big brother needs support
After 20 years of technical snafus, neglect and threat of continuing huge fines, the State of California has finally met golden compliance with Bradley Amendment and federal law. What is likely the largest computer fiasco in the history of state government ended this week on a pleasant note for cash-strapped California with promise of a $193 million rebate from the federal government in exchange for compliance.
California has paid $1 billion in penalties recently for failure to comply with federal law to track down “deadbeat dads and moms” in an effort to force financial support for children. The costly state misadventure includes the abandonment of a $111 million computer system in 1997, a $46 million court award to a computer firm found to be underpaid, and delays that reduced federal funding for the system.
The current system costs roughly $1.6 billion, about a third paid by the state. The federal share, originally 90 percent, dropped to 60 percent after California missed a deadline extended to 1997 for completing the system.
The court said Lockheed Martin had developed an imperfect but workable system that failed largely because of demands from counties that the system be customized to fit their individual collection processes. IBM brought home the bacon for the State with a computer contract to tie the state’s disjointed systems in 2003.
Strangely, about 70 percent of the parents who owed child support last year reported low or even no income, though some presumably work in the “cash” economy where incomes are unreported to avoid taxes. Perhaps the mention in news articles alludes to illegal immigrants. Doubtless, little will be collected from them despite the feeling of glory. Perhaps it is felt that more legal citizens will fall into the net with the new system as authorities seek to make inroads into the huge uncollected Bradley Debt in California. This huge expenditure is designed to help big brother close in on federal offenders of federal Bradley Law in the hopes of collecting large checks to support welfare families.
The event happened just in time to avoid another huge fine that the State of California can ill afford at a time of fiscal deficit and trouble.
