Select Committee on Child Support Enforcement, cochaired by Senator Matt Salmon and Representative Pat Blake Wilder, with
the goal of creating an effective child support system for Arizona families
and children. To assist in this effort, in July 1993, the Select Committee
appointed a Technical Advisory Committee co-chaired by David Byers,
Administrative Director of the Courts, and Bonnie Tucker, Deputy Director
of the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
The Technical Advisory Committee brought together major stakeholders in
the statewide child support arena. Membership represented a cross section of
program administrators, parents, judicial officers and attorneys, creating a
forum for meaningful debate on the issues facing Arizona's child support
enforcement system.
The Technical Advisory Committee identified various problems within the
system and recommended solutions for corrective action, including
identification of the agency or entity responsible for initiating
implementation. Fifty-seven recommendations, of which 28 required
legislative action, were developed. At the conclusion of its mission, the

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Committee submitted a report of its recommendations dated November 1,
1993.
In the course of deliberations, there was consensus that integrated planning
and communication among all of the child support stakeholders is vital to
ensure continued improvement in the system. Thus, the first
recommendation made in the Committee's report was that a child support
coordinating council be formed to provide a mechanism for on-going
communication and integrated planning among stakeholders to ensure
consistency in child support policies.
The Technical Advisory Committee also identified a problem concerning the
difficulty in understanding laws and procedures due to the lack of integration
of the statutes relating to domestic relations issues. To address this problem,
the Technical Advisory Committee recommended that a domestic relations
reform study committee be established to consolidate, revise and modernize
the domestic relations statutes.
Legislative Response
During the forty-first session, the Legislature created each of the two
subcommittees proposed in the recommendations of the Technical Advisory
Committee. By Laws 1994, Chapter 374, Section 24, both the Child Support
Coordinating Council Subcommittee (“Council”) and the Domestic
Relations Reform Study Subcommittee (“DR Subcommittee”) were
established within a single overarching legislative committee called the
Child Support Enforcement and Domestic Relations Reform Committee.
The Child Support Enforcement and Domestic Relations Reform Committee
consisted of the four co-chairs from each of the two subordinate
subcommittees. This overarching committee was established to coordinate
the work of the subcommittees, but was specifically directed not to make
substantive changes to the work, findings or recommendations of the two
subcommittees. Any conflicts between the findings or recommendations of
the subcommittees were to be referred back to the subcommittees for
resolution.

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Each of the subcommittees was co-chaired by a member of the Senate and a
member of the House of Representatives. The enabling legislation identified
the composition of each subcommittee's membership and prescribed the
tasks to be undertaken. Reports were to be submitted by the subcommittees
quarterly to the Child Support Enforcement and Domestic Relations Reform
Committee. The overarching committee was responsible to report annually
on the work, findings and recommendations of the subcommittees to the
Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.
The original legislation creating the overarching committee and its
subcommittees was effective July 17, 1994. That same enabling law
appropriated funds to the Arizona Supreme Court for costs associated with
staffing the subcommittees. In July 1994, the Arizona Supreme Court
designated the Domestic Relations Division of the Administrative Office of
the Courts (AOC) to provide that staff support.
The legislation that originally established the committee and its two
subcommittees was scheduled for repeal from and after December 31, 1997.
Provisions of law enacted in 1997 (Laws 1997, Chapters 45, 176 and 250)
extended this date so that each of the subcommittees continued to serve the
public until December 31, 2000. New legislation (Laws 2000, Chapter 312)
repealed Laws 1994, Chapter 374, Section 24 and added A.R.S. § 25-320.01
to statute. This statute, effective as of July 18, 2000, created the committee
and subcommittees by statute, rather than session law, and extended the life
of the committee and the two subcommittees until July 1, 2007. The statute
further specified that the Domestic Relations Reform Study Subcommittee
was to meet jointly with the Child Support Coordinating Council
Subcommittee at least twice each year.
Legislation passed in 2002 (Laws 2002, Chapter 332) eliminated the Child
Support Enforcement and Domestic Relations Reform Committee, the Child
Support Coordinating Council Subcommittee and Domestic Relations
Reform Study Subcommittee. The new law created a new structure and two
independent committees, the Child Support Committee (Committee) and the
Domestic Relations Committee, with simplified purposes, appointments and
reporting requirements and provided that the two committees will expire on
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January 1, 2008. The Court Services Division, Court Programs Unit, AOC,
is still responsible for staffing the Committee created by this new legislation.
The new statute, A.R.S. §25-323.01, effective August 22, 2002, requires the
Committee to prepare an annual report on the work, findings and
recommendations regarding child support guidelines, enforcement and
related issues to the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Governor and the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme
Court each year.
This report reflects the Committee’s work, findings and recommendations
for the year 2003.
Membership
The session law originally enacted in 1994 outlined the membership of each
subcommittee by position or category and directed how chairpersons would
be appointed. In 1995, the Legislature amended this law. Chapter 44 of the
Laws of 1995 altered the numbers of subcommittee members and attempted
to balance political party representation of legislative members. The 1995
law also directly affected the composition of the Council.
Under the original law, the only legislative members of the Council were the
two subcommittee co-chairs, one appointed from each legislative chamber.
As amended, session law provided there shall be two members of the Senate
from different political parties and two members of the House of
Representatives, also from different political parties. As a result, two
additional members, both of the minority party, were added to the Council in
1995. Co-chairperson positions were unaffected.
In 1997, the Legislature also added additional requirements of membership.
An amendment (Laws 1997, Chapter 173) to the original enabling law
(Laws 1994, chapter 374, section 24) provided that members of each
subcommittee shall serve two-year terms at the pleasure of the official or
officials who appointed them. Additionally, the law specified that the
appointments shall be made at the start of each even fiscal year and that
members may be re-appointed.

