Reyes, R-Saipan, said he asked Senate legal counsel Tony Cabrera to draft the bill.
At the same time, he urged his colleagues to join him in meeting with Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo to learn more about the problems brought to the family court.
“There are deadbeat fathers who shunned their responsibility to their children,” said Reyes. “It’s very emotional when you see a father ignore child support. We need to do something about this.”
Reyes said some of these deadbeat fathers are actually government employees who should not be allowed to leave the commonwealth for official business until they fulfill their child-support obligations.
The court has seen a growing number of women in the commonwealth left alone to raise their children without financial support from the fathers.
The yet-to-be drafted mandatory child-support bill is envisioned to help the children sustain their education and nutrition needs despite the absence of their fathers.
