KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

President Obama has signed into law the landmark health reform legislation recently approved by Congress but the debate is far from over.  Here are a few related links that will help you make sense of this critical issue:

HR 3590 — Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Legislative information from Thomas sponsored by the Library of Congress that includes the text of the act signed by the President and links to related material.

HR 4872 —  Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. Legislative information from Thomas sponsored by the Library of Congress that includes the text of the act the Senate is still reviewing and links to related material.

The “Popular Documents” portion of the US Senate’s web site that includes valuable links to legislation summaries from both parties and the White House.

The official Blog from the Whitehouse that includes links to the President’s recent press conference about health care reform.

A “What does the health care bill mean to me?” link at the Washington Post’s web site that forecasts the impact this new law will have on you personally based on basic data you enter.

A clever chart, also from the Washington Post, which compares voting records on the health reform legislation to a Congressman’s financial support from the health industry and the percentage of people in his or her district without health insurance.

On March 15, the King County Superior Court Clerk’s Office announced a series of improvments to the E-filing application software that manages electronic filing.  Among the host of improvements highlighted in the Release Notes document, one of the most exciting is the fact that the E-filing system now accepts .pdf documents created by the newer versions of Adobe Acrobat Professional. including the latest, Version 9. 

As stated in the Release Notes:  “The E-Filing application and supporting systems were upgraded to accept Adobe® Acrobat 9® converted PDF documents or use of Adobe® Acrobat 9® functionality (e.g., Typewriter). Users are no longer required to modify Adobe® Acrobat 9® conversion tools to an earlier software version in order to pass the E-Filing application’s file validation requirements.”

This improvement should make it much easier for everyone to prepare .pdf documents that are acceptable to the E-filing system.  There are many other improvements mentioned in the Release Notes so you should definitely take the time to read through them.

Firms and individuals who join KCLL’s annual Subscriber Program are entitled to check out materials from our Seattle and MRJC branches and receive discounts on additional library services.  Each year during the first week of February, we close out accounts from the previous year that have not renewed for the current year.  This process is happening right now so if you or your firm were members in 2009 and haven’t returned the 2010 renewal materials we mailed to you in early December, please do so immediately to prevent a lapse in your borrowing privileges.  If you have any questions about the Subscriber Program or the status of your account, please contact us at (206) 296-0940.

The Washington State Legislature is in session once again.  Understanding the laws our local senators and representatives are proposing can be a daunting task but finding information about those laws isn’t, thanks to the many links provided on the Legislature’s web site.   It provides a variety of ways to research legislative activity, including a link called Agendas, Schedules and Calendars.  As the name implies, this link points to a series of pages where you can: 1) see a complete roster of standing, joint, and select committees; 2) view the past, present and upcoming agendas of those committees; 3) see related bill and bill analysis information; 4) find contact information for the senators and representatives serving on these committees.  The site is complex and navigation between the links can sometimes be a bit confusing but it’s worth it to visit this portion of the State Legislature home page if you haven’t been there before.

If you’re trying to locate someone you believe is incarcerated, start your search with the following:

Department of Corrections Offenders site: Use this link to search for individuals by name or DOC number.  The site is updated nightly and lists a contact phone numbers for both in-state and out-of-state offenders.

King County Jail Inmate Lookup Service: Use this link to search for individuals held specifically in King County facilities.

Washington Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification: Use this link to search for individuals incarcerated state-wide and to register to be notified when they are released, transferred or escape.

The web site for the Washington Defender Association has a great set of links to a variety of documents with information about representing non-citizens and others with immigration law problems.  They are located on a page called Immigration Resources and Practice Advisories.  Included is a document titled Quick Reference Chart of Immigration Consequences of Selected RCW Offenses that reviews the immigration consequences of particular crimes.  There is also a general guide to representing non-citizens.

When I attended the King County Superior Court Clerk’s office most recent CLE workshop, one of the presenters devoted a good deal of time to an explanation of the “working copies” component of the new e-filing system.  This was good because many of the attendees seemed confused by it.  If you find yourself in the same boat, here are a couple of specific links to useful information about this:

E-Working Copies Active Demonstration – this link leads to an automated demostration showing how to use the E-Working Copies portion of the e-filing system.  The advantages of the process are clearly spelled out in the very beginning and since you can start and stop the demonstration yourself, you can review it at your own pace.

E-Working Copies Help – this link leads to the portion of the e-filing web site that describes how the E-Working Copies process works.  It includes a link to the demonstration mentioned above as well as a detailed FAQ document and an instructional document with screenshots from a simulated E-Working Copies process.

If you’re like many of us and still learning how to use King County’s new mandatory e-filing process, don’t forget to check the helpful FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) they’ve posted on the E-Filing News and Information page.  Locate the Helpful Resources portion of the page and follow the link called Frequently Asked Questions about Mandatory E-Filing.  The document includes sections for general, process and technical questions and was last updated on 9/1/2009.

The Family Law Facilitators Office provides assistance to family law litigants who are not represented by attorneys.  They have offices in both the Seattle and Kent courthouses.  You can now see some of the materials used by the Facilitators online through a link provided on the King County Superior Court’s web site.

Here’s the latest course information for the free divorce classes offered by the King County Family Law Facilitators.  The meeting times have changed since we first blogged about this earlier this year.