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The new law enacted in 2002 that created the Committee did not alter its
membership, but eliminated the two-year term limit. Members now serve at
the pleasure of the appointing official. Appointments are made by the
Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

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CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
2003
Summary
In 2003, as in past years, the importance of the Child Support Committee
(Committee) as a recognized forum for cooperative decision making in the
area of child support was reaffirmed. The work of the Committee’s
predecessor, the Child Support Coordinating Council Subcommittee
(Council), was carried over to the new Committee. Several workgroups that
study and suggest recommendations to revise child support laws and rules
continued their work throughout 2003.
Monthly deliberations by the Guidelines workgroup, an ad hoc group
assembled to assist the Arizona Supreme Court in its review of the child
support guidelines as directed by A.R.S. § 25-323.01, led to a series of
recommendations that are designed to improve the guidelines and to ensure
their consistency with current economic conditions.
Recommendations for legislation improving the child support system were
developed through the activities of the long-standing Statute Cleanup
workgroup for introduction in 2003. Proposals include amendments that
eliminate duplicative statutes, authorize the Department of Economic
Security, Division of Child Support Enforcement to obtain credit reports for
both fathers and mothers, clarify that the Clerk of Court is the entity
responsible for issuing transfer orders when a child support case is
transferred to another county and that the transferring county should transfer
the entire case file to the receiving county for all purposes including venue.
A newly created ad hoc workgroup, the Strategic Planning Workgroup,
began meeting to address the future of child support in Arizona. Several
major initiatives have been accomplished over the years since the
Committee’s formation and members wisely chose to again take a look at
the child support system and develop strategies for the next 10-year period.

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Membership
The session law originally establishing the Child Support Coordinating
Council Subcommittee (Laws 1994, Chapter 374, Section 24) prescribed the
membership composition of the Council by title or category and directed
how each would be appointed. The new law enacted in 2002 that eliminated
the Council and created the Child Support Committee did not alter the
membership composition.
Two thousand and three saw the appointment of several new members to the
Committee, including new Senate-appointed co-chair, Senator Jim Waring,
who replaced former co-chair, Senator David Petersen who left the Senate to
become State Treasurer. Senator Waring represents District 7.
Representative Manuel Alvarez was appointed by Senate President Ken
Bennett to replace former member Representative Kathi Foster who termed
out of the Legislature. Representative Alvarez represents District 25 and
serves as a member of the House Human Services Committee.
In September, State Senator Bill Brotherton was introduced as Senator Linda
Aguirre’s replacement. Senator Brotherton represents District 14 and serves
on the Senate Family Services Committee.
Also in September, new IV-D Director, Leona Hodges, replaced outgoing
Director Benidia Rice who moved to Washington D.C. to serve as IV-D
Director of the District of Columbia. Ms. Hodges stepped into the role with
ease as she previously served as interim IV-D Director prior to Ms. Rice’s
tenure with the IV-D agency.

