Act No. 551

Public Acts of 1998

Approved by the Governor

January 19, 1999

Filed with the Secretary of State

January 22, 1999

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 1, 1999

STATE OF MICHIGAN

89TH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 1998

Introduced by Senators Geake, Steil, Gougeon, Bouchard, Dingell, V. Smith, Peters and Shugars

ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 841

AN ACT to amend 1982 PA 294, entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the laws relating to the friend of the court; to provide for the appointment or removal of the friend of the court; to create the office of the friend of the court; to establish the rights, powers, and duties of the friend of the court and the office of the friend of the court; to establish a state friend of the court bureau and to provide the powers and duties of the bureau; to prescribe powers and duties of the circuit court and of certain state and local agencies and officers; to establish friend of the court citizen advisory committees; to prescribe certain duties of certain employers and former employers; and to repeal acts and parts of acts," (MCL 552.501 to 552.535) by adding sections 4b and 4c.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 4b. (1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), and (4), and under the chief judge's supervision, the office shall provide the citizen advisory committee with a grievance filed as provided in section 26 and access to records and information necessary for the committee to perform its functions as prescribed by this act, including the following:

(a) Case records and other information pertaining to the case of a party who has filed a grievance with the citizen advisory committee.

(b) Information regarding the procedures used by the office to carry out its responsibilities as defined by statute, court rule, or the bureau.

(c) Information regarding the administration of the office of the friend of the court office, including budget and personnel information.

(2) The following information shall not be provided to a citizen advisory committee:

(a) Information defined as confidential by supreme court rule.

(b) Case information subject to confidentiality or suppression by specific court order, unless the court that issued the order of confidentiality determines, after notice to the parties and an opportunity for response, that the requested information may be made available to the citizen advisory committee without impairing the rights of a party or the well-being of a child involved in the case.

(3) A citizen advisory committee shall be provided a judge's or referee's notes pertaining to a case only at the chief judge's express direction.

(4) A citizen advisory committee has access to records of a mediation session only if the court determines, after notice to the parties and an opportunity for a response, that access would not impair the rights of a party to the case or the well-being of a child involved in the case.

(5) Upon request of a citizen advisory committee and under the chief judge's supervision, the office shall annually provide the committee with information pertaining to a random sampling of grievances. If requested by the committee and at the supreme court's direction, the state court administrative office shall assist the office in devising a statistically significant random sampling.

Sec. 4c. (1) A citizen advisory committee, its members, and its staff shall consider as confidential a record or other information to which they have access in order to perform their functions under this act and shall properly safeguard its use and disclosure.

(2) A person listed in subsection (1) who discloses a record or other information described in subsection (1) is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(3) A citizen advisory committee member's unauthorized disclosure of a record or information described in subsection (1) is grounds for removal from the committee.

(4) A committee staff member's unauthorized disclosure of a record or information described in subsection (1) is grounds for dismissal.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect March 1, 1999.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Secretary of the Senate.

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Approved

Governor.