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Committee approves bill clarifying law to allow removal of alleged offender while child remains at home
Summary
House Bill 159 would let law enforcement and courts order removal of an alleged offender from a home while leaving the child with a safe, protective parent; the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee sent the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.
The Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee on Feb. 26 voted to send House Bill 159 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. The bill clarifies statutory language in the Child Protection Act so courts and law enforcement can remove an alleged offender from a household while permitting a child to remain with a safe, protective parent when appropriate.
Magistrate Judge Andrew Ellis told the committee the current statute contains internally contradictory references to "protective orders" that have made the tool unusable in practice. "There appears to be, currently in the statute 3 different references to something called the protective order. The issue in implementing that in practice is that those 3 different references within the statute are all internally contradictory," Judge Ellis said. He said the bill removes the confusing references and creates a clear process for law enforcement to seek an order removing the alleged offender while the child stays with the protected parent.
Under the bill as explained to the committee, law enforcement, typically in consultation with Department of Health and Welfare staff and the county prosecutor, would present either oral testimony or a sworn affidavit to a judge. A judge could issue an order directing the alleged offender to leave the home; the removed parent would receive notice of a shelter-care hearing within 48 hours to contest the removal.
Senators questioned how the mechanics work in an emergency or after hours; Judge Ellis said on-call magistrates would take testimony or affidavits and issue orders consistent with current after-hours practices. Senator Todd Lakey, who introduced the bill, said the measure resulted from judges' presentations and would address an operational gap in protecting children while minimizing family disruption.
The committee approved the motion to send the bill to the floor by voice vote. The motion was made by Senator Nicole Wintrow and seconded by Senator Kiser.
