Determination of need as prerequisite to establishment of program

No alternative dispute resolution program shall be established for any court unless the judge or a majority of the judges of such court determine that there is a need for such program in that court. The funding mechanism set forth in this chapter shall be available to any court, including the juvenile court, which, having determined that a court-annexed or court-referred alternative dispute resolution program would make a positive contribution to the ends of justice in that court, has developed a program meeting the standards of the Supreme Court of Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and appendices. Pursuant to the standards set forth in the Supreme Court of Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and appendices, the funding mechanism set forth in this chapter shall be available to court programs in which cases are screened by the judge or by the program director under the supervision of the judge on a case-by-case basis to determine whether: (1) The case is appropriate for the process; (2) The parties are able to compensate the neutral if compensation is required; and (3) A need for emergency relief makes referral inappropriate until the request for relief is heard by the court. (Code 1981, § 15-23-10, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1529, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 874, § 5; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-6/HB 242.) The 2013 amendment, effective January 1, 2014, in the second sentence of the introductory language, inserted ‘‘, including the juvenile court,’’ near the beginning and substituted ‘‘Supreme Court of Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and appendices’’ for ‘‘Georgia Supreme Court’s Uniform Rule for Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs’’ in the second and third sentences. See editor’s note for applicability.