Brief (1)
HB 3000 would expand the duties of the Ombudsman of Corrections to include receiving complaints and grievances related to the state's juvenile correctional facilities and other entities under contract with the Juvenile Justice Authority for housing children in the custody of the Commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Authority. The Ombudsman would be required to report to the Commissioner issues of misfeasance or discrepancy in administration or unreasonable treatment. The Ombudsman would be granted access to juvenile offender and juvenile correctional facility records.
The House Committee on Appropriations amended HB 3000 to limit the Ombudsman's duties to addressing complaints and grievances in the juvenile correctional facilities only, and excluded over 50 other entities contracting with the Juvenile Justice Authority. An additional amendment requires the complainant to exhaust all juvenile correctional facility grievance procedures before the Ombudsman could take action.
Background
HB 3000 was recommended by the House Appropriations' Public Safety Subcommittee to provide a grievance procedure separate from the administrative structure of the Juvenile Justice Authority and provide a procedure similar to the adult system. The Juvenile Justice Authority testified in opposition to the bill. The Ombudsman of Corrections testified in support of the bill, provided sufficient resources were available to manage the increased workload.
The Division of the Budget fiscal note reports an increased cost of $90,000 and 2.0 FTE annually to address the original bill. The amended version of the bill is anticipated to require $45,000 and 1.0 FTE because over 50 contracted sites were eliminated and only the four existing juvenile correctional facilities would be subject to the amended bill.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html