Last night while laboring through the new fishing license purchase process at my local Academy, and talking with the youngman who had drawn the short straw for the evening shift, and was doing his best to try and get a fishing license out of his assigned computer,...our conversation brought to the forefront that if anyone that wants to buy a fishing license is behind on their child support, the process will be flagged, and they can not sell you a fishing license. That's great.

sportsmen are supposed to be a good, ethical bunch. good call by Texas govt.

Great idea!

If you can't afford to pay your child support, you can't afford to fish.

That is a great thing. Why should their kids suffer why they go out and enjoy themselves. To bad they can't flag alcohol and tobacco sales for the deadbeat parents.

this has been the case for several years.

same is true for passports.

My former boss had a very common name, about a step above John Doe. He and his wife of 30 years were going to a resort and had to get passports. He applied, an got a letter saying that since he owed a large amount of child support, his application was denied.

Panic ensued, ever tried to prove to a govt knucklehead who you are not.

he got it done in the nick of time, a good laugh was had by all.

It's been that way for a while.

good call TPWD

Feels good anyway.
If a man is not paying child support he can go to jail.
If he does not buy a fishing license he can just pay a fine.

Why would some one not paying child support worry about buying a fishing license?

Probably because they care more about theirself and fishing and hunting than their own flesh and blood.

Awesome, good call TPWD!

i was a probation officer supervisor in louisiana for 8 years before moving to texas 6 years ago and i supervised a group of officers who exclusively tracked down dead beat parents and took them to court for non support.

not only did we block you from getting a license, if you had one issued before you owed child support and then became delinquent i could revoke it. i could also revoke your drivers license, your cdl, your medical license - basically any license or certifitcation issued in the state. we also seized any lottery winnings if you owed child support if it was a prize that you had to claim at the lottery office. all of this was done administratively, with the stroke of my pen, no long drawn out court hearing necessary. if you didn't like what we did you could file for a hearing but that is up to the person who owes and could take weeks. all the while your license is revoked and we never lost any of those hearings. we collected from alot of guys who for years did not pay because we couldn't find them or from guys who worked for cash. suspend their dl or block their lottery winnings and they found us quick - amazing how they just needed the right motivation.

Do they suspend your drivers license here in Texas?
If not, they need to.

i'm sure they can. the question is is it an administrative process or legal process. if legal process instead of administrative it will be used less often.

Yes they can suspend in Texas, any and all license including a marriage license. Which is good they don't need to get married and reproduce anymore that they can't afford or don't care to afford.

most dead beats that won't pitch in on their kids, don't worry about the legality of their actions, even if it means fishing without a license. at walmart they scan your drivers license when buying alcohol or tobacco, it wouldn't be hard to set something up to prohibit sale of those items based on drivers license scanning! it may seem like a hassle to some, but it would be worth it in long run

Good call by the state!!!!!

That's awesome, I didn't know that.

Too bad my ex-wife doesn't hunt or fish...... If she was a man she would have been in jail years ago.