Troy Green is one of nearly 5,000 non-custodial parents who had their federal stimulus rebate check garnished by the South Dakota Office of Child Support Enforcement this year, but he doesn't appreciate the title of "deadbeat dad" that often accompanies that action.

"I do pay my child support every week," Green said, shortly after he spoke to the state's Commission on Child Support, which held a hearing in Rapid City on Sept. 22 to hear recommendations from the public on how to improve South Dakota's child support laws.

The commission's review of those laws is required every four years. The last of the hearings will be Oct. 6 in Pierre, but the commission already knows that among the recommendations it will make to the 2009 state Legislature will be some increase in the monetary amounts required by the state's child support schedule.

"That schedule hasn't been adjusted in eight years, so obviously, that means we'll be looking at that," said Linda Lea Viken, a family law attorney from Rapid City who sits on the commission. The new guidelines will reflect an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour in 2009, but exactly how much the increases will affect different income brackets isn't known yet. The commission will report its recommended changes in a report due to Gov. Mike Rounds by Dec. 31.

Commission Chairman Gene Abdallah said the report would likely contain proposed legislation to shield the second-job income of non-custodial parents by further limiting the exceptions that currently allow it to be considered as income for child support obligations.

Public testimony during the hearings is supposed to be limited to comments about the guidelines or statutes that affect child support collection, but references and questions about specific situations are nearly impossible to avoid.

Green was one of only three non-custodial fathers who testified at the Rapid City hearing. They all asked questions about child support laws that affect them and their children, and the commissioners offered as much help as they could.

"They helped me immensely," Green said later. "I've been trying to get answers to half a dozen questions all year. I think it was a great thing."

A recent modification of a court order that increased and back-dated Green's child support obligation to $1,200 per month instantly put the Black Hawk truck driver $4,000 delinquent on child support to his ex-wife and their three children.

"I wasn't behind until that order," he said. "Now, I'm not behind anymore - between the stimulus check and last year's tax refund."

Green had $1,300 of his $1,800 stimulus rebate, along with his entire 2007 tax refund, seized by the state. He is no longer delinquent, but he's feeling the economic squeeze of providing support for two households. He is remarried and the father of two other children, ages 3 and 6.

"I think it was unfair to my family at home, that I didn't keep what I'm due from my family at home," Green said of the garnishment. "It hurt us. We were expecting that money because we were behind on bills."

Another non-custodial father asked the commission to consider requiring some type of "accountability form" for how child support payments are spent by the custodial household.

"I'm simply here requesting some kind of accountability as to where it's going," Loren Voss of Black Hawk said. Voss said he thinks such a requirement would provide another incentive for non-custodial parents to meet their financial obligation.

Voss has been paying child support for 11 years through the state-mandated system, and he agrees that it has been a long time since the income guidelines have increased. But he worries that those increases will be largest in the lowest income brackets.

"With today's economy, and everything else going up, I wonder if incomes have increased proportionately enough to justify it," Voss said of the likely increases.

The lowest child support obligation, which is based on the income of both parents, is currently $100 per month. The new schedule likely will be extended to include monthly income brackets as high as $20,000 per month.

Seventh Circuit Court Judge Janine Kern oversees between 100 and 150 child support enforcement actions each month. She asked the commission to address several problems with the current system, including:

* The competing public-policy concerns that arise when establishing paternity either perpetrates a fraud on a father or risks delegitimizing a child.

* Systemic problems with providing accurate addresses for custodial parents to the court to allow non-custodial parents to establish and enforce their visitation rights.

* Streamlining and improving the driver's licensure servicing system for non-custodial parents who lack a current driver's license.

* Payment issues involving incarcerated parents who emerge from months or years in the penitentiary with child support debts of $10,000, $20,000 or even $50,000. Incarcerated people currently have the right to apply for a modification, but many are not aware of that or don't know how to activate it. "I would ask you consider a self-affectuating triggering mechanism," Kern said.

Written comments or suggestions may also be submitted for consideration by the full commission by mailing them to the Department of Social Services, Attn: Child Support Commission, 700 Governors Drive, Pierre, S.D. 57501-2291.