COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina plans to spend $25 million to create a statewide database of parents who default on child support payments.

The State Budget and Control Board on Tuesday authorized the creation of the database. The five-year project likely will cost more than $100 million. The state would cover at least $25 million, with the federal government picking up the rest.

Five years ago, the federal government began levying fines on the state for its failure to comply with the database requirement, despite efforts by South Carolina officials to block them. The state already has racked up more than $42 million in federal fines.

It's not clear how much the system will help to identify, and to collect from, the more than 70,000 South Carolinians who dodge child support payments each year. South Carolina parents owe more than $700 million in back payments.

"We think it will help," said Larry McKeown, director of the state's Department of Social Service's Child Support Enforcement Division. "We'll gain some efficiencies in speed and data sharing. Right now, we operate 47 separate systems."

That's one system for DSS, and one for each of the state's 46 counties. A merged system would give DSS instant access to records from the rest of the state.

The database also could be used by officials trying to track delinquent parents who have crossed state lines.

South Carolina and California are the only states in violation of federal law because they don't have a unified child support database that can be accessed by local, state and federal officials.

South Carolina tried to build a $43 million system in 1994, but a private contractor hired by the state failed to produce the system. That triggered lawsuits that allowed the state to recoup $17 million.

In his $5.3 billion budget proposal, Gov. Mark Sanford suggests taking $11.5 million from the state's capital reserve fund to begin paying for the computer system.

DSS officials say they still are collecting from deadbeat parents despite the lack of a unified computer system. DSS case workers collected more than $247 million in child support payments last year, and the ratio of collections per worker is ranked the nation's highest.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in South Carolina also leads the nation in prosecutions of deadbeat parents who cross state lines.

"Quite frankly, other districts just haven't taken this issue as seriously," said assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald.