House Judiciary advances changes to parenting-time enforcement, adds custody-review task force

The House Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote amended and recommended passage of Senate Bill 2186, a measure that changes how some parenting-time enforcement disputes are handled and creates a child custody review task force.

Representative Vedder, sponsor of the subcommittee amendments, told the panel the amendment removes the matter from the criminal code and makes enforcement a civil remedy, while giving judges additional remedies if a parent denies the other parent court-ordered parenting time. "If you're so in that situation where the one parent doesn't allow the other parent to have the parenting time, they get that time back up to double," Vedder said, adding that the replacement time must be of a similar type (for example, a comparable holiday). He also pointed to explicit sanctions: "The court may sanction a parent who fails to comply with this section. Contempt of court," language Vedder said he asked to place directly in the…