Public Law 1995, chapter 405, "An Act to Implement the Recommendations Resulting from the Study Concerning Parental Rights and Responsibilities When Domestic Abuse is Involved," requested the Supreme Judicial Court to develop a program to train, certify and supervise guardians ad litem. The court appointed a committee to oversee these tasks and the committee proposed rules and standards for guardians ad litem to the court, which were adopted in 1999.

In the course of its work, the committee identified a number of provisions of law that it felt needed to be corrected by appropriate legislation to harmonize existing provisions of the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 19-A and Title 22. This bill makes those corrections by:

1. Amending the laws governing the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program, or "CASA," to clarify that court appointed special advocates have quasi-judicial immunity as do other guardians ad litem, and that, if a CASA volunteer is sued the volunteer is entitled to a defense by the Department of the Attorney General;

2. Clarifying Title 19-A to provide that a guardian ad litem's report in domestic relation cases is fully admissible and subject to a party's rights to cross-examine the guardian ad litem or call rebuttal witnesses as in cases arising under Title 22; and

3. Amending Title 22 to clarify that guardians ad litem in child abuse cases have quasi-judicial immunity, as in cases arising under Title 19-A.