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Work, Findings and Recommendations
The Committee met four times in 2003. Because of the extraordinary length
of the Forty-Sixth Legislature, First Regular Session and the fall Special
session, several Committee meetings were canceled. In spite of meeting less
frequently, the Committee made significant progress on important policy
issues.
Comment from the public was encouraged to assist the Committee’s efforts
to continually improve Arizona’s child support system. Existing workgroups
continued to meet as well as new workgroups to develop recommendations
intended to benefit the citizens of Arizona.
TASKS AND OBJECTIVES
Listed below is a description of the major activities by Committee
workgroups.
Guidelines Workgroup
Section 25-230 of the Arizona Revised Statutes directs the Arizona Supreme
Court to ”...establish guidelines for determining the amount of child
support.” Additionally, the Supreme Court is required to “...review the
guidelines at least once every four years to ensure that their application
results in the determination of appropriate child support amounts.”
Since initial adoption in 1987, the guidelines have been reviewed four times.
A review was conducted in 1995, and revised guidelines were adopted by
the Supreme Court on July 10, 1996 for actions filed after October 31, 1996.
Consistent with state and federal law, Arizona’s guidelines were again
studied in 2000. On September 28, 2000, the Supreme Court unanimously
adopted the proposed changes to the guidelines proposed by the workgroup
with an effective date of January 1, 2001. In response to requests from child
support entities, attorneys and judges to revise a particularly complex section
of the guidelines, the workgroup recommended one further revision, which
the Supreme Court adopted with a May 1, 2001 effective date.
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As required by federal and state law, in mid-2002, the Administrative Office
of the Courts ordered two studies with which to begin the 2004 review: 1) an
economic analysis to ensure that the child support schedule reflects current
economic conditions, and 2) a case file review to determine if the guidelines
are resulting in appropriate child support amounts. Based on these reports, a
set of three recommendations was developed by the Administrative Office of
the Courts including updating the Schedule of Basic Support, increasing the
self support reserve amount and updating the federal child care tax table.
The Administrative Office of the Courts invited the Committee’s Guidelines
Workgroup to assist in the review and make additional recommendations for
changes if needed. The new workgroup, under the able leadership of
Honorable Mark Armstrong, Family Court Presiding Judge in the Superior
Court in Maricopa County, held its first meeting in late 2002 and
subsequently met 11 times throughout 2003. The group developed a set of
additional recommendations that are intended to provide clarification and
simplification to the guidelines. In light of the high number of selfrepresented litigants who utilize the guidelines to establish and modify child
support orders, some sections of the guidelines were re-written in an attempt
to enable those users to better understand them. Other proposed changes
would: 1) codify recent case law concerning the use of overtime income for
the determination of child support amounts, 2) add a presumptive date of
termination of child support orders, 3) add direction to the courts when
setting child support arrearage amounts, and 4) provide clarity for parents
who receive an adjustment for the amount of parenting time (formerly
“visitation”) spent with a child.
On December 16, 2003, the Child Support Committee approved the
workgroup’s recommendations. The Committee on Superior Court and
Arizona Judicial Council will consider the proposal and forward their
recommendations to the Arizona Supreme Court for final approval and
adoption. Any changes are expected to take effect on January 2, 2005.
The Committee also adopted a proposal to create an interim workgroup
proposed by Dr. Ira Ellman, Arizona State University that would be tasked
with studying economic child-rearing cost estimating methods and
guidelines models.
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Strategic Planning Workgroup
Significant progress has been realized through the efforts of the former Child
Support Coordinating Council Subcommittee and the reconstituted Child
Support Committee. Looking at past achievements and recognizing the
importance of planning for the future of child support in Arizona, an ad hoc
workgroup was formed to develop a strategic plan which would ultimately
be presented to the Committee for approval.
The group met three times in late 2003 to explore innovative ideas intended
to improve the child support system in both IV-D and non-IV-D cases. Both
short-term, meaning 5-year, and long-term, 10-year proposals were
developed. The group plans to continue meeting during the first few months
