READ FIRST TIME 02/12/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to the family and juvenile court improvement program; amending RCW 2.56.030; adding new sections to chapter 2.56 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 2.56 RCW to read as follows:
     Subject to the availability of funds appropriated therefor, the family and juvenile court improvement grant program is created.
     (1) The purpose of the program is to assist superior courts in improving their family and juvenile court systems, especially in dependency cases, with the goals of:
     (a) Assuring a stable and well-trained judiciary in family and juvenile law providing consistency of judicial officers hearing all of the proceedings in a case involving one family, especially in dependency cases; and
     (b) Ensuring judicial accountability in implementing specific principles and practices for family and juvenile court.
     (2) The administrator for the courts shall develop and administer the program subject to requirements in section 2 of this act. As part of administering the program, the administrator for the courts shall define appropriate outcome measures, collect data, and gather information from courts receiving grants.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 2.56 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A superior court may apply for grants from the family and juvenile court improvement grant program by submitting a local improvement plan with the administrator for the courts. To be eligible for grant funds, a superior court's local improvement plan must meet the criteria developed by the administrator for the courts and approved by the board for judicial administration. The criteria must be consistent with the principles adopted for unified family courts. At a minimum, the criteria must require that the court's local improvement plan meet the following requirements:
     (a) Commit to a chief judge assignment to the family and juvenile court for a minimum of two years;
     (b) Implementation of the principle of one judicial team hearing all of the proceedings in a case involving one family, especially in dependency cases;
     (c) Require court commissioners and judges assigned to family and juvenile court to receive a minimum of thirty hours specialized training in topics related to family and juvenile matters within six months of assuming duties in family and juvenile court. Where possible, courts should utilize local, statewide, and national training forums. A judicial officer's recorded educational history may be applied toward the thirty-hour requirement. The topics for training must include:
     (i) Parentage;
     (ii) Adoption;
     (iii) Domestic relations;
     (iv) Dependency and termination of parental rights;
     (v) Child development;
     (vi) The impact of child abuse and neglect;
     (vii) Domestic violence;
     (viii) Substance abuse;
     (ix) Mental health;
     (x) Juvenile status offenses;
     (xi) Juvenile offenders;
     (xii) Self-representation issues;
     (xiii) Cultural competency;
     (xiv) Roles of family and juvenile court judges and commissioners; and
     (d) As part of the application for grant funds, submit a spending proposal detailing how the superior court would use the grant funds.
     (2) Courts receiving grant money must use the funds to improve and support family and juvenile court operations based on standards developed by the administrator for the courts and approved by the board for judicial administration. The standards may allow courts to use the funds to:
     (a) Pay for family and juvenile court training of commissioners and judges or pay for pro tem commissioners and judges to assist the court while the commissioners and judges receive training;
     (b) Increase judicial and nonjudicial staff, including administrative staff to improve case coordination and referrals in family and juvenile cases, guardian ad litem volunteers or court-appointed special advocates, security, and other staff;
     (c) Improve the court facility to better meet the needs of children and families;
     (d) Improve referral and treatment options for court participants, including enhancing court facilitator programs and family treatment court and increasing the availability of alternative dispute resolution;
     (e) Enhance existing family and children support services funded by the courts and expand access to social service programs for families and children ordered by the court; and
     (f) Improve or support family and juvenile court operations in any other way deemed appropriate by the administrator for the courts.
     (3) The administrator for the courts shall allocate available grant moneys based upon the needs of the court as expressed in their local improvement plan.
     (4) Money received by the superior court under this program must be used to supplement, not supplant, any other local, state, and federal funds for the court.
     (5) Upon receipt of grant funds, the superior court shall submit to the administrator for the courts a spending plan detailing the use of funds. At the end of the fiscal year, the superior court shall submit to the administrator for the courts a financial report comparing the spending plan to actual expenditures. The administrator for the courts shall compile the financial reports and submit them to the appropriate committees of the legislature.

