SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE March 25, 1998 9:03 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman Senator Loren Leman, Vice-Chairman Senator Lyda Green Senator Jerry Ward Senator Johnny Ellis MEMBERS ABSENT None COMMITTEE CALENDAR HOUSE BILL NO. 335 "An Act replacing the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act with the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act; and amending Rules 4 and 62, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure, and Rule 205, Alaska Rules of Appellate Procedure." PASSED HB 335 OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION HB 335 - No previous Senate committee action. WITNESS REGISTER Patti Swenson Staff to Representative Con Bunde Alaska State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified for sponsor of HB 335 Representative Con Bunde Alaska State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 335 Deborah Behr Assistant Attorney General Department of Law P.O. Box 110300 Juneau, Alaska 99811-0300 POSITION STATEMENT: Explained the provisions of HB 335 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 98-28, SIDE A Number 001 CHAIRMAN WILKEN called the Senate Health, Education and Social Services (HESS) Committee to order at 9:03 a.m. Present were Senators Green, Ellis, and Chairman Wilken. HB 335 - UNIFORM INTERSTATE CHILD CUSTODY ACT PATTI SWENSON, staff to Representative Con Bunde, stated HB 335 addresses the problem of interstate child custody. It is intended to give swift, sure enforcement of court ordered custody or visitation inexpensively and, in most cases, without a lawyer. Alaska's current statute, known as the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act, has not been revised since 1968. The new act, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), revises the current statute and adds needed enforcement provisions. HB 335 is advantageous to custodial and non-custodial parents. It addresses modern communications, domestic violence orders, the Kidnaping Act, and other problems that frequently occur. The UCCJEA's enforcement provisions will also prevent the confusion and delay that parents or guardians experience when conflicting court orders from different states are at issue. Under current law, a parent with a valid visitation or custodial order has to go through a long and expensive court process to get an order enforced which can result in indefinite delays. These delays often result in the custodial parent waiting for months or years to see their child. The revised UCCJEA allows a person with a valid order to register it and give a certified copy to the other court. The court can then quickly hold a hearing to decide to honor the order or to decide that the order needs to be modified in the original state of issue. Alaska's current statute allows each state to use different paperwork and time frames for the enforcement of orders. The revised UCCJEA makes paperwork and time frames consistent in all states with the intent of enabling parents to do the necessary paperwork without hiring a lawyer and bearing the associated costs. HB 335 is important for those who will be involved in custody disputes. Children will benefit from the security it will give them, and parents will not be able to manipulate court orders in an effort to gain custody of a child, or to keep a child from seeing the other parent. Number 070 SENATOR GREEN asked Ms. Swenson to provide an example of what problem HB 335 will correct. MS. SWENSON replied Deborah Behr of the Department of Law could better address that question. CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked what prompted Representative Bunde to introduce this legislation. MS. SWENSON answered that Representative Bunde liked the fact that it would be a uniform bill passed in all 50 states and it would prevent the type of manipulation of court orders that is occurring in which a child can be taken out of state and not returned. Number 084 DEBORAH BEHR, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Law and a Uniform Law Commissioner for the State of Alaska, explained she was one of nine attorneys selected nationwide to participate on a task force to update the Uniform Child Custody Act. Uniform Law Commissioners are appointed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Alaska has been a member since 1912. The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) is comprised of judges, lawyers, private attorneys, and others. Its goal is to get representatives of all states together to vote on recommended interstate acts and to get those laws enacted in all 50 states. HB 335 is not a federal mandate; it only deals with interstate actions so it will not affect families with both parents living in Alaska. HB 335 took two years to draft; domestic violence advocates, father's rights groups, and family law judges observed this bill during that time. The bill is advantageous to both custodial and non-custodial parents, because enforcement of existing court orders is in the best interest of the child until the order is modified. HB 335 contains a provision that allows a court order change if domestic violence has occurred. The Uniform Law Commissioners of all 50 states voted in favor of this legislation because it establishes which court gets to decide, and how to quickly enforce a valid order. The bill does not deal with the substantive rights of parents or child suppport. MS. BEHR gave the following example of the type of problem this bill attempts to address. A couple marries in Alaska and has a child. The couple divorces in Alaska five years later. The mother moves to Washington with the child for four months, then decides to move to California. Four months later, a dispute about visitation occurs. HB 335 will determine which court will decide whether the court order needs to be modified. Under existing law, a California court would probably decide that Alaska has lost its home state jurisdiction because the child has been out of the state for more than six months. If HB 335 was enacted, the Alaska court would decide because Alaska was the home state, one parent remains here, and the court has records and information on the case. If the child has been out of state for a long time and there is better information elsewhere, the Alaska Court could defer jurisdiction to another state. If an emergency situation occurs, the bill contains a provision to allow a judge in a different jurisdiction to take immediate action. Parents do not always have the money to keep child custody orders updated so a dramatic change may be necessary, but in a routine situation, where a squabble about visitation occurs, the divorce and child custody orders are not re-litigated in an enforcement action. MS. BEHR noted she spoke to local attorneys who practice family law and was told by one that a parent recently paid $7,000 in attorney fees just to have the court decide what state would have jurisdiction. MS. BEHR said she believes that consistent enforcement will prevent parents from flaunting orders. The goal of the ULC was to provide a registration system among all of the states. Once an order is registered, the parent can request enforcement. The other parent will get notice of the registration and can object. That parent will be given the opportunity to say whether the order is valid and whether a temporary emergency crisis situation occurred that needs to be addressed. It also allows a judge to permit make-up visitation. At present, both parties would have to hire attorneys to deal with such a situation and pay the associated costs. The ULC hopes that passage of this legislation will encourage parents to follow court orders or return to the court of origin to have the order modified if necessary. MS. BEHR said HB 335 passed the House with one negative vote. Number 194 SENATOR ELLIS questioned the ramifications of the reference to the Hague Convention made on page 9, line 25. MS. BEHR stated that Congress passed a law that allows recognition of other state court child custody decisions when appropriate. The State Department negotiates treaties with particular countries when Congress enacts such laws. Under the Hague Convention, court orders from those countries would be honored, and vice versa. She added the State Department has no agreements with countries such as Iran or Iraq, so the United States would not honor their orders. CHAIRMAN WILKEN noted Senators Leman and Ward had joined the committee. Number 221 SENATOR ELLIS asked whether the State of Idaho has adopted similar legislation. MS. BEHR said it has not. CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Senator Ellis why he asked that question. SENATOR ELLIS responded it relates to concerns that a member of the committee expressed in the past about actions taken by the Idaho Legislature in regard to other legislation. Number 230 SENATOR LEMAN asked Ms. Behr if she and Art Peterson are the Uniform Law Commissioners for the State of Alaska. MS. BEHR answered there are five: Art Peterson, Justice Rabinowitz, Jerry Kurtz, Grant Callow and herself. There being no further discussion on HB 335, SENATOR LEMAN moved HB 335 out of committee with individual recommendations. There being no objection, the motion carried. There being no further business to come before the committee, CHAIRMAN WILKEN adjourned the meeting at 9:16 a.m.