February, March and April Board Meetings
By Bonnie J. Glenn
The following is a summary of key actions taken at the KCBA Board of Trustees meetings of February 16, March 16, April 6, and April 20, 2005. Complete minutes of these and other Board meetings are available from the KCBA office.
February 16 Board Meeting
Drug Policy Project Legislation. The Board sent a letter to Senator Pren-tice and Representative Sommers in support of a proposal to increase drug abuse treatment funding by about $84 million. In addition, the DPP supported the proposed DOSA amendment, which provides an alternative to having defendants serve half their remaining time at a residential treatment facility. Furthermore, it was announced that Senator Kline will be the main sponsor to create a special consultative body to provide recommendations to the legislature for the establishment of a new legal framework of regulatory control over psychoactive substances.
Family Law Section. The Board followed the Family Law Section’s recommendation to oppose SB 5081 authorizing monitoring of a child’s telephone conversations by a parent or guardian. The Board also opposes SB 5350 providing a presumption of shared parental responsibility after a dissolution of marriage; HB 1482 revising provisions on child abuse and neglect; HJR 4207 and 4208 protecting the name of marriage, protecting the legal incidents of marriage and limiting court jurisdiction over marriage; and HB 1467 requiring mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect when discovered by a person connected with specified nonprofit entities. The Board decided to take no action on SB 5308, which also deals with mandatory reporting of abuse or neglect.
The Board agreed to follow the recommendations of the Family Law Section to support HB 1403 and SB 5053 authorizing service by publication in actions to establish or modify parenting plans, for legal separation or invalidity of marriage, and for non-parental custody; HB 1171 which limited judicial discretion concerning denial of dissolution decrees; and HB 1139 which addressed conflicts of interest for attorneys serving as pro tempore judges, commissioners, and guardians ad litem.
March 16 Board Meeting
401(k) IRS Required Amend-ment. Regulatory changes have led to a reduction in the level at which retirement accounts of terminated or retired employees may be subjected to a “forced” cash-out distribution. In accord with the recommendations of the KCBA’s ERISA counsel and the KCBA 401(k) Plan trustees, the Board approved a reduction in the forced cash-out distribution level under the KCBA 401(k) Plan from $5,000 to $1,000.
Bench-Bar Conference and Judicial Selection Forum. The Board voted to cancel this year’s Bench-Bar Conference and instead to co-sponsor a program that the Judicial Selection Forum (“JSF”) plans to present at Seattle University on November 11, 2005--the same day on which the Conference ordinarily would be held. The JSF program will bring speakers from organizations throughout the state that are involved in efforts to change the method by which Washington state judges are selected. This is a one-time only occurrence; the Bench-Bar Conference will resume as a stand-alone event in November 2006.
Mobile Home Tenants Law. The Board authorized the sending of a letter to the Washington Legislature in support of SHB 1640, which creates a non-judicial mechanism to resolve manufactured/ mobile home landlord-tenant disputes. The key component of the bill is the creation of an ombudsman to help settle disputes, rather than reliance on the imposition of fines. The bill also creates a registry of mobile home parks, so that tenants may have a means to contact absentee owners, and establishes fines for failure to register.
Public Disclosure Act Amend-ments re: Attorney-Client Privilege. SSB 5735 contains a proposed amendment to the Public Disclosure Act (“PDA”) that would codify an exemption from disclosure for governmental communications that are subject to the attorney-client privilege. The Board approved a letter urging the Legislature (1) not to amend the PDA with respect to issues of attorney-client privilege, and to rely instead on court interpretations concerning application of the privilege to the PDA; or, in the alternative, (2) to amend the PDA by making specific reference to RCW 5.60.060, and to exempt from disclosure all communications pursuant to RCW 5.60.060(2)(a), as it now exists or is hereafter amended, and the applicable common law.
New Law Sections. Subject to confirming that there are persons interested in assuming a leadership role, the Board approved the creation of new sections pertaining to Appellate Law and Environmental Law. In addition, the Board approved the dissolution of the Criminal Law Section due to the inability over several years to find persons interested in taking on leadership responsibilities.
