(1) The
administrative office of the courts shall develop and prepare
instructions and informational brochures required under RCW 7.90.020, standard petition and order for protection forms, and a
court staff handbook on sexual assault, and the protection order
process. The standard petition and order for protection forms
must be used after September 1, 2006, for all petitions filed and
orders issued under this chapter. The instructions, brochures,
forms, and handbook shall be prepared in consultation with
interested persons, including a representative of the state
sexual assault coalition, judges, and law enforcement personnel.
(a) The instructions shall be designed to assist petitioners
in completing the petition, and shall include a sample of
standard petition and order for protection forms.
(b) The informational brochure shall describe the use of and
the process for obtaining, modifying, and terminating a
protection order as provided under this chapter.
(c) The order for protection form shall include, in a
conspicuous location, notice of criminal penalties resulting from
violation of the order, and the following statement: "You can be
arrested even if the person or persons who obtained the order
invite or allow you to violate the order's prohibitions. The
respondent has the sole responsibility to avoid or refrain from
violating the order's provisions. Only the court can change the
order upon written application."
(d) The court staff handbook shall allow for the addition of
a community resource list by the court clerk.
(2) All court clerks shall obtain a community resource list
from a sexual assault program serving the county in which the
court is located. The community resource list shall include the
names and telephone numbers of sexual assault programs serving
the community in which the court is located, including law
enforcement agencies, domestic violence agencies, sexual assault
agencies, legal assistance programs, interpreters, multicultural
programs, and batterers' treatment programs. The court shall
make the community resource list available as part of or in
addition to the informational brochures described in subsection
(1) of this section.
(3) The administrative office of the courts shall distribute
a master copy of the petition and order forms, instructions, and
informational brochures to all court clerks and shall distribute
a master copy of the petition and order forms to all superior,
district, and municipal courts.
(4) For purposes of this section, "court clerks" means court
administrators in courts of limited jurisdiction and elected
court clerks.
(5) The administrative office of the courts shall determine
the significant non-English-speaking or limited English-speaking
populations in the state. The administrator shall then arrange
for translation of the instructions and informational brochures
required by this section, which shall contain a sample of the
standard petition and order for protection forms, into the
languages spoken by those significant non-English-speaking
populations and shall distribute a master copy of the translated
instructions and informational brochures to all court clerks by
December 1, 2006.
(6) The administrative office of the courts shall update the
instructions, brochures, standard petition and order for
protection forms, and court staff handbook when changes in the
law make an update necessary.
[2006 c 138 § 19.]