Status of bills corrected

We were a little off last week in describing the status of essentially identical bills in the House and Senate that would make it faster to terminate parental rights and get children adopted and out of foster care.

We correctly reported that House Bill 750 went down on an 11-10 vote in the House Courts of Justice Committee on Jan. 21. But on Thursday, Del. Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, asked his colleagues to reconsider the bill and it is now back on the committee’s docket.

Under House rules, Melvin’s request was granted because he voted against the bill. He said originally that he was concerned that the action would put the legislature on a slippery slope toward the repeal of routine de novo review of district court rulings.
But he said he had come to believe the issue deserves further consideration.

We reported incorrectly that the civil subcommittee of Senate Courts of Justice had referred Senate Bill 394 to the full committee. We confused the committee’s action with its endorsement of another bill. It’s still before the subcommittee.