Relating to de novo hearings in child protection cases. 

This bill would modify the current law relating to de novo hearings in child protection cases. If this bill passes, a party may not request a de novo hearing on a default judgement or after an agreed order. These proceedings would be given preference over other pending matters to ensure that the court reaches a decision promptly. If a court does not hold the de novo hearing on an associate Judge's proposed order or judgement on or before the 30th day after receiving the original request, then a party may file a petition for a writ of mandamus to force the court to hold the hearing.  

By modifying this process, the various courts involved in these cases would be synchronized which would hopefully have the effect of limiting the amount of time that the child in in a legal limbo. While this is a procedural bill on which we remain neutral, we support the intent of this legislation.