California Assembly bill would name parents who owe thousands in child support on public website

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A California state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would publicly shame parents who are more than $5,000 behind on child support payments.

The bill's author, Assemblyman Tom Lackey, said several other states are running "deadbeat parent" websites, and the strategy is effective in helping children get the financial support they need.

"What we're trying to do is use a very effective tool called peer pressure that actually allows people to shape their behavior in a positive way because where we need to focus is not so much on the offender, but we have to be reminded that there's a very, very serious victim here and that's the children," he said.

Lackey added that deadbeat parent sites in other states routinely show offenders who owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in delinquent child support payments. The information displayed on the website in California would include the person's name, photograph and amount owed.

He said businesses would not be able to use the information on the website to deny services, work, credit or housing for those in the database.

To learn more about Assembly Bill 1498, you can click here.