Gender and Justice Commission

March 12, 2004

PRESENT

Commission Members: Justice Barbara A. Madsen, Judge Marlin Appelwick, Eileen M. Concannon, Helen Donigan, Thomas Fallquist, Judie Fortier, Lourdes Fuentes, Michael Killian, Judge James M. Riehl, Judge Ruth Reukauf, Judge Ann Schindler, Daniel Thieme, Lindsay Thompson

Guests: None

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

Two changes to the minutes were noted: Judge Schindler' s name should be added to the list of STOP Grant evaluators and Helen Donigan' s name will be added to the list of Commission members continuing to work on gender issues in the law school.

It was moved and seconded to approve the revised January 9, 2004 meeting minutes. Motion carried.

Membership

The Commission accepted Justice Mary Fairhurst' s letter of resignation.

The Nominating Committee, Judge Schindler, Helen Donigan and Tom Fallquist, will meet and recommend candidates for appointment to the Commission.

Budget Report

The Commission reviewed and approved the budget report.

Requests for Funding

(1) Thurston County Domestic Violence

It was moved and seconded to approve the Thurston County Domestic Violence Task Force' s request for $1,000 for their follow-up summit on May 21. Motion carried.

Justice Madsen noted Thurston County Commissioner Chris Wickham has also been leading the work on a regional domestic violence/child protective services protocol.

(2) Northwest Immigrants Rights Project

Consensus was to defer action on the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project' s (NIRP) request for $38,000 to provide court training and legal advocacy services. This proposal was originally submitted in response to the STOP Grant to the Courts Request for Proposal. However, since it was not submitted by a court, it did not qualify. The Commission requested more detail regarding how the proposed project is targeted to the courts and domestic violence issues. A major concern is the increasing number of requests to fund staff positions rather than projects.

Lourdes Fuentes and Judge Reukauf will talk to their contacts at the NIRP to get more information on the proposed training content and costs.

PROJECTS/PROGRAMS/ACTIVITIES

Prospective Education Projects

(1) 2004 Fall Judicial Conference

The Fall Conference Planning Committee accepted our proposal to conduct domestic violence training at the 2004 Conference, September 19-22 in Spokane and also asked if we would sponsor a program on sexual diversity issues. A proposal to present a 3-hour session titled Understanding Sexual Diversity: Why it Matters to Judges had been submitted to the Planning Committee by non-court related trainer.

Consensus was the Commission could only sponsor one program this year and, because of current events, supported sponsoring a 3-hour program, tentatively titled: From Gay Marriage to Domestic Violence to Employment Discrimination: What You Need to Know to Handle the Cases That Will Be Coming into Your Court. Potential faculty would include a constitutional law professor, family law attorneys, and judges.

Judge Schindler, Judge Tompkins, Helen Donigan, and Lindsay Thompson agreed to work on the program planning committee. Judge Schindler offered the assistance of her summer law school extern.

The Commission will withdraw the proposal for domestic violence education this year and will submit another proposal in 2005. That one might focus on the law enforcement policies, new forms in family law cases, and efforts to eliminate loopholes around the issue of weapons confiscation.

(2) NAWJ Genome Justice Program

The National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) will present the Genome Justice program in Seattle, July 8, 9, and 10 at the University of Washington (UW) Law School. Justice Madsen and Gloria Hemmen are working with UW faculty and the NAWJ staff to finalize the program agenda and arrangements.

The Commission will provide 10 travel and lodging scholarships of $500 each to Washington State judicial officers who are accepted into the program. The early notice and draft agenda will be sent out the Washington State appellate and superior court judges this month.

Justice Madsen requested suggestions for attorneys to serve on the panel for the Role of Genetics in Prosecuting and Defending Alleged Criminals. Judge Schindler will contact some attorneys.

(2) NAWJ Color of Justice Program

Judie Fortier reported work is proceeding on the on the NAWJ Color of Justice program on April 23 at Seattle University School of Law. Maggie Chon, Judie, and Gloria met with the principal and a teacher at the Chief Leschi School on February 2. They are eager to work with us to implement the program and also are interested in pre- and post-program activities.

Maggie Chon has made all the arrangements with Seattle University Law School to host the event. Two law school students have agreed to work with the Chief Leschi School on a pre-program event. Faculty for the program include law school professors, a law school student, an attorney, and superior court, district court, tribal court, and administrative law judges.

It was proposed that the second program be held in Spokane in the fall. The target audience will be 20-30 minority students in junior and senior high school. One option would be to coordinate it with the Fall Conference which is being held September 19-22.

Helen Donigan and Tom Fallquist offered to contact Lewis and Clark High School to see if they would be interested in sending students to this program.

(3) DMCJA, Immigrants in the Courts

The DMCJA Diversity Committee met via conference call on March 9 to discuss the program which is scheduled for a four-hour plenary session on June 8, 2004 at the District and Municipal Court Judges' Association Conference in Chelan.

Ann Benson, Matt Adams, and Dorothy Stefan are confirmed faculty. Judge Paja has contacted the Chelan District court for names of Spanish interpreters for the scenarios. A new section on firearms will be added to the agenda.

Judge Riehl agreed to co-facilitate the program with Judge Paja.

Civil Legal Needs Study

Judges Schindler and Appelwick recommended the Commission postpone action on the Civil Legal Needs Study recommendations until after the Access To Justice Conference (ATJ) in June. The ATJ Conference will focus on the study. We can support projects that fit within our mandate. The obvious areas are projects related to domestic violence.

