WSR 25-18-007

RULES OF COURT

STATE SUPREME COURT

[July 2, 2025]

IN THE MATTER OF THE SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS TO RAP 18.13A—ACCELERATED REVIEW OF JUVENILE DEPENDENCY DISPOSITON ORDERS, ETC.; RAP FORM 15B—STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS IN APPEALS FROM DEPENDENCY DISPOSITIONAL ORDERS, ETC.; AND RAP FORM 15—STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS

)

ORDER

NO. 25700-A-1647

The Court of Appeals, having recommended the adoption of the suggested amendments to RAP 18.13A—Accelerated Review of Juvenile Dependency Disposition Orders, Etc.; RAP Form 15B—Statement of Arrangements in Appeals from Dependency Dispositional Orders, Etc.; and RAP Form 15—Statement of Arrangements, and the Court having considered the suggested amendments, and having determined that the suggested amendments will aid in the prompt and orderly administration of justice;

Now, therefore, it is hereby

ordered:

(a) That the suggested amendments as shown below are adopted.

(b) That pursuant to the emergency provisions of GR 9 (j)(1), the suggested amendments will be expeditiously published in the Washington Reports and will become effective upon publication.

dated at Olympia, Washington this 2nd day of July, 2025.

		Stephens, C.J.
Johnson, J.		Yu, J.
Madsen, J.		Montoya-Lewis, J.
Gonzalez, J.		Whitener, J.
Gordon McCloud, J.		Mungia, J.

GENERAL RULE 9

RULE AMENDMENT COVER SHEET

SUGGESTED AMENDMENT TO RAP 18.13A & FORM 15B

1. Proponent: Washington State Court of Appeals (COA)

2. Spokesperson & Contact Info: Judge Janet Chung, Chair of the COA Rules Committee

3. Purpose of Suggested Rule Amendment: The suggested amendments to RAP 18.13A and Form 15B seek to align this rule and the associated form with the recently adopted changes to RAP 9.2 that govern similar procedures.

RAP 18.13A(e) Statement of Arrangements (SOAs) outlines the procedures for preparation of SOAs in cases involving Juvenile Dependency Disposition Orders, Orders Terminating Parental Rights, Dependency Guardianship Orders, and Orders Entered in Dependency and Dependency Guardianship proceedings.

A statewide workgroup was convened by the Court of Appeals that consisted of representatives from courts, county prosecutors' offices, appellate criminal defense attorneys, court reporters who prepare VRPs from the notes they take during superior court proceedings, and authorized transcriptionists who prepare VRPs based on audio recordings. The workgroup agreed that an increasingly challenging issue is the difficulty in organizing, reviewing and citing the VRPs in briefing, particularly in cases where there are multiple volumes prepared at different times by multiple court reporters and transcriptionists.

The process outlined in the suggested rule change was based on a review of practices in other jurisdictions. In summary, the suggested changes require the statement of arrangements (SOAs) to include page number "blocks" for each hearing date or partial hearing date. The court reporter or authorized transcriptionist then uses those assigned page number blocks so that once completed the entire VRP being reviewed will be sequentially numbered and each page has a unique number.

The proposed change would harmonize the procedures for SOAs and ensure that VRPs follow a consistent format regardless of the type of case or issue on review.

4. Is a public hearing recommended? No public hearing is requested or recommended.

5. Is expedited consideration requested? Yes, we request that this suggested change be considered on an expedited basis to ensure consistent practices for preparing statement of arrangements and verbatim report of proceedings in appellate cases.

Suggested Amendments

RAP 18.13A

ACCELERATED REVIEW OF JUVENILE DEPENDENCY DISPOSITION ORDERS, ORDERS TERMINATING PARENTAL RIGHTS, DEPENDENCY GUARDIANSHIP ORDERS, AND ORDERS ENTERED IN DEPENDENCY AND DEPENDENCY GUARDIANSHIP PROCEEDINGS

(a)-(d) [Unchanged.]

(e) Statement of Arrangements. A statement of arrangements should be filed contemporaneously with the notice of appeal or within seven days after discretionary review is accepted. The party seeking review should arrange for the transcription of an original and one copy of the verbatim report of proceedings. If the proceeding being reviewed was recorded electronically, transcription of the recordings shall be completed by a court-approved transcriber in accordance with the procedures developed by the Administrative Office of the Courts. An indigent party should provide the court reporter, transcriber, or court administrator a copy of the order of indigency. A non-indigent party should arrange for payment for the transcription of the report.

