LRB-1720/1

SWB&EAW:cdc

2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE

2021 Assembly BILL 104

February 18, 2021 - Introduced by Representatives Brooks, Brandtjen, Bowen, Dittrich, Gundrum, Moses, Mursau, Skowronski, Tusler and Wichgers, cosponsored by Senators Jacque and Ballweg. Referred to Committee on Family Law.

AB104,1,5 An Act to repeal 767.225 (1) (e); and to amend 565.30 (5m) (a), 767.34 (1), 767.35 (1) (c), 767.511 (6m), 767.531 (intro.), 767.54, 767.553 (1) (a), 767.59 (1), 767.61 (3) (i), 767.71 (1) (a), 767.73 (1) (a), 767.75 (1) (b), 767.77 (1) and 767.78 (1) of the statutes; relating to: calculating the child support obligation and elimination of family support.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill reorganizes certain aspects of the Department of Children and Families administrative rules relating to commonly used child support formulas in order to reflect current practices. The manner of calculating the amount of child support and the applicable formulas are not changed in the bill. The bill also makes statutory changes to eliminate future family support orders.

Under current DCF rules, the child support formula that applies in a shared physical placement arrangement is included among the formula for “special circumstances.” The bill moves the formula that applies in a shared physical placement arrangement to a new section of DCF's rules before all of the child support formula variations. The bill also specifies that, under DCF rules, the designated percentage that applies in a nonshared physical placement arrangement applies only if the conditions for the shared placement formula do not apply.

The bill creates a new defined term under the DCF rules for a “designated percentage,” to mean the applicable percentage of a parent's monthly income, or adjusted monthly income, that is available for child support. The “designated percentage” phrase is then used within the calculations for a shared-placement arrangement and circumstances of a serial-family parent, split-placement parents, and combinations of special circumstances.

The bill retitles the applicable DCF administrative code chapter from “Child Support Percentage of Income Standard” to “Child Support Standard.” The bill also removes the definition of the term “standard” or “percentage standard” from DCF's rules and moves a Note appended to the definition of “standard” in the DCF rules to the new definition of the “designated percentage.” The Note specifies that the standard is based on national studies and is adjusted downward to reflect costs incurred by a parent when a child is in the parent's care and costs to maintain a child's health insurance.