Honorable Senate Members of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee of
the Virginia Assembly
(cc: Hon. Sen. Kevin Miller, Hon. Secretary John M. Bennett):

I am deeply concerned about the biased/partisan analysis by DPB in the
fiscal impact statements for SB1312 and SB1313 (Sen. Qualye's proposed
child support guidelines...also HB2261 and HB2263 by Del. Vivian Watts)
. I hold the Master of Public Administration degree. I have taught
research methods for political science and have been employed as a
public sector management analyst for about ten years. I have followed
the Triennial Child Support Guideline Panel for many years. Please vote
against these bills.

Item 8 of this document begins:
"The new Child Support Guidelines, the first update since 1988, will
bring support awards into better alignment with today's cost of raising
children..."

1) Fact, the length of time since the guidelines were last updated is
irrelevant to the content of the new schedule and, thus, to any fiscal
impact of the proposed schedule. This is the same moot argument used by
some panel members to justify the increase. The schedule adjusts by
income, increasing as wages increase.

2) Fact, it is the opinion of the special interests that dominated the
panel that the proposed schedule would bring support awards into better
alignment with today's cost of raising children. DPB DID NOT conduct the
analysis resulting in the new schedule and has no information to justify
their collusion with this statement. Likewise, this statement is
irrelevant to fiscal analysis of the bill.

DPB has violated public trust and violated professional ethics by
interjecting partisan bias into this analysis. The General Assembly
should take action to ensure this does not occur again.

Please be sure to read the Triennial review's minority report signed by
several panel members to see that the methodology of the panel DOES NOT
justify Sen. Qualye's or Del. Watts' increase. Clearly, the
public-at-large see that child support awards are too high, and any
increase will have significant fiscal impact. Specifically, more fathers
will become deadbroke parents, many custodial parents will seek to cash
in on the increase, and the increased incentive for divorce will create
fiscal and human costs for corrections, mental health and education. We
need less divorce and more children with both parents.

I am not a walking wallet and child support should not be legalized
extortion.

Please vote FOR HB2817 (Del. Bolvin) to bring fair and appropriate
changes to the child support guidelines.

Regards,
Chuck DeHart
10647 Hollow Rd.
Fulks Run, VA 22830

PS: When Mr. Murray Steinberg, Children and Family Coalition of Virginia
testifies before you, my support is with him! I wish I could afford to
also be there.