PRINTER'S NO. 639
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
570
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY CONKLIN, SANKEY, BARBIN, V. BROWN, BROWNLEE,
COHEN, D. COSTA, DAVIDSON, DeLUCA, KOTIK, MAHONEY, McNEILL,
MURT, O'BRIEN, PASHINSKI, READSHAW, ROZZI, THOMAS AND WATSON,
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015
AN ACT
Amending Title 23 (Domestic Relations) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in protection from abuse, further
providing for relief; and making editorial changes.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 6108(a)(4) and (5) of Title 23 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended, subsection (a)
is amended by adding a paragraph and the section is amended by
adding a subsection to read:
§ 6108. Relief.
(a) General rule.--The court may grant any protection order
or approve any consent agreement to bring about a cessation of
abuse of the plaintiff or minor children. The order or agreement
may include:
* * *
(4) Awarding temporary custody of or establishing
temporary visitation rights with regard to minor children. In
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determining whether to award temporary custody or establish
temporary visitation rights pursuant to this paragraph, the
court shall consider any risk posed by the defendant to the
children as well as risk to the plaintiff. The following
shall apply:
(i) A defendant shall not be granted custody,
partial custody or unsupervised visitation where it is
alleged in the petition, and the court finds after a
hearing under this chapter, that the defendant:
(A) abused the minor children of the parties or
poses a risk of abuse toward the minor children of
the parties; or
(B) has been convicted of violating 18 Pa.C.S. §
2904 (relating to interference with custody of
children) within two calendar years prior to the
filing of the petition for protection order or that
the defendant poses a risk of violating 18 Pa.C.S. §
2904.
(ii) Where the court finds after a hearing under
this chapter that the defendant has inflicted abuse upon
the plaintiff or a child, the court may require
supervised custodial access by a third party. The third
party must agree to be accountable to the court for
supervision and execute an affidavit of accountability.
(iii) Where the court finds after a hearing under
this chapter that the defendant has inflicted serious
abuse upon the plaintiff or a child or poses a risk of
abuse toward the plaintiff or a child, the court may:
(A) award supervised visitation in a secure
visitation facility; or
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(B) deny the defendant custodial access to a
child.
(iv) If a plaintiff petitions for a temporary order
under section 6107(b) (relating to hearings) and the
defendant has partial, shared or full custody of the
minor children of the parties by order of court or
written agreement of the parties, the custody shall not
be disturbed or changed unless the court finds that the
defendant is likely to inflict abuse upon the children or
to remove the children from the jurisdiction of the court
prior to the hearing under section 6107(a). Where the
defendant has forcibly or fraudulently removed any minor
child from the care and custody of a plaintiff, the court
shall order the return of the child to the plaintiff
unless the child would be endangered by restoration to
the plaintiff.
(v) Nothing in this paragraph shall bar either party
from filing a petition for custody under Chapter 53
(relating to child custody) or under the Pennsylvania
Rules of Civil Procedure.
(vi) In order to prevent further abuse during
periods of access to the plaintiff and child during the
exercise of custodial rights, the court shall consider,
and may impose on a custody award, conditions necessary
to assure the safety of the plaintiff and minor children
from abuse.
(5) After a hearing in accordance with section 6107(a),
directing the defendant to pay financial support to those
persons the defendant has a duty to support, requiring the
defendant, under sections 4324 (relating to inclusion of
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spousal medical support) and 4326 (relating to mandatory
inclusion of child medical support), to provide health
coverage for the minor child and spouse, directing the
defendant to pay all of the unreimbursed medical expenses of
a spouse or minor child of the defendant to the provider or
to the plaintiff when he or she has paid for the medical
treatment, and directing the defendant to make or continue to
make rent or mortgage payments on the residence of the
plaintiff to the extent that the defendant has a duty to
support the plaintiff or other dependent household members.
The support order shall be temporary, and any beneficiary of
the order must file a complaint for support under the
provisions of [Chapters] Chapter 43 (relating to support
matters generally) and [45 (relating to reciprocal
enforcement of support orders)] Parts VIII (relating to
uniform interstate family support) and VIII-A (relating to
intrastate family support) within two weeks of the date of
the issuance of the protection order. If a complaint for
support is not filed, that portion of the protection order
requiring the defendant to pay support is void. When there is
a subsequent ruling on a complaint for support, the portion
of the protection order requiring the defendant to pay
support expires.
* * *
(6.1) Requiring a GPS electronic monitoring device be
placed on the defendant if the defendant is found to present
a substantial risk of violating the final protection from
abuse order or committing a crime punishable by imprisonment.
The following shall apply:
(i) A GPS shall monitor the defendant's location
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relative to all persons for whom protection is sought.
The court shall determine the distance at which the
defendant is to remain from all persons seeking
protection from abuse and specific locations from which
the defendant shall refrain.
(ii) Except as provided under subparagraph (iii),
the court shall order the defendant to wear the GPS
monitoring device for the entire period of time that the
final protection from abuse order is in effect.
(iii) The court may only order the GPS electronic
monitoring device be removed from the defendant prior to
the expiration of the final protection from abuse order
if the court notifies the plaintiff covered by the final
protection from abuse order that the GPS electronic
monitoring device has been ordered by the court to be
removed.
* * *
(i) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection:
"GPS." A global positioning system operated by the
Department of Defense that provides specially coded satellite
signals that may be processed by a receiver to compute a
location.
"GPS electronic monitoring device." A device that enables
the location of a person wearing the device to be monitored
through use of a GPS and related technology and is designed so
that the device:
(1) a ctively and continuously monitors, identifies and
reports location data within a 100-mile radius;
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(2) p ermits the Pennsylvania State Police and any local
police department to receive location data, record it
securely and confidentially retain it indefinitely;
(3) m ay be worn around a person's wrist or ankle; and
(4) o nce fitted around a person's wrist or ankle, cannot
be removed without using specialized equipment specifically
designed for that purpose and alerting the Pennsylvania State
Police and each local police department that it has been
removed.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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