Massachusetts Senate advances child custody bill, but some bristle at how bill suddenly appeared – NewBostonPost

From State House News Service | October 4, 2024, 7:47 EDT

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2024/10/04/massachusetts-senate-advances-child-custody-bill-but-some-irked-about-how-bill-suddenly-appeared/

By Sam Doran
State House News Service

The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday initially approved a bill (S.2961) aimed at simplifying child custody laws to create a “simpler and streamlined process” for interstate custody disputes, but concerns about the process thwarted leadership's plans to before the bill could be pushed through the upper chamber.

Massachusetts would be the last in the country to adopt the standard framework known as the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act if the bill introduced by the Senate on Thursday, October 3, becomes law. The uniform framework dates to 1997 and has been adopted by all 49 other states, according to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman State Sen. Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) said current child custody laws in Massachusetts are outdated.

“As a result, Massachusetts residents may face complications in custody cases involving multiple states, including jurisdictional disputes and delays in enforcement,” Rodrigues said. “This bill establishes clear rules to determine which state has jurisdiction over custody matters, with the child’s home state taking precedence, and ensures that courts in Massachusetts can cooperate effectively with courts in other states.”

The bill also addresses virtual participation in custody proceedings and notification requirements for proceedings occurring simultaneously in more than one state.

Senate President Karen Spilka's office said: “Once the Massachusetts courts have exercised custody jurisdiction, our courts will retain future jurisdiction to prevent possible changes to the judgment or order as long as a parent or child remains in the state that a forum shopping and dueling lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions.”

The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a similar bill in 2016. In 2018, the branch passed it in July before the Massachusetts House of Representatives referred it to its Ways and Means Committee seven days before the end of formal sessions for the term.

It was sponsored this legislative session by Senate Majority Leader State Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem (D-Newton), although the measure did not attract co-sponsors or companion legislation from the House, unlike in 2018, when it was on the other side of the House until then An accompanying bill was submitted in the hall. State Representative James Cantwell (D-Marshfield).

The 31-page text was redrafted and published Thursday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee (as S.2961). In election years, after lawmakers reach the end of formal sessions on July 31, the flow of broadly significant bills typically dwindles to a trickle, but bills with broad support can still advance.

Branch leadership planned to pass the bill Thursday, but some senators were upset that the bill took effect so quickly.

In their remarks, State Senator John Keenan (D-Quincy) and minority leader State Senator Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) expressed general support for the bill and considered it important to implement, but also cast shade on it as it grows Habit of making more substantial suggestions at informal fall events.

“This morning around 9:33 a.m. we received notice that the Ways and Means Committee would be voting, and then at 10:30 a.m. the vote closed, and here we have the bill in front of us about an hour later,” said Keenan on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

None of the few senators present introduced the bill or made any other formal request, but they made their feelings known. Keenan said he hoped it would only be “delayed for a short period of time.” Tarr then expressed a desire to move the bill forward Thursday but stop at third reading, a form of initial approval that leaves it in the Senate for further consideration.

“Members – I think we may have someone who wants to put forward an amendment to this – and it is very difficult for members to read a bill in an informal meeting with an hour's notice and decide whether they want to amend it or not.” said Keenan. “And I commend the gentleman from Millbury for doing that.”

State Sen. Michael Moore (D-Millbury) filed another amendment Thursday, which he quietly withdrew before the vote. It was an attempt to advance his own custody measure, which has been stuck in the Ways and Means Committee since the summer.

Moore's proposal (S.118), filed in early 2023 and sent to Ways and Means in July, would create a so-called Harmony Commission aimed at preventing future tragedies such as the death of Harmony Montgomery, whose father had custody for the five-year-old -old and was later convicted of her murder.

Five years after the girl's death, the search for her remains was still underway this week in Chelsea, WCVB-TV reported.

The proposed panel would “investigate how the rights, welfare and interests of the child are currently managed in care and protection cases, and request waiver of consent cases and make recommendations on how children can be better protected and cared for in such cases.”

Moore asked the floor to be notified as soon as the bill goes to committee for third reading. Spilka's office told State House News Service after the adjournment that it planned to revisit the issue at the next meeting on Monday, Oct. 7.

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