Section 17704 Of Article 4. Program Costs From California Family Law Code >> Division 17. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 4.
17704
. (a) For the 1998-99 fiscal year the department shall pay to
each county a child support incentive payment. Every county shall
receive the federal child support incentive. A county shall receive
the state child support incentive if it elects to do both of the
following:
(1) Comply with the reporting requirements of Section 17600 while
federal financial participation is available for collecting and
reporting data.
(2) Comply with federal and state child support laws and
regulations, or has a corrective action plan certified by the
department pursuant to Section 17702. The combined federal and state
incentive payment shall be 13.6 percent of distributed collections.
If the amount appropriated by the Legislature for the state
incentives is less than the amount necessary to satisfy each county's
actual incentives pursuant to this section, each county shall
receive its proportional share of incentives.
(b) (1) Beginning July 1, 1999, the department shall pay to each
county a child support incentive for child support collections. Every
county shall receive the federal child support incentive. The
combined federal and state incentive payments shall be 13.6 percent
of distributed collections. In addition to the federal child support
incentive, each county may also receive a state child support
incentive. A county shall receive the state child support incentive
if it elects to do both of the following:
(A) Comply with the reporting requirements of Section 17600 while
federal financial participation is available for collecting and
reporting data.
(B) Be in compliance with federal and state child support laws and
regulations, or have a performance improvement plan certified by the
department pursuant to Section 17702.
(2) (A) For purposes of paragraph (1), the federal incentive
component shall be each county's share of the child support incentive
payments that the state receives from the federal government, based
on the county's collections.
(B) (i) Effective July 1, 1999, and annually thereafter, state
funds appropriated for child support incentives shall first be used
to fund the administrative costs incurred by local child support
agencies in administering the child support program, excluding
automation costs as set forth in Section 10085 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, after subtracting all federal financial
participation for administrative costs and all federal child support
incentives received by the state and passed on to the local child
support agencies. The department shall allocate sufficient resources
to each local child support agency to fully fund the remaining
administrative costs of its budget as approved by the director
pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision (b) of Section 17306,
subject to the appropriation of funding in the annual Budget Act. No
later than January 1, 2000, the department shall identify allowable
administrative costs that may be claimed for reimbursement from the
state, which shall be limited to reasonable amounts in relation to
the scope of services and the total funds available. If the total
amount of administrative costs claimed in any year exceeds the amount
appropriated in the Budget Act, the amount provided to local child
support agencies shall be reduced by the percentage necessary to
ensure that projected General Fund expenditures do not exceed the
amount authorized in the Budget Act.
(ii) Effective July 1, 2001, and annually thereafter, after
allowable administrative costs are funded under clause (i), the
department shall use any remaining unallocated incentive funds
appropriated from the prior fiscal year which are hereby
reappropriated to implement an incentive program that rewards up to
10 local child support agencies in each year, based on their
performance or increase in performance on one or more of the federal
performance standards set forth in Section 458 of the federal Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 658), or state performance standards set
forth in subdivision (a) of Section 17602, as determined by the
department. The department shall determine the number of local
agencies that receive state incentive funds under this program,
subject to a maximum of 10 agencies and shall determine the amount
received by each local agency based on the availability of funds and
each local child support agency's proportional share based on the
performance standard or standards used.
(iii) Any funds received pursuant to this subdivision shall be
used only for child support enforcement activities.
(c) Each county shall continue to receive its federal child
support incentive funding whether or not it elects to participate in
the state child support incentive funding program.
(d) The department shall provide incentive funds pursuant to this
section only during any fiscal year in which funding is provided for
that purpose in the Budget Act.