SF 189 –Change of venue in termination of parental rights proceedings
SF 208 –Crime Victim Compensation Fund payments
SSB 1011 – Premises liability: trespassers
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Senate File 189 allows a petition for termination of parental rights to be filed in a county other than the county where the children, the guardian or custodian, the biological mother or the pregnant woman live, if there are valid safety concerns relating to the children or the petitioner. The residence of the child and petitioner must be kept confidential by the court when the venue is changed for safety reasons. The Committee adopted an amendment to limit a change of venue because of safety and security concerns to the Judicial District that includes the county where a petition would normally be filed.
[2/14: short form]
Senate File 208 relates to the Victim Compensation Fund. Payments are made from the fund to victims of certain crimes for expenses incurred because of the crime. The bill:
- Adds a definition of “survivor of a deceased victim” to provide a consistent definition throughout for providing victim compensation.
- Adds the ability to receive compensation for loss of income from work due a funeral, memorial or burial service that a survivor incurs.
- Allows compensation for cleaning a crime scene. Current law limits compensation to cleaning a residence.
- Provides for compensation for dependent care expenses when a survivor attends a funeral, burial or memorial service.
- Provides for replacing or installing new locks and other residential security items.
- Provides for additional compensation to a victim, a secondary victim or survivor for charges, expenses or loss of income if the expenses were not authorized at the time of the initial application for benefits.
- Adds a “new event” (such as a retrial, a change in offender custody status or a new appellate court decision) as eligible for additional compensation.
Receipts to the Victim Compensation Fund include a percentage of criminal fines and penalties, victim restitution and a percentage of wages earned by inmates working in the private sector. The Committee adopted an amendment that adds “stepparent” to the list of people considered a survivor of a deceased victim. The amendment also makes some grammatical changes.
[2/14: short form]
Senate Study Bill 1011 establishes that a possessor of real property owes no duty of care to a trespasser except to refrain from willfully or wantonly injuring the trespasser. A possessor of real property must use reasonable care to avoid injuring the trespasser once the trespasser’s presence is known. There may be liability if a child trespasser is injured by a dangerous condition on the land that was known or should have been known to the possessor. This bill is purported to be codifying current case law relating to premises liability and trespassers. This bill in an effort to “preempt courts from adopting” a different liability standard regarding trespassers, one that would potentially impose increased liability upon possessors of land.
[2/14: short form]