Judge Appelwick reported the Legislature approved $1.9 million in new funding for civil legal defense - for one year.

Glass Ceiling/Diversity Initiative Projects

Eileen Concannon reported the Diversity Initiative Summit is scheduled for April 12, 2004, 9:30 - 12:30, at the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) office in Seattle. Justice Madsen, Justice Johnson, and retired Justice Charles Smith plan to attend. She noted a presentation was made to the WSBA Board of Governors (BOG) and Justice Madsen spoke in support of the taking steps to implement the Glass Ceiling Task Force Report' s recommendations.

The WSBA BOG presented Justice Madsen with an award for " leadership and work on behalf of the Washington State Gender and Justice Commission. They awarded the prestigious Diversity Award to the King County Gender Equality Committee for their work.

Eileen also reported speaking to corporate in-house counsel and client attorneys. Two Safeco managers requested copies of the Resource Manual.

Domestic Violence

(1) STOP Grants to the Courts

Current FY02 STOP grant project reports were included with the meeting materials. Two projects were successfully completed since our last meeting:

1. February 20, Pro-tem Judges Training in Tacoma

2. March 7-8, Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence, King County. Some grant funding is being used to pay transportation and lodging costs for the 14 non-King County judicial officers who participated in this program.

The final event before this grant cycle ends is the March 26, DV/CPS Summit.

Fourteen proposals were received in response to our Requests for Proposal (RFP) for new FY03 STOP Grant funding. The Evaluating Committee, Justice Madsen, Judges Appelwick, Schindler, and Tompkins, Mary Pontarolo, and Sandra Matheson, selected nine proposals to advance to round two. Two proposals withdrew. On March 8, the Committee selected six of the remaining proposals for funding. See chart in the packet.

Justice Madsen will report on the STOP Grant projects at the next Board for Judicial Administration (BJA) meeting.

(2) Scholarships for Judicial Education

Six judges are scheduled to attend the Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases Workshop in Chicago, April 25-28. Scholarship funds expire with this program.

(3) Rural DV and Child Victimization Grant

The faculty/planning committee meets again on April 12. Members include Dr. Anne Ganley, Gloria Hemmen, Leigh Hofheimer, Commissioner Bill Knebes (only until a replacement can be identified), Justice Barbara Madsen, Commissioner Tracy Mitchell, Judge Theresa Pouley, and Indra M. Trujillo. This project will develop new training on domestic violence and child dependency cases. Two trainings will be presented in rural counties and one at a state conference. The group will coordinate with the DV/CPS Summit project chaired by Justice Bridge and funded by our STOP Grant.

(5) DV Legislation, SB 6161, Tacoma Committee

Justice Madsen and Judie Fortier reported Governor Locke will be signing SB 6161 in Tacoma on Monday.

The Legislation requires law enforcement agencies to collaborate with a local domestic violence group to develop a policy or adopt the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs' model policy on law enforcement related domestic violence.

Judie noted the City of Tacoma Law Enforcement Policy will be presented to the City Council on April 13. They are trying to mirror the Law Enforcement Policy for city employees but don' t know how the unions will react.

It was noted most private companies do not have domestic violence policies.

(6) Model Workplace Domestic Violence Policy

Dan Thieme reported the Sub-committee is continuing to revise the draft policy. A draft was circulated for comment.

Judge Riehl reported the policy was distributed at the Presiding Judges' Conference but there was no opportunity for discussion. Attendees were told they can provide input. Gloria will send a copy of the policy and a reminder to the presiding judges.

He also talked about the process the Commission uses in Administering the STOP Grant funds and emphasized we are a working commission that makes a difference.

Discussion followed on steps to finalize the policy and move forward with implementation. It was suggested Commission members should present the policy to:

- Judges, county clerks, court administrators/managers.

- County officials.

- Union officials. It was noted wherever there are unions this will be an issue since it addresses off-duty conduct.

- Board for Judicial Administration.

- Trial Court Coordinating Councils (TCCC). Judge Riehl noted implementation issues in courts of limited jurisdiction will require the courts to say " This is the policy in our court." In Kitsap County, the policy can be taken to the TCCC.

Gloria will contact the National Center for State Courts for permission to use their new manual Developing a Domestic Violence Policy for the Workplace. It has an excellent introduction that outlines the need for creating a DV policy. Judge Riehl and Helen Donigan requested copies of the publication.

Discussion on implementing the policy will be continued at the next Commission meeting.

(7) DV Orders in Family Law

Judge Riehl reported the new committee is meeting at the end of this month to review the court survey and changes to the domestic violence and family law pattern forms. Work is continuing to close some gaps on the firearms restrictions and produce better forms for actions under RCW 26.09 and 26.26. The committee hopes to present their recommendations to the Commission at the May meeting.

Other Business

Kitsap County Domestic Violence Project

Judge Riehl reported they have audited 1,050 cases in Kitsap County. They found in half of the cases there were multiple orders. Two-thirds were inconsistent regarding provisions relating to location, distance, and children. The project will be operational in May and they will be asking the Trial Court Coordinating Council for funds to start scanning every domestic violence order.

Community Education

Eileen Concannon and Judge Riehl participated in the Mercer Island High School Day of Respect. They addressed students on domestic violence and violence against women.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 12:20 p.m.