HCS HB 187 & 235 -- COURT PROCEDURES (Flook)

COMMITTEE OF ORIGIN:  Committee on Judiciary

This substitute changes the laws regarding court procedures.  In
its main provisions, the substitute:

(1)  Repeals the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act and
establishes in its place, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction
and Enforcement Act.  The act specifies the procedures,
priorities, and factors to be considered in initial custody
jurisdiction determinations, continuing jurisdiction
determinations, modification of custody determinations, and
emergency orders.  Family access orders may be filed relating to
establishment or modification of custody or visitation including,
but not limited to, dissolution, modification, third-party
visitation, or paternity;

(2)  Extends the expiration date of the Statewide Court
Automation Fund fee from September 1, 2009, to September 1,
2019, and allows the Court Automation Committee to continue to
function until September 1, 2021;

(3)  Exempts a tenant from liability for rent payments during the
remainder of the term of the lease agreement when his or her
residence is destroyed by an act of God or other natural or
man-made disaster unless the tenant caused the disaster;

(4)  Removes the certified mail requirement for service of
summons in landlord tenant actions and replaces it with a regular
mail requirement;

(5)  Removes the 30-day provision regarding court summons and
requires a defendant to appear within 10 days.  Currently, a
court summons requires a defendant to appear before an associate
circuit judge no less than 10 days nor more than 30 days from the
date the summons was delivered;

(6)  Allows, beginning January 1, 2010, a corporation to file a
corporate registration report on a biennial basis and to change
the month of its corporate registration report by designating the
desired month and paying an additional $20 fee.  Corporations
incorporated in an even-numbered year may only file a report in
an even-numbered year, and corporations incorporated in an
odd-numbered year may only file a report in odd-numbered years.
The fee for filing the biennial report will be $80 if filed in a
written format and $30 if in an electronic format.  Any
corporation filing a biennial report must maintain the
registration for two years, but may choose to file an annual
registration in subsequent years.  The Secretary of State is
allowed to collect an additional $10 fee for each biennial
corporate report to be credited to the Secretary of State's
Technology Trust Fund Account;

(7)  Authorizes the Secretary of State to charge a $45 fee for a
corporate filing of the original articles of organization in an
electronic format;

(8)  Changes the deadline when the Secretary of State may
commence a proceeding to dissolve a corporation for failing to
deliver its corporate registration report to within 90 days after
it is due.  Currently, the Secretary of State may commence a
proceeding if the report is not delivered within 30 days after it
is due;

(9)  Allows the Secretary of State to administratively cancel the
articles of organization of limited liability companies and
limited liability partnerships if the period of duration on the
articles expires and the company or partnership does not amend
the articles in a timely manner.  The Secretary of State may
rescind a cancellation under certain circumstances;

(10)  Allows anyone 18 years of age or older who was found
incompetent under Section 632, RSMo, by admission either
voluntary or involuntarily into a mental health facility, to
petition the probate court for a removal of the disqualification
to purchase, possess, or transfer a firearm.  Individuals must
prove that they no longer suffer from the condition that rendered
them incompetent and that they pose no danger to themselves or
others;

(11)  Reclassifies all state court commissioners to associate
circuit court judges after January 1, 2010, and transfers six
newly reclassified state court commissioners to different
judicial circuits;

(12)  Allows drug court commissioners to serve as family court
commissioners if needed and available and appointed by a majority
of the circuit court judges;

(13)  Allows the required annual report of the Judicial Finance
Commission to be combined with any other annual report prepared
by the Missouri Supreme Court or the Office of State Courts
Administrator if it is distributed to the required parties;

(14)  Changes certain caseload reporting requirements for
municipal and associate circuit court judges;

(15)  Allows a court to take certain specified measures to
protect a child when the court finds that there is credible
evidence of a potential risk of international abduction of the
child by a parent.  Factors that the court should consider in
determining whether to take one or more measures are specified;

(16)  Allows providers of targeted case management clients in the
Division of Developmental Disabilities within the Department of
Mental Health to be treated as agents of the division;

(17)  Allows an individual who is 17 years of age to file for an
adult order of protection and extends the time period for which
an order of protection may be valid from one year to up to three
years;

(18)  Removes the provision that allows judges to appoint a
nonboard-certified court reporter in the absence of an official
court reporter due to illness for up to six months;

(19)  Requires circuit clerks to remove any information from
court records filed after January 1, 2010, that could be used to
identify or locate the victim of a sexual crime;

(20)  Makes voluntary acknowledgments of paternity available to
the child's mother, the father listed on the birth certificate,
and the attorneys representing them; and

(21)  Allows the judge in a municipal case that is dismissed
before the defendant pleads guilty or is found guilty to assess
court costs against the defendant as specified in Section
488.012, RSMo, if the defendant consents to pay and is not
indigent and unable to pay the costs.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Effect on General Revenue Fund of an
income of $191,703 in FY 2010, a cost of $237,175 in FY 2011, and
a cost of $935,463 in FY 2012.  Estimated Income on Other State
Funds of $141,958 in FY 2010, $266,780 in FY 2011, and $100,000
in FY 2012.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:24 am