Testimony by R. Mark Rogers at a special hearing before the Joint
Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Child Support on November 19, 2003.
Virginia backs off on child support increases after Rogers testimony. The
2003 Virginia state Senate Bill 1312 would have increased child support
throughout the state. It was quietly tabled at the end of the year ( will
not be submitted for debate by the Senate ) after detailed testimony by
R.Mark Rogers. In collaboration, constitutional law consultant John
Remington Graham submitted a legal critique in January 2004. Both
suggested the bill contained numberous economic and legal flaws that would
make it difficult to uphold.
A Brief Economic
Critique of Virignia's Child Support Guidelines and Recommendations, presented
to the Virginia Child Support Guideline Review Panel, May 23, 2002, by R.
Mark Rogers. This brief analysis reviews the flawed underlying economic
study for Virginia's child support guideline tables, discusses what the appropriate
legal standards are for child support guidelines, demonstrates with economic
exhibits that the presumptive awards are excessive, and shows the accounting
flaws in the typical "multiplier" for shared parenting situations
in Income Shares guidelines. This critique largely applies to all Income Shares
child support guidelines in other states. The Cost Shares model is briefly
discussed as an alternative guideline based on sound legal and economic principles.