An Act
ENROLLED SENATE
BILL NO. 1344 By: Garvin of the Senate
and
Lawson of the House
An Act relating to court-appointed special advocates;
amending 10A O.S. 2021, Section 1-8-102, which
relates to education and training and criminal
history checks; applying certain standards to
required education and training; clarifying
requirements for certain back ground checks; removing
requirement for payment of certain fee by Oklahoma
Court-Appointed Special Advocate Associ ation; and
providing an effective date.
SUBJECT: Court-appointed special advocates
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 10A O.S. 2021, Secti on 1-8-102, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1-8-102. A. Any court-appointed special advocate
(CASA) available for appointment pursuant to the Oklahoma Children's
Code or the Oklahoma Juvenile Code shall complete education and
training courses in juvenile law, child abuse and neglect and other
issues relating to children such as foster care and parental
divorce, including, but not limited to, risk fa ctors which may
identify domestic abuse and potential violence and the relat ionship
between alcohol or drug abuse and violence, safe visitation and
supervised visitation arrangements and standards for a child and
ENR. S. B. NO. 1344 Page 2
parties. The chief judge of the judicial di strict for which a
court-appointed special advocate serves shall be responsi ble for
developing and administering procedures and rules for such courses
accordance with national and Oklahoma CASA standards.
B. No court-appointed special advocate shall be a ssigned a case
before:
1. Completing a training program in compliance with nationally
documented Court-Appointed Special Advocate standards.
Documentation of training shall be submitted annually by local
court-appointed special advocate programs to the O klahoma Court-
Appointed Special Advocate Association; and
2. Being approved by the local court-appointed special advocate
program, which will include appropriat e criminal background checks
as provided in subsection C of this section.
C. 1. Notwithstandi ng any other provision of law, each local
court-appointed special advocate p rogram shall require for any
person making application to become a court-appointed special
advocate volunteer or to be employed by the local court-appointed
special advocate program:
a. a child welfare records search cond ucted by the
Department of Human Se rvices, which shall consist of a
search of the Child Abuse and Neglect Information
System maintained by the Department of Human Services
for review by authorized entities,
b. a criminal history records search conducted by the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Inves tigation, and
c. any other background check meeting the requirements as
set forth in Oklahoma Court-Appointed Special Advo cate
Association state or national standards for local
programs, for any person making application to become
a court-appointed special advocate volunteer or to be
employed by the local court-appointed special advoca te
program. For purposes of this paragraph, “child
welfare records search ” means a search of the c hild
abuse and neglect information system maintained by the
ENR. S. B. NO. 1344 Page 3
Department of Human Services for review b y authorized
entities.
2. If the prospective court-appointed special advocate
volunteer or employee of the local court -appointed special advocate
program has lived in Oklahoma for less than one ( 1) year, a criminal
history records search shall also be obt ained from the criminal
history state repository of the previous state of residence.
3. The Oklahoma Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association
shall pay the fee for the criminal history record s search provided
in this subsection.
D. 1. Any person par ticipating in a judicial proceeding as a
court-appointed special advocate shall be presumed prima facie to be
acting in good faith and in so doing shall be immune from any civil
liability that otherwise might be incurred or imposed .
2. Any person serving in a management position of a court-
appointed special advocate organization, including a member of the
Board of Directors acting in good faith, shall be im mune from any
civil liability or any vica rious liability for the negligence of any
court-appointed special advocate organization advocates, managers,
or directors.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2022.
ENR. S. B. NO. 1344 Page 4
Passed the Senate the 16th day of May, 2022.
Presiding Officer of the Senate
Passed the House of Representatives the 26th day of April, 2022.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Received by the Office of the Governor this _______ _____________
day of _________________ __, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _______________________________ __
Approved by the Gove rnor of the State of Oklahoma this _____ ____
day of _________________ __, 20_______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
_________________________________
Governor of the State of Oklahoma
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Received by the Office of the Secretary of State this __________
day of __________________, 20 _______, at _______ o'clock _______ M.
By: _______________________________ __