The party seeking review must file with the trial and appellate courts and serve the statement of arrangements on all parties of record and all named court reporters and file proof of service with the appellate court. The party must indicate the date that the report of proceedings was ordered, the financial arrangements which have been made for payment of transcription costs, the name of each court reporter or other person authorized to prepare the report of proceedings who will be preparing a transcript, the volume number and hearing dates, and the trial court judge. If the verbatim report of proceedings will be prepared by more than one court reporter or authorized transcriptionist, the statement of arrangements shall include assigned page ranges in blocks of 500 pages for each date. If the party seeking review does not intend to provide a report of proceedings, a statement to that effect should be filed in lieu of a statement of arrangements and served on all parties of record. See Form 15B

(f)-(l) [Unchanged.]

See RAP 18.17 for document formatting requirements.

RAP FORM 15B. STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS IN APPEALS FROM DEPENDENCY DISPOSITIONAL ORDERS AND ORDERS TERMINATING PARENTAL RIGHTS

[Rule 18.13A(e)]

SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR (_____) COUNTY
	[Name of plaintiff],		)
		Plaintiff	)	No. [trial court]
	v.		)
	[Name of defendant],		)	STATEMENT OF
		Defendant	)	ARRANGEMENTS
			)

, attorney for __________, states that on ______, 20___, I ordered transcription of the original and one copy of the verbatim report of proceedings from the court reporter(s)/transcriptionist(s) named below and have arranged to pay the cost of transcription and preparation of the record on appeal [at public expense by Order of Indigency]:

Hearing date(s)	Judge	Court Reporter/Transcriptionist
___________	____________	_____________________
___________	____________	_____________________
___________	____________	_____________________

A copy of this statement is being filed with the Court of Appeals and served on all parties of record and all court reporters and/or court-approved transcribers.

The reports of proceedings in appeals under RAP 18.13A take precedence over the preparation and filing of all other appeal records. Extensions will be granted only in exceptional circumstances. RAP 18.13A(f).

	_______________________________
	Attorney for [____________]
	_______________________________
	Print or print name
	WSBA No. ___________________

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on the ______ day of _______, 20_____, I caused a true and correct copy of this Statement of Arrangements to be served on the following in the manner indicated below:

	Counsel for __________________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________

	Counsel for __________________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________

	Court Reporter _______________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________

	By: _______________________

GR 9 COVER SHEET

Suggested Amendment Rules ofAppellate Procedure

RAP FORM 15 - STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS [Rule 9.2(a)]

A. Proponent: Washington State Court of Appeals

B. Spokesperson: Judge Janet Chung, COA Rules Committee Chair

C. Purpose of Suggested Rule Amendment: This amendment to RAP Form 15 updates the form for the Statement of Arrangements required by RAP 9.2(a) to reflect changes adopted by the Supreme Court of Washington to RAP 9.2—Verbatim Report of Proceedings (VRPs), which became effective April 29, 2025. The revised Form will assist litigants in complying with the new method of preparing VRPs.

A statewide workgroup was convened by the Court of Appeals that consisted of representatives from courts, county prosecutors' offices, appellate criminal defense attorneys, court reporters who prepare VRPs from the notes they take during superior court proceedings, and authorized transcriptionists who prepare VRPs based on audio recordings. The workgroup proposed the changes to RAP 9.2 that were adopted as well as the proposed changes to the associated Form 15.

D. Is a public hearing recommended? No public hearing is requested or recommended.

E. Is expedited consideration requested? Yes, we request expedited consideration as the RAP 9.2 changes are already in effect.

RAP FORM 15

(Replaces Current Form 15)

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION ____
	)
	)	No.
	)
	)	STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS
	)	[Rule 9.2(a)]
	)

, attorney for , states that on , 20 , I ordered transcription of the original and one copy of the verbatim report of proceedings from the court reporter(s)/transcriptionist(s) named below and arranged to pay the cost of transcriptions as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------

—————————————————————————————————————

Hearing date(s)	Judge	Court Reporter/Transcriptionist
___________	____________	_____________________
___________	____________	_____________________
___________	____________	_____________________

A complete verbatim report of proceedings has been ordered.

A partial report has been ordered. In compliance with RAP 9.2, the following issues will be presented. ______________________________

	Signature ____________________
	WSBA No. ___________________

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on the ______ day of _________, 20____, I caused a true and correct copy of this Statement of Arrangements to be served on the following in the manner indicated below:

	Counsel for __________________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________
	____________________________
	Counsel for __________________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________
	____________________________
	Court Reporter _______________	( ) U.S. Mail
	Name _______________________	( ) Hand Delivery
	Address _____________________	( ) ______________
	____________________________
	By: _______________________

Court
Reporter/Transcriber

Page Range