Gender and Justice Commission

May 14, 2004

PRESENT

Commission Members: Justice Barbara A. Madsen, Judge Marlin Appelwick, Margaret Chon, Eileen M. Concannon, Helen Donigan, Judie Fortier, Jennefer Henson, Michael Killian, Mary Pontarolo, Judge Ann Schindler

Guests: Merrie Gough, Jaime Hawk

Staff: Gloria Hemmen, Administrative Office of the Courts

CALL TO ORDER

Justice Madsen called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m.

COMMISSION BUSINESS

Approval of Minutes

It was moved and seconded to approve the March 12, 2004 meeting minutes. Motion carried.

Membership

It was moved and seconded to approve the Nominating Committee' s recommendations to forward the names of Judge Marlin Appelwick, Eileen Concannon, Judie Fortier, Sandra Matheson, Lindsay Thompson, Jeralita Costa, and Grace Huang to the Chief Justice for consideration and appointment to the Commission. Motion carried.

Annual Report

The 2003-2004 Annual Report will follow the same format as the 2001-2002 Report. Distribution is scheduled for September.

Budget Report

The Commission reviewed and approved the budget report.

Requests for Funding

The Commission reviewed funding requests for four projects.

(1) Goldendale (Klickitat County) Domestic Violence Summit

It was moved and seconded to approve the request for up to $5,975 to fund a local domestic violence summit in Goldendale in 2004. Motion carried.

The Goldendale Domestic Violence Task Force will be asked to clarify costs for the guest speaker, identify which tribal court judges will participate, and provide assurance that action planning will take place.

(2) Mason County Domestic Violence Summit

It was moved and seconded to approve the request for $2,900 for the 2004 Mason County Domestic Violence Summit. Motion carried.

(3) King County CASA DV Training

The Office of Crime Victims Advocacy did not approve our award of STOP Grant funding for the proposed King County CASA/GAL domestic violence training. They indicated CASA/GAL focuses on the benefit of children not adult victims.

The Commission agreed this training would provide CASA/GAL volunteers with tools to assess when there is domestic violence in child abuse and neglect cases. It was strongly suggested that the curriculum be developed in a format that could be used by other jurisdictions and we check on videotaping the program or presenting it in a distance learning format.

It was moved and seconded to approve funding up to $4,124 for the King County Family Court Services CASA/GAL training on domestic violence. Motion carried.

(4) Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

After reviewing the detailed budget proposal from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), the Commission still had questions about the equipment, travel, evaluation, and overhead line items. The Commission suggested the NWIRP consider requesting funds for curriculum development and/or a pilot training in Yakima. It was also suggested their next proposal should include some letters of support from the courts. Action was tabled until further information is provided.

Education Projects/Programs/Activities

Color of Justice Program

Maggie Chon reported the Color of Justice Program at Seattle University Law School on April 23 was a great success. There were 40 attendees: 24 students, 10 faculty and 4 others. Sixteen students from the Chief Leschi School were in grades 8-12. Seven Seattle University undergraduates also attended.

Dean Hasl welcomed the students and invited them to continue a relationship with Seattle University Law School. He introduced Justice Madsen as a " powerhouse in reaching out to women and minorities in the profession." The state, federal, and tribal court judges, law school student, law school professors, and attorney on the two panels were very effective in sharing their experiences getting into careers in the law. The students were engaged in discussion during the lunch breakouts. There were two faculty members for each group of eight students,

Justice Madsen thanked Maggie Chon, Judie Fortier, and Eileen Concannon for their work organizing this program. Eileen recruited faculty. Judie was the liaison with Chief Leschi School. Maggie coordinated the project; including pre-program visit to the school; recruitment and confirmation of faculty, facility, and food arrangements at the Law School, and provision of Seattle U t-shirts, pens, and folders for the students.

Maggie and Judie noted the key to success was support from the Chief Leschi School. At the school' s request, Seattle Law School students did a pre-program visit and some follow-up work is planned.

As previously discussed, the Commission is interested in presenting the Color of Justice Program in Eastern Washington. One suggestion was coordinating this workshop with the Washington Judicial Conference in Spokane in September.

Helen Donigan offered to look for a school we might work with in Eastern Washington. Judie Fortier noted Colville and Spokane Tribes have websites.

Immigrants, Domestic Violence, and Firearms

The Commission is sponsoring a 3.5-hour plenary session at the District and Municipal Court Judges' Association Conference in Chelan, June 8, 2004. Work continues to adapt our Unintended Consequences program materials to include a section on domestic violence, protection orders, and firearms. Judge Riehl has been recruited to co-facilitate the session with Judge Marilyn Paja. The planning committee meets again today.

National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) Genome Justice Program

Justice Madsen and Gloria Hemmen continue to work with the NAWJ program planning committee for the July 8-10 presentation of the pilot program Genome Justice at the University of Washington Law School. Ten Washington State judicial officers have registered for the program. Eight have requested scholarship funds for travel and lodging.

From Gay Marriage to Domestic Violence to . . . ,

The planning committee continues to meet to develop the agenda and identify faculty for the September 21 program at the 47^th Washington Judicial Conference in Spokane. The program will focus on legal issues; problems seen in court; and improving judges' understanding of how sexual orientation can impact those who appear in court. Seattle University Law School Professors David Skover, Julie Shapiro, and Kelley Testy volunteered to have their students prepare a judges' benchguide on the legal issues.

