RCW 7.94.150 Instructional and informational material.

(1) The administrative office of the courts shall develop and prepare instructions and informational brochures, standard petitions and extreme risk protection order forms, and a court staff handbook on the extreme risk protection order process. The standard petition and order forms must be used after June 1, 2017, for all petitions filed and orders issued under this chapter. The instructions, brochures, forms, and handbook shall be prepared in consultation with interested persons, including representatives of gun violence prevention groups, judges, and law enforcement personnel. Materials must be based on best practices and available electronically online to the public.

(a) The instructions must be designed to assist petitioners in completing the petition, and must include a sample of a standard petition and order for protection forms.

(b) The instructions and standard petition must include a means for the petitioner to identify, with only lay knowledge, the firearms the respondent may own, possess, receive, or have in his or her custody or control. The instructions must provide pictures of types of firearms that the petitioner may choose from to identify the relevant firearms, or an equivalent means to allow petitioners to identify firearms without requiring specific or technical knowledge regarding the firearms.

(c) The informational brochure must describe the use of and the process for obtaining, modifying, and terminating an extreme risk protection order under this chapter, and provide relevant forms.

(d) The extreme risk protection order form must include, in a conspicuous location, notice of criminal penalties resulting from violation of the order, and the following statement: "You have the sole responsibility to avoid or refrain from violating this order's provisions. Only the court can change the order and only upon written application."

(e) The court staff handbook must allow for the addition of a community resource list by the court clerk.

(2) All court clerks may create a community resource list of crisis intervention, behavioral health, interpreter, counseling, and other relevant resources serving the county in which the court is located. The court may make the community resource list available as part of or in addition to the informational brochures described in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) The administrative office of the courts shall distribute a master copy of the petition and order forms, instructions, and informational brochures to all court clerks and shall distribute a master copy of the petition and order forms to all superior, district, and municipal courts. Distribution of all documents shall, at a minimum, be in an electronic format or formats accessible to all courts and court clerks in the state.

(4) For purposes of this section, "court clerks" means court administrators in courts of limited jurisdiction and elected court clerks.

(5) The administrative office of the courts shall determine the significant non-English-speaking or limited-English-speaking populations in the state. The administrator shall then arrange for translation of the instructions and informational brochures required by this section, which shall contain a sample of the standard petition and order for protection forms, into the languages spoken by those significant non-English-speaking populations and shall distribute a master copy of the translated instructions and informational brochures to all court clerks by December 1, 2017.

(6) The administrative office of the courts shall update the instructions, brochures, standard petition and extreme risk protection order forms, and court staff handbook as necessary, including when changes in the law make an update necessary.

(7) Consistent with the provisions of this section, the administrative office of the courts shall develop and prepare:

(a) A standard petition and order form for an extreme risk protection order sought against a respondent under eighteen years of age, titled "Extreme Risk Protection Order - Respondent Under 18 Years";

(b) Pattern forms to assist in streamlining the process for those persons who are eligible to seal records relating to an order under (a) of this subsection, including:

(i) A petition and declaration the respondent can complete to ensure that requirements for public sealing have been met; and

(ii) An order sealing the court records relating to that order; and

(c) An informational brochure to be served on any respondent who is subject to a temporary or full order under (a) of this subsection.

[ 2019 c 246 § 5; 2017 c 3 § 16 (Initiative Measure No. 1491, approved November 8, 2016).]