Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) governs the establishment, enforcement, and modification of interstate child and spousal support orders by providing jurisdictional standards and rules for determining which state's order is a controlling order and whether a tribunal of this state may exercise continuing, exclusive jurisdiction over a support proceeding. Existing law requires the Department of Child Support Services to administer services relating to the collection and distribution of child support throughout the state. Existing law also requires each county to maintain a local child support agency that is responsible for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations. This bill would revise and recast UIFSA to provide guidelines for the registration, recognition, enforcement, and modification of foreign support orders from countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance. The bill would identify the Department of Child Support Services as the agency designated by the United States central authority, as defined, to perform specific functions under the convention. Because the bill would impose new duties on local child support agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Among other things, the bill would clarify how a tribunal retains continuing, exclusive jurisdiction and would revise the procedures for determining which order is the controlling order in an interstate or international support proceeding. Existing law sets forth provisions to implement amendments to UIFSA that were promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2001, but makes those provisions inoperative until Congress amends federal law to authorize or require the adoption of the 2001 version of UIFSA or the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement or the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services approves a waiver, exemption, finding, or other indicia of regulatory approval of the 2001 version of UIFSA, whichever occurs first. This bill would delete those provisions. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.