of 2004 and ultimately present its recommendations to the Committee in
early summer 2004.
Post-Secondary Support Workgroup
An ad hoc group, the Post-Secondary workgroup, led by Honorable Monica
Stauffer, Presiding Superior Court Judge in Greenlee County, was formed in
2003 to address a specific request received through the Committee’s “Call to
the Public”. A concern regarding the provision of support beyond the age of
emancipation was raised by a constituent. Under Arizona law, child support
is paid through age 18, or age 19 if the child is still in high school beyond
his or her 18th birthday. The constituent asked the Committee to examine
whether support should be extended throughout the child’s college years. In
some cases, the parent who has physical custody of a child ends up paying a
child’s college expenses without assistance from the other parent, thereby
causing financial hardship on the parent paying the expense.
Members of the newly formed workgroup examined other states’ laws that
govern this issue, in addition to the constitutionality of ordering support of a
person who is legally considered an adult. The workgroup failed to reach
consensus on this controversial issue in terms of a legislative proposal, but
agreed on a proposal to add language to court forms that would alert parties
to the potential of agreeing on support beyond the age of majority. The
Committee approved the proposal and subsequently asked the
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Administrative Office of the Courts to ensure that this important revision be
incorporated into its forms.
Statute Cleanup Workgroup
The Statute Cleanup workgroup has functioned since 1997 to examine
particular statutes related to child support enforcement to identify
inconsistencies, lack of clarity, or unnecessary duplication and to
recommend improvements. The group began meeting in May and met
monthly throughout the summer and fall to develop legislative proposals for
the 2004 session. Several proposals were considered and routed to other
committees or determined to be unnecessary. Two proposals were presented
to the Committee in December where they were approved for introduction in
the Forty-Sixth Legislature – Second Regular Session. Please see the
following section below titled “Recommendations for Legislative Action”
for additional details about legislation proposed for 2004.
Recommendations for Legislative Action
The product of the Statute Cleanup Workgroup resulted in two legislative
proposals being recommended for passage during the Second Regular
Session of the Forty-Sixth Legislature in 2004. Committee co-chairs
Representative Peter Hershberger and Senator Jim Waring will sponsor the
proposals.
Included in the 2004 legislative proposal are provisions that:
• Amend Arizona’s Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
laws by updating them with recommendations from the National
Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. The
revisions add clarification to and enhance the current law. UIFSA
laws govern child support cases across state lines.
• Create a remedy for reimbursement when a parent pays an amount
in excess of the court-ordered amount at the end of a child support
obligation. This situation occurs when a wage assignment for
child support continues after the child reaches the age of majority,
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but a parent fails to ask the court to stop the wage assignment. The
proposal would provide a remedy for that parent to seek a
judgment for the overpayment within a prescribed time period.
Other Issues before the Committee
Educational programs were presented to the Committee in an effort to
apprise members of various child support enforcement-related efforts around
the state and country. Importantly, because several new members joined the
Committee during 2003, an overview of Arizona’s child support system,
both IV-D and non-IV-D, was provided by the director of the state child
support agency and a clerk of Superior Court. Valarie Merritt, Manager of
the Support Payment Clearinghouse, the child support payment processing
center, provided an overview of the procedures used to process child support
payments.
Bill Coffin, Department of Health & Human Services and Director of
President Bush’s “Healthy Marriages Initiative” appeared before the
Committee to provide an overview of that project. Importantly, the initiative
contains an objective of establishing a connection between child support
programs and community programs that are involved in the “Healthy
Marriages Initiative”. Eventually, the project will be used to determine if
the need for child support would be reduced if fewer marriages were
terminated.
Representative Peter Hershberger, co-chair of the Committee, was honored
with a prestigious award as “Legislator of the Year” from the federal Office
of Child Support Enforcement. He accepted the award from federal Child
Support Commissioner Sherri Heller in Washington D.C.

