ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4530
(By Delegates Trump, Staton, Ashley,
Buchanan, Webb and Fleischauer)
[Passed March 14, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend article two, chapter forty-eight of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section ten-b, relating generally to parent education
classes for parents of minor children when the parents are
involved in actions for divorce, paternity, custody or
separate maintenance.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter forty-eight of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten- b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. DIVORCE, ANNULMENT AND SEPARATE MAINTENANCE.
§48-2-10b. Parent education classes.
(a) A circuit court, or a judge thereof, may, by
administrative rule or order, and with the approval of the supreme court of appeals, designate an organization or agency to
establish and operate education programs designed for parents who
have filed an action for divorce, paternity, support or separate
maintenance and who have minor children. The education programs
shall be designed to instruct and educate parents about the
effects of divorce and custody disputes on their children and to
teach parents ways to help their children and minimize their
trauma.
(b) The circuit court may issue an order requiring parties
to an action for divorce, paternity, custody or separate
maintenance to attend parental education classes established
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and may, by order,
establish sanctions for failure to attend.
(c) The circuit court may require that each person attending
a parental education class pay a fee, not to exceed twenty-five
dollars, to the clerk of such court to defray the cost of
materials and of hiring teachers: Provided, That where it is
determined that a party is indigent and unable to pay for such
classes, the court shall waive the payment of the fee for such
party. The clerk of the circuit court shall, on or before the
tenth day of each month, transmit all fees collected under this
subsection to the state treasurer for deposit in the state
treasury to the credit of special revenue fund to be known as the
"parental education fund", which is hereby created. All moneys
collected and received under this subsection and paid into the
state treasury and credited to the "parental education fund"
shall be used by the administrative office of the supreme court
of appeals solely for reimbursing the provider of parental education classes for the costs of materials and of providing
such classes. Such moneys shall not be treated by the auditor
and treasurer as part of the general revenue of the state.
(d) The administrative office of the supreme court of
appeals shall submit a report to the joint committee on
government and finance summarizing the effectiveness of any
program of parent education no later than two years from the
initiation of the program.
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