April 6, 2005 Board Meeting
Community Legal Services Com-mittee. The Board approved the recommendations of Julie Orr and Harold Booker for the 2005 KCBA Pro Bono Award.
Drug Policy Project. Dr. David Lovell, Chairman of the Treatment Policy and Funding Task Force to the King County Bar Association, presented a report of the Task Force and provided two resolutions for the Boards review. The Board agreed to post the report on the KCBA web site and send it via e-mail to the membership for comments. The Board agreed to vote on the adopting the recommendations of the Task Force in a month.
Court funding. President Cary provided an overview of court funding and presented a proposed resolution in support of Justice Funding. The KCBA supported SB 5903, HB 1542, HB 1747, and SB 5454 as measures that embodied the principles as outlined in the resolution in support of Justice Funding.
Mandatory Arbitration. The board supports subsection 2 of SB 5733, which raises the jurisdictional limit for cases subject to mandatory arbitration in King County from $35,000 to $50,000, exclusive of interest and costs. On Section 1 of SB 5733 the Board took no position.
Court Rules Comments. The Board agreed to adopt comments on civil discovery rule changes as recommended by the Courts Rules Committee.
Lawyer Referral Committee. Mike Fancher and Joan Andersen made a presentation to the Board regarding a new business model for Lawyer Referral. The new business model would grow the program, expand the number of referrals and attract the cases that attorneys want to have.
April 20, 2005 Board Meeting
Fundraising Events. The KCBA has agreed to co-sponsor a fundraising event to provide scholarships to students who have been disqualified from federal financial aid because of the drug conviction provision of the Higher Education Act. Roger Goodman will emcee this event, to be held June 1 at the Crowne Plaza in Seattle, 6-8 p.m. Representative Jim McDermott is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.
Office Space Analysis Work Group. A business plan was recommended for using the unused space at the KCBA. Trustee Karen Jones will head a committee to look at this issue.
Treatment Report Email Re-sponses. Several encouraging e-mails in response to the Drug Policy Project - Treatment Policy and Funding Task Force were shared with the Board.
Legislation Committee (Condo-minium Bill). The Board followed the recommendation of the Legislative Committee to send a letter to Governor Gregoire recommending she veto Sections 11 and 16 of EHB 1848, which would make condominium disputes subject to mandatory arbitration. The board discussed this issue at length.
KCBA Fiscal Budget for 2006. A one-page summary of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 was provided to the board as well as graphs of the KCBA Projected Operating Income and Expenses. The Board will vote on May 4, 2005 for approval of the fiscal budget for 2006.
KCBA CLE Report. Roxanne Mennes reported that our CLE program is doing great and exceeded its budget projections for this year. Special acknowledgement was given to Roxanne and the many people who help make our CLE programming a success.
Lawyer Referral. Joan Andersen presented materials regarding the lawyer referral business plan outline for fiscal years 2006-2007 and shared recommendations for Lawyer Referral by PAR Consultants. Joan provided information on increasing the Lawyer Referral fee and the importance of the new changes of separating lawyer referral from low-income screening services. Andersen also shared the importance of the ongoing marketing effort.
401 (k) Contributions. After meeting in Executive Session, the Board increased its 401(k) contribution to five percent and increased the Executive Director’s 401(K) to the maximum extent allowed by law and the plan. n
Bonnie J. Glenn is KCBA Secretary/Trustee. Ms. Glenn is Deputy Chief of Staff at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. She can be reached at (206) 296-9035 or at bonnie.glenn@metrokc.gov. She thanks Joseph E. Bringman for contributing reports on the minutes of the March 16 meeting. Mr. Bringman is a member of the KCBA Board of Trustees and former KCBA Secretary. In his other life, Joe is a commercial litigator with the Perkins Coie law firm. He can be reached at (206) 359-8501 or at JBringman@perkinscoie.com.
