Section 30-7-6 Perpetrator Counseling Programs.

(a) The director, in consultation with the Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Incorporated or other qualified entity, as provided in subsection (b) of Section 30-7-2, the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers, and the Alabama Department of Mental Health, shall establish the content of batterers’ intervention programs in order to direct services to those persons who are adjudged to have committed an act of domestic violence, as defined in Section 30-5-2, those against whom an injunction for protection against domestic violence is entered, those referred by the court, and those who volunteer to attend such programs. (b) The facilitators, supervisors, and trainees of the program shall be certified to provide these programs through initial certification by the Department of Economic and Community Affairs, and the programs and personnel shall be annually recertified by the department to ensure that they meet specified standards. (c) The programs shall be funded through reasonable fees collected from the batterers who attend the programs, except the programs may be funded, in whole or in part, from any local, state, or federal program that provides funding for batterers’ intervention programs. Fees may be waived if a participant has an income level at or below 125 percent of the United States poverty level as defined by the most recently revised poverty income guidelines published by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. (d) The court making referrals may not refer victims or their family or household members to batterers’ intervention programs. The court shall only order an adjudicated perpetrator of domestic violence to batterers’ intervention programs.