Sec. 3   RCW 2.56.030 and 2007 c 496 s 302 are each amended to read as follows:
     The administrator for the courts shall, under the supervision and direction of the chief justice:
     (1) Examine the administrative methods and systems employed in the offices of the judges, clerks, stenographers, and employees of the courts and make recommendations, through the chief justice, for the improvement of the same;
     (2) Examine the state of the dockets of the courts and determine the need for assistance by any court;
     (3) Make recommendations to the chief justice relating to the assignment of judges where courts are in need of assistance and carry out the direction of the chief justice as to the assignments of judges to counties and districts where the courts are in need of assistance;
     (4) Collect and compile statistical and other data and make reports of the business transacted by the courts and transmit the same to the chief justice to the end that proper action may be taken in respect thereto;
     (5) Prepare and submit budget estimates of state appropriations necessary for the maintenance and operation of the judicial system and make recommendations in respect thereto;
     (6) Collect statistical and other data and make reports relating to the expenditure of public moneys, state and local, for the maintenance and operation of the judicial system and the offices connected therewith;
     (7) Obtain reports from clerks of courts in accordance with law or rules adopted by the supreme court of this state on cases and other judicial business in which action has been delayed beyond periods of time specified by law or rules of court and make report thereof to supreme court of this state;
     (8) Act as secretary of the judicial conference referred to in RCW 2.56.060;
     (9) Submit annually, as of February 1st, to the chief justice, a report of the activities of the administrator's office for the preceding calendar year including activities related to courthouse security;
     (10) Administer programs and standards for the training and education of judicial personnel;
     (11) Examine the need for new superior court and district court judge positions under an objective workload analysis. The results of the objective workload analysis shall be reviewed by the board for judicial administration which shall make recommendations to the legislature. It is the intent of the legislature that an objective workload analysis become the basis for creating additional district and superior court positions, and recommendations should address that objective;
     (12) Provide staff to the judicial retirement account plan under chapter 2.14 RCW;
     (13) Attend to such other matters as may be assigned by the supreme court of this state;
     (14) Within available funds, develop a curriculum for a general understanding of child development, placement, and treatment resources, as well as specific legal skills and knowledge of relevant statutes including chapters 13.32A, 13.34, and 13.40 RCW, cases, court rules, interviewing skills, and special needs of the abused or neglected child. This curriculum shall be completed and made available to all juvenile court judges, court personnel, and service providers and be updated yearly to reflect changes in statutes, court rules, or case law;
     (15) Develop, in consultation with the entities set forth in RCW 2.56.150(3), a comprehensive statewide curriculum for persons who act as guardians ad litem under Title 13 or 26 RCW. The curriculum shall be made available July 1, 2008, and include specialty sections on child development, child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, child neglect, domestic violence, clinical and forensic investigative and interviewing techniques, family reconciliation and mediation services, and relevant statutory and legal requirements. The curriculum shall be made available to all superior court judges, court personnel, and all persons who act as guardians ad litem;
     (16) Develop a curriculum for a general understanding of crimes of malicious harassment, as well as specific legal skills and knowledge of RCW 9A.36.080, relevant cases, court rules, and the special needs of malicious harassment victims. This curriculum shall be made available to all superior court and court of appeals judges and to all justices of the supreme court;
     (17) Develop, in consultation with the criminal justice training commission and the commissions established under chapters 43.113, 43.115, and 43.117 RCW, a curriculum for a general understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity and its implications for working with youth of color and their families. The curriculum shall be available to all superior court judges and court commissioners assigned to juvenile court, and other court personnel. Ethnic and cultural diversity training shall be provided annually so as to incorporate cultural sensitivity and awareness into the daily operation of juvenile courts statewide;
     (18) Authorize the use of closed circuit television and other electronic equipment in judicial proceedings. The administrator shall promulgate necessary standards and procedures and shall provide technical assistance to courts as required;
     (19) Develop a Washington family law handbook in accordance with RCW 2.56.180;
     (20) Administer state funds for improving the operation of the courts and provide support for court coordinating councils, under the direction of the board for judicial administration;
     (21) Administer the family and juvenile court improvement grant program;
     (22)(a) Administer and distribute amounts appropriated from the equal justice subaccount under RCW 43.08.250(2) for district court judges' and qualifying elected municipal court judges' salary contributions. The administrator for the courts shall develop a distribution formula for these amounts that does not differentiate between district and elected municipal court judges.
     (b) A city qualifies for state contribution of elected municipal court judges' salaries under (a) of this subsection if:
     (i) The judge is serving in an elected position;
     (ii) The city has established by ordinance that a full-time judge is compensated at a rate equivalent to at least ninety-five percent, but not more than one hundred percent, of a district court judge salary or for a part-time judge on a pro rata basis the same equivalent; and
     (iii) The city has certified to the office of the administrator for the courts that the conditions in (b)(i) and (ii) of this subsection have been met.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2008, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.