SF 1807

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 02/27/2019 04:19pm

A bill for an act
relating to family law; requiring the University of Minnesota to conduct a survey
and study of early neutral evaluation participants; requiring a report; appropriating
money.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1. new text begin EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATION STUDY AND REPORT.
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new text begin (a) The supreme court must contract with the Board of Regents of the University of
Minnesota to develop and conduct a survey and report as provided in this section.
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new text begin (b) The board, through its Extension Service, must develop and conduct a survey of all
early neutral evaluation participants from November 1, 2019, to November 1, 2020. At a
minimum, the survey must seek the following information:
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new text begin (1) the participant's demographic information, including age, gender, and race;
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new text begin (2) a participant's satisfaction levels with the early neutral evaluation process and outcome
as it relates to the following:
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new text begin (i) custody arrangements;
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new text begin (ii) parenting time;
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new text begin (iii) property division;
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new text begin (iv) legal expenses;
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new text begin (v) length of time of the process;
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new text begin (vi) level of cooperation of each party; and
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new text begin (vii) the effectiveness of the neutral or neutrals;
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new text begin (3) the participant's opinion regarding fairness of the early neutral evaluation process,
whether their expectations were met, whether the participant made decisions voluntarily,
and whether the participant would recommend the early neutral evaluation to others; and
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new text begin (4) the participant's recommendations related to the early neutral evaluation process and
outcome.
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new text begin (c) The Extension Service must aggregate the results of the survey and report it to the
chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees having jurisdiction over
children, families, and the judiciary by January 15, 2021. The report must include the
following:
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new text begin (1) the total number of early neutral evaluation participants;
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new text begin (2) the total number of social-early neutral evaluation participants;
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new text begin (3) the total number of financial-early neutral evaluation participants;
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new text begin (4) all disaggregated data, including survey data, collected by judicial district;
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new text begin (5) a description of the methods used to collect data; and
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new text begin (6) a description of general trends, findings, and conclusions based on data collected.
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Sec. 2. new text begin APPROPRIATION.
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new text begin $50,000 in fiscal year 2020 is appropriated from the general fund to the supreme court
to contract with the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota for its Extension
Service to develop and conduct a survey of all early neutral evaluation participants and
provide a report to the legislature pursuant to section 1.
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