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Future Actions
The Committee is committed to the continued exploration and development
of procedures and mechanisms to enhance the delivery of child support
services to the families and children of Arizona. New and existing
workgroups will continue to explore issues currently under discussion, new
issues that arise, and endeavor to increase public awareness of child support
issues. As chartered, the Committee will maintain its important role in
providing a forum for cooperative decision making and cohesive policy
development among all interested stakeholders in the child support
enforcement system.

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APPENDIX TO
CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
2003 ANNUAL REPORT

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CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
PURPOSE
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-323.01, effective August 22, 2002, the Child
Support Committee was formed to:
Prepare an annual written report on its work, findings and
recommendations regarding child support guidelines,
enforcement and related issues to the Governor, President of the
Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chief
Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court on or before December
31 of each year and provide a copy of the report to the
Secretary of State and the Director of the Arizona State Library,
Archives and Public Records.

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CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
MEMBERSHIP
Membership consists of the following members or their designees who have
knowledge of or experience in, child support enforcement and related issues:
• The Director of the Department of Economic Security or the
Director’s designee.
• The Assistant Director of the Division of Child Support
Enforcement of the Department of Economic Security.
• A Division or Section Chief from the Office of the Attorney
General who has knowledge of or experience in child support
enforcement and related issues and who is appointed by the
Attorney General.
• The Director of the Administrative Office of the Supreme Court.
• Two presiding judges from the Domestic Relations Division of the
Superior Court who are appointed by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. One judge shall be from an urban county and one
judge shall be from a rural county.
• A title IV-D Court Commissioner who is appointed by the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court.
• A Clerk of the Superior Court who is appointed by the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Two county attorneys who are appointed by the Director of the
Department of Economic Security from a county that is currently
contracting with the state to provide child support enforcement
services. One county attorney shall be from an urban county and
one county attorney shall be from a rural county.

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• An Executive Assistant from the Office of the Governor who is
appointed by the Governor.
• One person knowledgeable in child support issues who is a
noncustodial parent and one person knowledgeable in child support
issues who is a custodial parent. The President of the Senate shall
appoint these members.
• One person knowledgeable in child support issues who is a
noncustodial parent and one person knowledgeable in child support
issues who is a custodial parent. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives shall appoint these members.
• One parent knowledgeable in child support issues who has joint
custody who is appointed jointly by the President of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• One person from the Executive Committee of the Family Law
Section of the State Bar of Arizona who is appointed by the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court.
• One person from the business community who is appointed jointly
by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
• Two members of the Senate from different political parties. The
President of the Senate shall appoint the members and designate
one of the members as co-chairperson.
• Two members of the House of Representatives from different
political parties. The Speaker of the House of Representatives
shall appoint the members and designate one of the members as
co-chairperson.

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CHILD SUPPORT COMMITTEE
LIST OF MEMBERS
Co-Chair: Representative Peter Hershberger
Co-Chair: Senator James Waring
Honorable Manuel Alvarez
State Representative

Michelle Krstyen
County Attorney (Rural)

Honorable Mark Armstrong
Domestic Relations Judge (Urban)

Ezra Loring
Governor’s Office

Robert L. Barrasso
State Bar - Family Law Section

Suzanne Miles
Custodial Parent

Honorable Bill Brotherton
State Senator

David Norton
Noncustodial Parent

David K. Byers
Administrative Office of the Courts

Honorable Rhonda L. Repp
IV-D Commissioner

Charles DiGeronimo
Noncustodial Parent

Chuck Shipley
Business Representative

Kim Gillespie
Office of the Attorney General

Russell Smoldon
Joint Custodial Parent

Leona Hodges
Director, IV-D Agency

Honorable Monica Stauffer
Domestic Relations Judge (Rural)

Kym L. Hull
Custodial Parent

Bianca Varelas-Miller
(for John Clayton)
Director, Dept. of Economic Security

Honorable Michael Jeanes
Clerk of the Superior Court (Urban)

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