[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 29 (Monday, July 20, 1998)]
[Page 1396]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 
1998

July 16, 1998

    Today, I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 3130, the ``Child Support 
Performance and Incentive Act of 1998.'' My Administration has conducted 
an unprecedented campaign to increase parental responsibility to ensure 
that parents support their children. We have had many successes. Through 
tougher enforcement, we have collected a record $13.4 billion in child 
support, an increase of 68 percent since 1992, with 1.4 million more 
families now receiving child support. In addition, we located one 
million delinquent parents during the first 9 months of using a new 
collection system that tracks parents across State lines--a system 
initiated as part of the 1996 welfare law, and first proposed by my 
Administration in 1994. On paternity establishment, which is often the 
crucial first step in child support cases, in 1997, a record 1.3 million 
paternities were established, two and a half times as many as in 1992. 
Last month, I signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998, a law 
based on my Administration's 1996 proposal to crack down on egregious 
child support evaders by creating a new felony offense for those who 
flee across State lines to avoid supporting their children.
    However, there is much more that we can and must do. H.R. 3130 will 
build on this progress and help ensure that parents give their children 
all the support they need and deserve. First, the new law puts in place 
additional tough penalties for States that fail to automate their child 
support computer systems on time. Under this new law, States that fail 
to establish these State-wide systems face automatic and escalating 
penalties, ranging from 4 percent of Federal child support enforcement 
funds for the first year to 30 percent for the fifth year in which a 
State fails to meet national certification standards. Second, H.R. 3130 
incorporates a proposal that my Administration sent to the Congress last 
year to reward States for their performance on a wide range of key child 
support goals, such as the number of paternity establishments and child 
support orders, rather than only on cost-effectiveness, as current law 
provides. Third, the law will make it easier for States to secure 
medical support for children in cases in which the non-custodial parent 
has private health coverage, by facilitating the creation of a medical 
support notice that all health plans will recognize.
    Many members of Congress, Administration officials, State officials, 
experts, and children's advocates worked together constructively in a 
bipartisan fashion to craft this valuable piece of legislation, and I 
wish to thank them for their efforts. In particular, I would like to 
thank Representatives Levin and Shaw, and Senators Moynihan, Roth, 
Rockefeller, and Baucus.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
July 16, 1998.

Note: H.R. 3130, approved July 16, was assigned Public Law No. 105-200.