Incorporating Domestic Violence Into Law School Curricula

Judge Jim Riehl and Jamie Hawke, Gonzaga University School of Law student and liaison for the American Bar Association (ABA) Law School Division, discussed the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence publication Teach your Students Well: Incorporating Domestic Violence Into Law School Curricula, A Law School Report. The report will be sent to every law school dean. It is available on the ABA website at http://www.abanet.org/domviol/domviolpublication.html.

It was suggested the Commission contact the law school deans and student groups and encourage use of the report. Helen Donigan said it should be sent to curriculum committees. A 3-4 page synopsis and hypotheticals could be sent to the professors for subject matters being taught. Maggie Chon suggested getting the information out via list serves for sections. Judge Appelwick offered to forward the information to the UW Law School. Mary Pontarolo will notify the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence for their DV advocate training. The Commission will check into purchasing copies of the manual.

Glass Ceiling/Diversity Commitments

Eileen Concannon reported the Diversity Commitments Summit was held April 12 at the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA). Five Supreme Court Justices attended. Chief Justice Alexander spoke at the summit and agreed to send out a support letter. The eight commitments were presented and discussed. The next steps include establishing a governing board, hiring a diversity administrator who will work at the WSBA offices; going out to law firms; and securing funding.

Eileen noted a presentation is being made to the WSBA Board of Governors (BOG) at their meeting this weekend. [Note: the motion to sign the Statement of Commitments passed by a vote of 10-0-1.]

In June, the King County Task Force will be meeting to produce a supplement for the Resource Manual. They hope to work with the Diversity Administrator on education and future projects.

Domestic Violence Projects

Protection Orders in Family Law/Pattern Forms (Gough)

Merrie Gough presented recommended form modifications relating to access to domestic violence protection orders in family law cases and relating to federal firearms restrictions in domestic relations forms. The recommendations area result of the interdisciplinary committee chaired by Judge Riehl. The issues triggering the need for changes are the firearms restriction and conflicting court orders.

The proposed changes are

 

1. Domestic Violence Order for Protection Forms
   Proposed changes clarify when the petitioner and responded are " intimate partners" under federal law and which restraint provisions, if checked, would result in federal firearms restrictions.

    

2. No-Contact Order
   The Committee recommends a combined criminal DV No-contact Order which can be used for felony or misdemeanor offenses in superior courts and courts of limited jurisdiction. Addition of language to clarify when the petitioner and responded are " intimate partners" under federal law and which restraint provisions, if checked, would result in federal firearms restrictions. Additional changes clarify provisions relating to felony and misdemeanor offenses.

    

3. Domestic Relations Forms
   The proposed changes to these forms are two-fold. The first group of changes included provisions a party may use to request and obtain a DV protection order. The second group of changes includes provisions that a party may use to request and obtain a restraining order that qualifies for federal firearms restrictions.

The draft forms were presented as the "next steps" in the process to change the pattern forms. Discussion followed on which other groups needed to review the proposed changes before they are submitted to the Pattern Forms Committee.

It was moved and seconded to send the "intimate" partner language changes on the ORDER FOR PROTECTION (ORPRT) -WPF DV-3.015 - RCW 26.50.060 to the Pattern Forms Committee for publication. Motion carried.

Consensus was the revised domestic relations forms should be circulated to as many groups as possible for review. It was noted the addition of this language " If you need immediate assistance, go to the Clerk or DV advocate" could have fiscal impact on the Clerks' offices.

Judge Riehl and Merrie Gough will identify the groups that should review the proposed changes. Merrie agreed to provide a cover memo explaining the proposed revisions to the domestic relations forms. The Commission will review the comments and write a letter of support.

STOP Grants to the Courts

The Commission reviewed the grant status report to the Board for Judicial Administration and two revised proposals for FY 03 funding.

It was moved and seconded to keep the Pierce County Superior Court STOP Grant award at $20,000. Motion carried.

It was moved and seconded to allocate $10,000 of the FY03 STOP Grant for the revised Asotin County District Court proposal. Funding will be conditioned on assurance the grant will not be used to supplant any current funds for staff time. Motion carried.

Scholarships for Judicial Education

A total of 85 judicial officers have attended out of state Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases training. We have exhausted the $22,500 provided by OCVA. See letters from Judges Orlando and Dubuisson in the packet.

Rural DV and Child Victimization Grant

Comm. Rich Adamson, Mason and Kitsap Counties Superior Courts, has joined the faculty. The faculty envisions two rural trainings with judges' leading 8-member interdisciplinary court/domestic violence/child welfare teams. The next meeting is May 27, 2004.

Thurston County DV Summit

The half-day program is scheduled for May 21. Justice Madsen will welcome the 100 participants. The meeting will focus on subcommittee action plans; review of the priorities identified in 2002; and small group action planning for next year.

Model Workplace Domestic Violence Policy

There has been no action on finalizing the workplace policy for the courts.

Other Business

Women in Prison -Literacy Project

Justice Madsen talked to a Rotary group about literacy projects and programs for women in prison. A future visit to the Washington Correctional Center for Women will be scheduled to look at the Head Start program and kids reading with moms program.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.