SPRINGFIELD - Illinois child-support scofflaws already could be prevented from leaving the country. Now they can be prevented from leaving the driveway.

A new state law allows authorities to immobilize the cars and suspend the driver's licenses of the worst offenders among deadbeat parents. That's in addition to the wide array of previously existing threats, including passport denial, tax-return garnishment, bank account seizure and even interception of lottery winnings.

"More avenues to collect child support payments mean more Illinois children can have the childhood they deserve," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said after signing the measure into law Tuesday. The measure went into effect immediately.

The law makes it easier for the state to suspend the driver's licenses of noncustodial parents who are significantly behind in child support, doing it administratively instead of going through the courts. It also gives local officials power to use tools such as the "Denver boot" to immobilize their cars.

It's only the latest weapon in the state's arsenal against deadbeat parents (mostly dads), who currently owe some $3 billion to children. Those collection methods, up to and including the threat of criminal prosecution, netted more than $1.2 billion last year.

The methods include the state's "deadbeat" Web site, which displays photos, addresses and child-support debts of scores of the state's worst offenders.

It's a politically and culturally popular issue these days, with states seemingly adding new tactics all the time to catch up with delinquent parents.

"There's been a strong focus on it" in Illinois recently, said Teresa Kurtenbach, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. "We've taken a lot of drastic steps ¦ We're trying to make sure families are stronger by getting them the support they need."

But some say the state is going so far in pursuing child-support debt that the tactics could backfire. When Illinois' new law was debated in the legislature in August, 24 of the 118 House members voted against it - some saying that suspending driving rights of those parents would make it that much harder for them to continue working so they could pay off their debts.

"Illinois is going too far," said Chicago attorney Jeffery Leving, author of the book "Fathers' Rights." He argues that unrealistic child support orders by courts saddle many divorced fathers with debts they could never pay, and that increasingly aggressive collection tactics by the state only make the situation worse.

"Most of these dads are dead broke, not deadbeats," he said.

Leving recounted representing two clients recently who were listed on the state's "deadbeat" Web site as owing more than $100,000 each but who were later determined by a court to actually owe nothing. "If this law had been in effect, not only would they have been publicly humiliated, but they could have lost their driving privileges and (as a result) lost their jobs," he said.

People listed on the "deadbeat" Web site as of Wednesday included former Washington Wizards basketball player Tyrone Nesby of Las Vegas, who owes $285,035 in unpaid Illinois child support, according to the site. The highest child-support debt on the list - $397,722 - belongs to Carl Douglas of Chicago. They were among almost 40 people on the list who owe in excess of $100,000 each.

The legislation is SB1035.

Kevin McDermott can be reached at kevin.mcdermott@lee.net.