PHOENIX — Arizona companies won't be forced to provide more help to the state to crack down on those who don't pay their child support.
The state Senate has approved a number of changes in laws on child-support enforcement. But that 19-4 vote came only after it stripped off a House-passed provision requiring companies to report the names and Social Security numbers of people with whom they contract.
That victory for businesses may be temporary: Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson, said he intends to revisit the issue next session.
Hershberger said Arizona ranks dead last of all states and territories in child-support enforcement.
Current law requires employers to provide information on people they hire. The state Department of Economic Security uses that data to find parents who are not meeting their legal support obligations.
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Hershberger said the problem is that list covers only people who actually are hired.
"A lot of these people are going below the radar because they're not employees," he said. Instead, they do their work as independent contractors.
His provision on HB 2249 would have mandated that any company that expects to pay a contractor at least $5,000 during the coming 12 months must provide information on that person to the DES.
Hershberger said that $5,000 threshold was added to ensure that small firms are not burdened by having to file reports on every tiny contract. But even at that, the provision drew criticism in the Senate.
"None of that language would work," complained Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley.
"It was making an employer keep track of every independent contractor that they happened to do business with," said Leff, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.
"It wasn't fair to try to have them do that,'' she continued. "It was a burden on business, particularly small business."
Not everyone was convinced that the provision should have been stripped. Sen. Rebecca Rios, D-Apache Junction, said the mandate is no different from what already exists, requiring companies to furnish the same information to the DES on employees.
And she said companies are aware of the basic information on individuals with whom they contract. That includes the person's Social Security number, which the company needs to prepare the 1099 tax statement at the end of the year.
"It's a matter of fairness," Rios said. "Everybody's income needs to be reported. Children should get their child support."
Leff, however, said a company may be dealing with "dozens of independent contractors."
Complicating matters, she said, is that the bill would have mandated that information only when a company paid or intends to pay that independent contractor at least $5,000 in a 12-month period. Leff said companies may not know that information upfront.
Hershberger promised to try to redraw the measure over the summer and reintroduce it next year.