H-4949.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2401

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By House Committee on Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Representatives Sheahan and Hatfield)

Read first time 02/05/98.  Referred to Committee on .

Clarifying the authority of courthouse facilitators.

    AN ACT Relating to the courthouse facilitator program; and amending RCW 26.12.240.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 26.12.240 and 1993 c 435 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

    A county may create a courthouse facilitator program to provide basic services to pro se litigants in family law cases.  Consistent with local court rules, the facilitator may refer pro se litigants to lawyers and social services, but may not provide any professional services, even if licensed as a professional provider.  The legislative authority of any county may impose user fees or may impose a surcharge of up to ten dollars on only those superior court cases filed under Title 26 RCW, or both, to pay for the expenses of the courthouse facilitator program.  Fees collected under this section shall be collected and deposited in the same manner as other county funds are collected and deposited, and shall be maintained in a separate account to be used as provided in this section.

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