| Passed by the Senate April 21, 2003 YEAS 47 ________________________________________ President of the Senate Passed by the House April 14, 2003 YEAS 93 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives | I, Milton H. Doumit, Jr., Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 5379 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Secretary | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2003 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/23/2003. Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services & Corrections.
AN ACT Relating to dependency petition hearings; and amending RCW 13.34.115.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 13.34.115 and 2000 c 122 s 12 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) All hearings ((may)) shall be public, and conducted at any time
or place within the limits of the county, ((and such cases may not be
heard in conjunction with other business of any other division of the
superior court. The public shall be excluded, and only such persons
may be admitted who are found by the judge to have a direct interest in
the case or in the work of the court. Unless the court states on the
record the reasons to disallow attendance, the court shall allow a
child's relatives and, if a child resides in foster care, the child's
foster parent, to attend all hearings and proceedings pertaining to the
child for the sole purpose of providing oral and written information
about the child and the child's welfare to the court)) except if the
judge finds that excluding the public is in the best interests of the
child.
(2) Either parent, or the child's attorney or guardian ad litem,
may move to close a hearing at any time. If the judge finds that it is
in the best interests of the child the court shall exclude the public.
(3) If the public is excluded from the hearing, the following
people may attend the closed hearing unless the judge finds it is not
in the best interests of the child:
(a) The child's relatives;
(b) The child's foster parents if the child resides in foster care;
and
(c) Any person requested by the parent.
(4) Stenographic notes or any device which accurately records the
proceedings may be required as provided in other civil cases pursuant
to RCW 2.32.200.
(5) Any video recording of the proceedings may be released pursuant
to RCW 13.50.100, however, the video recording may not be televised,
broadcast, or further disseminated to the public.