S-3866.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6486

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     2000 Regular Session

By Senators Costa, Hargrove, Long, Patterson and Sheahan

Read first time 01/18/2000.  Referred to Committee on Human Services & Corrections.

Changing contempt sanctions in juvenile court proceedings.

    AN ACT Relating to contempt of court penalties in juvenile proceedings; and amending RCW 13.32A.250.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 13.32A.250 and 1998 c 296 s 37 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) In all child in need of services proceedings and at-risk youth proceedings, the court shall verbally notify the parents and the child of the possibility of a finding of contempt for failure to comply with the terms of a court order entered pursuant to this chapter.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, the court shall treat the parents and the child equally for the purposes of applying contempt of court processes and penalties under this section.

    (2) Failure by a party to comply with an order entered under this chapter is a civil contempt of court as provided in RCW 7.21.030(2)(e), subject to the limitations of subsection (3) of this section.

    (3) For contempt of court under this section, the court may impose remedial sanctions, including, but not limited to, a fine of up to one hundred dollars ((and)), community service as defined in RCW 13.40.020, or confinement for up to seven days, or ((both for contempt of court under this section)) any combination of sanctions.

    (4) A child ((placed in confinement for)) found in contempt under this section ((shall)) may be placed in confinement only in a secure juvenile detention facility operated by or pursuant to a contract with a county, or the court may impose alternatives to detention, including community service as defined in RCW 13.40.020.

    (5) A motion for contempt may be made by a parent, a child, juvenile court personnel, or by any public agency, organization, or person having custody of the child under a court order adopted pursuant to this chapter.

    (6) Whenever the court finds probable cause to believe, based upon consideration of a motion for contempt and the information set forth in a supporting declaration, that a child has violated a placement order entered under this chapter, the court may issue an order directing law enforcement to pick up and take the child to detention.  The order may be entered ex parte without prior notice to the child or other parties.  Following the child's admission to detention, a detention review hearing must be held in accordance with RCW 13.32A.065.

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