Reporter's Notebook for Dec. 14, 2019

By Jim Hale

I had a rare privilege Monday.

I looked on as my brother, Matt Hale, testified before the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Family Law in Harrisburg.

He spoke about House Bill 1397, which would change state law to create a rebuttable presumption that equal parenting time is in the best interest of the child in custody cases.

In other words, 50-50 would be the automatic starting point. Naturally, judges would be free to change that arrangement as required by each case’s specific circumstances, but would have to state their reasons for doing so.

Matt, as an activist with the Kentucky affiliate of the National Parents Organization (NPO) and member of its national board, spearheaded the successful effort to pass his state’s first-in-the-nation shared-parenting law. It passed with strong bipartisan support, 81-2 in Kentucky’s House and 38-0 in the Senate, and led to a reduction in custody-related court cases.