DEADBEAT PARENTS WHO OWE CHILD SUPPORT ARE BILLS' TARGETS

Deadbeat parents ought to pay the child support they owe. They also shouldn't be spending money on themselves when they get behind on child-support payments.

That's the notion behind legislation moving through the Missouri General Assembly. Deadbeats would lose their licenses to hunt, fish, drive and even work.

Simply put: Parenting is a responsibility, both financial and otherwise. Far too often, the financial responsibility is falling to the state when deadbeat parents refuse to pay.

Why should you care? Because you're paying the bill. It is estimated that if everyone who owes child support paid it in Missouri, the welfare roles would be cut by one-third to one-half.

Lagging child support collection isn't a new problem. Missouri must comply by July 1 under a federal welfare reform overhaul approved by Congress last year. If not, the state risks losing a whopping $66.5 million in federal matching funds for child-support enforcement and millions more in block grants.

Ideally, Missouri would tighten up deadbeat enforcement on its own. The federal government's practice of blackmailing states -- even for good legislation -- is plain wrong.

States have limited options in the federal mandate. The Missouri House included the provision that gives the state the option to restrict a non-paying parent's driving privileges rather than revoking the license entirely. It's that chicken-or-the-egg notion. If there's no license, the parent can't work. If a parent can't work, there can be no payment. The court has often allowed criminals to drive only to work and home in order to earn money to make restitution. This flexibility would allow local judges some options. After all, the goal is to get more child-support payments.

Legislation currently under consideration in the House would allow the state to revoke licenses of parents who are more than $1,000 or three months behind in child-support payments. The Senate's version would first require a judge's order finding the past-due parent is able to pay and has violated a court order to provide child support. The two versions must be hammered out in conference.

Yanking a driver's license because of overdue child payments is severe. But it may be just the attention-getter deadbeat parents need to convince them that Missouri is serious about child-support collections.