HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

340

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to child support.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the State can increase the effectiveness of the State's child support program by clarifying the liability of grandparents in accordance with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105, also known as the Welfare Reform Act.

     Teenage parents make up the majority of welfare recipients and consume the majority of welfare benefits.  The legislature finds that welfare should be reoriented from an attitude of "entitlement" to an emphasis upon the transition of recipients from welfare dependence to family support.

     The legislature recognizes the role of family, specifically grandparents, in holding teenage parents accountable for child rearing and for training the teenage parents in proper parenting.  The support of children should primarily be from their family in order to strengthen familial bonds.  The family, specifically grandparents, may help the minor parents with and encourage participation in completing high school and collegiate education, job training, employment, and early childhood education programs that could benefit the child's well being and reduce the odds of dependency in the next generation. 

     Thus, the legislature finds that both sets of grandparents of the minor children with a child shall be fiscally responsible for the minor children and grandchild.

     To date, at least thirteen states have enacted a statute that provides for such grandparent liability for child support.  Some of the statutes were enacted in the wake of 42 United States Code section 666(a)(18), and limit liability of grandparents to those cases where the parents of the child are minors and the custodial parent is receiving public assistance.  Other states have statutes that predate the Welfare Reform Act, and are modeled more along the lines of the Elizabethan Poor Laws.  The legislatures of the thirteen states are:  Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 576D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§576D-     Child support obligations of grandparents.  The parents of a minor mother or minor father shall be required to contribute to the support of their grandchild according to their financial means until they are no longer legally responsible to support the minor mother or minor father or upon both the minor mother and minor father becoming emancipated."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 


 


 

Report Title:

Grandparents; Grandchildren; Child Support

 

Description:

Requires the parents of a minor mother or minor father to contribute to the support of their grandchild.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.