Fate of Child Support Pass-Through Increase Again Rests in Illinois Senate

Efforts to increase the child support pass-through for working families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are under way again in this year’s session of the Illinois General Assembly. House Bill 3126 would increase the amount of child support passed through to working TANF families to 50 percent of the support collected (from the current $50 per month maximum). It passed the Illinois House of Representatives 114 to 0 on February 22.

As was the case last year, the Senate controls the legislation’s fate. As of today, the bill was still being held in the Senate’s Rules Committee. Unless the Rules Committee releases it by March 31, it will not be heard by the Senate and will have no chance of becoming law during this legislative session.

H.B. 3126 is similar to last year’s H.B. 1232, which had passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. George Ryan. The veto override effort fell one vote short in the Senate in last November. However, this year the sponsors have reduced the amount of the pass-through from 66 percent to 50 percent. This change addresses the main objection of the bill’s opponents last year—that if Illinois gave the TANF families two-thirds of their support while being required to refund half of the support to the federal government, the state would be paying out more than it is collecting in support of these families. Under H.B. 3126’s 50-percent formula, Illinois essentially would turn over its share of the child support to these needy families and turn over the remaining 50 percent to the federal government. Independent of H.B. 3126, Illinois is pursuing a federal waiver which would decrease the federal refund requirement.

H.B. 3128 was sponsored in the House by Representatives Eileen Lyons, Julie Hamos, William Black, Jack Franks, Constance Howard, Patti Bellock, Monique Davis, Harry Osterman, Wanda Sharp, Lauren Beth Gash, Sara Feigenholtz, Julie Currie, Sonia Silva, Edgar Lopez, Kevin McCarthy, Maggie Crotty, Timothy Osmond, and Sidney Mathias.

H.B. 3126’s sponsors and supporters fear that the Senate Rules Committee will stymie the bill because of the committee’s inaction on Senate versions of the pass-through bill earlier this session. Senate bills similar to H.B. 3126, sponsored by Sens. Dave Sullivan, Barack Obama, Christine Radogno, N. Duane Noland, Wendell Jones, Larry Bomke, Judith Myers, Kathleen Parker, Margaret Smith, Donne Trotter, Ned Mitchell, Robert Molaro, Carol Ronen, William Shaw, Kimberly Lightford, Rickey Hendon, Lisa Madigan, and Terry Link, were not released for hearing by the Senate Rules Committee by the deadline for moving Senate bills and will not be allowed to proceed to Senate consideration.

Increasing the pass-through for working TANF families had huge support last year, with most major Illinois newspapers criticizing the governor’s veto and urging the General Assembly to override that veto. Thousands of voters, including WomanView readers, contacted the governor and their senators and representatives in support of the bill.

With H.B. 3126 bottled up in the Senate Rules Committee, it again is time for supporters to make their voices heard. Supporters should contact Governor Ryan, the senators serving on the Rules Committee (Sens. Stanley Weaver, Kirk Dillard, Vince Demuzio, John Cullerton, and Walter Dudycz), the Senate sponsors listed on p. 1, Senate President James "Pate" Phillip, Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee), and their own senators. Supporters should tell them that H.B. 3126 is a much-needed and long overdue reform whose passage should not be delayed by the General Assembly’s plans to make other major improvements in the whole child support system.

The General Assembly is not meeting between March 11 and March 22, so senators can be reached in their district offices. Contact the following senators:

Sen. Stanley Weaver (R-Urbana), chair of the Rules Committee
District office: 217.367.0009 (phone). Springfield office: 217.782.6904 (phone); 217.782.7818 (fax)

Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), co-chair of the Rules Committee
District office: 630.969.0990 (phone); 630.969.1007 (fax). Springfield office: 217.782.5413

Sen. Dudycz (R-Chicago), member of the Rules Committee
District office: 773.774.7717 (phone); 773.774.7877, Springfield office: 217.782.3650
E-mail: sendudycz@aol.com

Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), member of the Rules Committee
District office: 773.883.0770 (phone); 773.296.0993 (fax). Springfield office: 217.782.7260
E-mail: statesencullerton@msn.com

Sen. Vince DeMuzio (D-Carlinville), minority spokesperson of the Rules Committee
District office: 217.854.4441 (phone); 217.854.5311 (fax). Springfield office: 217.782.8206

Senate President James "Pate" Phillip
District office: 630.941.0094 (phone); 630.832.2356 (fax). Springfield office: 217.782.8194

Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
District office: 847.622.1049 (phone); 847.622.0948. Springfield office: 217.782.7746

Contact the National Center on Poverty Law, 312.263.3830 ext. 238 (Wendy Pollack) or ext. 234 (Margaret Stapleton), for more information.