Brief ⁽¹⁾

HB 2023 would amend the Child in Need of Care Code to provide additional dispositions for juveniles adjudicated as children in need of care based solely on truancy. The bill would allow courts to:

Place the child under house arrest;

Order the child to participate in an education program including an alternative program approved by the local school board;

Suspend the child's driving privileges;

Order the child, his or her parents, or both to participate in a tutoring program; or

Fine the child or his or her parents.

The bill would also require local school boards to adopt a truancy plan and submit that plan along with truancy reduction figures to the State Board of Education annually. The State Board would be required to annually report the truancy plans and reduction figures to the House and Senate Education committees.

Background

The bill as introduced amended the Juvenile Justice Code to classify truants 14 years of age and older as juvenile offenders. The bill also defined "significant part of a school day" as an absence from 15 percent or more of scheduled classes for that school day. The bill was introduced by the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight.

Proponents of the bill as introduced included Representative Weber, Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight; representatives of the Kansas Peace Officers Association and the Johnson County District Attorney's Office; and Judge Alan Slater, Johnson County District Court.

Opponents of the bill as introduced included representatives of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, Kansas Association of School Boards, Juvenile Justice Authority, and Office of Judicial Administration. Amendments were proposed by the Juvenile Justice Authority and the Office of Judicial Administration.

According to the fiscal note on the bill as introduced, the Juvenile Justice Authority estimates that the average annual cost of a juvenile offender in the state's custody, but not in a juvenile correctional facility, is $14,822. The Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services estimates a savings of $25,200 per year for each child not placed in foster care. Estimates of the number of children who would be adjudicated as juvenile offenders rather than children in need of care were not available.

The House Committee amended the bill due to concerns raised regarding the potential loss of federal funds should children adjudicated as juvenile offenders solely on the basis of truancy (status offenders) be sentenced to secure confinement. The bill was amended to add the additional dispositions to the Child in Need of Care Code rather than the Juvenile Justice Code to address those concerns. A definition of "significant part of a school day" was deleted from the bill. In addition, a requirement that local school boards develop truancy plans and submit those plans and truancy reduction numbers to the State Board of Education was amended into the 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/fulltext.cgi