Fathers who shirk child-support payments may be stuck for a week of work duty wearing jumpsuits with "Deadbeat" dad printed on them.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he's considering whether to file a bill requiring the punishment for guys who are ordered to pay support and fail after three times. The suggestion came to him after a WFLA report about a man accused of dodging payments while owing $165,000. Fasano said the case made him want to make the fellas work in a "deadbeat dad" get up.

Voila -- a bill? Maybe, Fasano said.

"It’s still being worked on, it’s still being tweaked. I want to make sure it's constitutionally sound," Fasano told Bay Buzz.

In fact, the evolution of Fasano's latest public policy foray -- he has
filed 30 bills already -- seemed to baffle him a bit Friday evening. First
asked if he was filing such a bill, he replied, "Oh, who knows. I’m so
disgusted with these deadbeat dads."

Told WFLA reported he was introducing it, Fasano said, "I'm doing what?"

He then promised to call back in five minutes after talking with his staff to clarify his work. The special session made it a hectic week, he said. Indeed, there was language for a bill being crafted. But no bill yet -- and no one in the House to back a version there, either.

David DeCamp, Times staff writer