Relating to the qualifications for an impartial third party in certain civil disputes. 

This bill would add additional requirements for individuals who wish to serve as an impartial third party mediator in a proceeding that may impact a parent-child relationship. Under current law, to qualify for appointment as an impartial third party mediator in a dispute relating to a parent-child relationship, one needs to complete 40 hours in dispute resolution training class and 24 hours of training in the fields of family dynamics, family law, and child development. If this bill passes, an individual would need to take an additional eight hours of family violence dynamics training to qualify.

There are already stringent requirements governing the qualifications of individuals who can serve as an impartial third party, and to add an additional requirement is unnecessary. By creating further state-mandated requirements on the credentials of impartial third party mediators, SB 539 increases the scope of government. For this reason we oppose SB 539.