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Minutes for HB2021 - Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice

Short Title

Allowing evidence-based program account money to be used on certain children, requiring the department of corrections to build data systems and allowing for overall case length limit extensions for certain juvenile offenders.

Minutes Content for Mon, Jan 30, 2023

Chairperson Owens opened the hearing on HB2021.  Natalie Scott provided an overview of the bill.  (Attachment 1)  Ms. Scott responded to questions from committee members.

Chairperson Owens told the group there was a number of proponents and opponents to testify and asked that each try to limit their remarks to around five minutes and also that we would wait until the end of the proponents for questions and the same with the opponents.

The Honorable Kevin Smith, 18th Judicial District, testified in support of the bill as an individual and not as a representative of the court.  Judge Smith stated that (2016) SB367's primary goal of reducing incarceration and increasing the use of community-based resources did not factor in a critical characteristic of many of these cases  - these kids often lack a functional family structure to ensure they complete treatment programs.  In the 10 years before (2016) SB367, Kansas experienced a fifty percent reduction in juvenile crime rates.  Judge Smith said he believes one of the reasons for this reduction is the ability of juvenile court judges to retain jurisdiction over juveniles until the age of majority.  These kids need structure and direction especially when they engage in criminal behavior in broken families where generational foster care and criminal behavior are endemic.  He said maintaining the authority of the court over juveniles is essential to keeping these kids on a productive path.  (Attachment 2) 

Jim Howell, Vice Chair, Sedgwick County Commission, testified in support of the bill.  Mr. Howell said (2016) SB367 brought positive changes for the majority of the juvenile offenders in Sedgwick county.  Anecdotally about 10% to 15% of the criminogenic youth have fallen through the cracks.  These youth have escalating criminal and violent behavior that is victimizing more citizens.  (Attachment 3) 

Angela Hedrick, Vice President of Operations, KVC Kansas testified in support of the bill.  Ms. Hedrick said (2016) SB367 was intended to shift juveniles from detention to treatment, but we failed to shift the resources to treatment and child welfare.  We are in a situation where there aren't the community based resources and treatment options to support families who are trying to manage children who have behavioral issues in their homes.  (Attachment 4) 

Erica Case, Attorney, Saint Francis Ministries testified in support of the bill.  She said the intended purpose of recent juvenile justice reform was to reduce the number of detentions, to open more evidenced based programs in the community, and to focus on prevention within the juvenile justice system.  She said in their work with children and families, they have observed that more moderate to high risk level youth are not accessing needed supports to change their path.  (Attachment 5) 

Kevin Waring, Kansas Association of Court Services Officers (KASCO) testified as the Chief Court Services Officer in the 10th Judicial District in Johnson County.  Mr. Waring said KACSO is supportive of the bill as it would benefit youth and families in Kansas with additional resources.  Additionally, KACSO supports the ability for the court to extend case length limits and issue jail sanctions for technical or contempt of court violations.  (Attachment 6)

Marissa Woodmansee, Director, 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services and on behalf of the Kansas Community Corrections Association testified in support of the bill.  Ms. Woodmansee said they  believe this bill fosters greater communication between state agencies to better coordinate, determine, and fund the programs, services, and sanctions for juvenile offenders and children in need of care.  Additional providers and families of juvenile offenders will also become eligible to access needed treatment dollars.  (Attachment 7)

Rachel Marsh, CEO, Children's Alliance of Kansas testified in support of the bill.  Ms. Marsh said that after juvenile justice reform passed in Kansas - when Kansas Department of Corrections foster care and residential services began to be phased out, child welfare providers experienced a marked increase in out-of-home placement referrals for youth with more severe criminogenic behaviors.  Juvenile justice reform moved youth whose behaviors are not severe enough to warrant detention, but who are not safe to remain at home without critical prevention services, into the foster care system.  (Attachment 8) 

Questions were asked of the proponent conferees by committee members.

Written only testimony in support of the bill was submitted by the following:

  • Kyle Kessler, Executive Director, Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas  (Attachment 9) 
  • Rachelle Roosevelt, Sr. Vice President, TFI Family Services Inc.  (Attachment 10) 
  • Ed Klumpp, Legislative Liaison, Kansas Sheriffs Association, Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, Kansas Peace Officers Association  (Attachment 11)
  • Christina Smith, Private Citizen  (Attachment  12)

Written only neutral testimony was submitted by the following:

  • Noah Bein, State Policy Manager, Justice Action Network (Attachment 13)
  • Randall Bowman, Executive Director of Public Affairs, Kansas Department of Corrections  (Attachment 14)
  • Tanya Keys, Deputy Secretary, Department for Children and Families  (Attachment 15) 

Mike Fonkert, Campaign Director, Kansas Appleseed for Law and Justice testified in opposition to the bill.  Mr. Fonkert said this bill makes three changes which they oppose:

  • The bill would double the amount of time a child could spend in jail during their case.
  • The bill would remove case length limit protections that were set to prevent children from being kept on supervision indefinitely.
  • The bill would bring back the use of detention as a sanction for technical violations of probation.

He encouraged the committee to remove any controversial provisions before considering the bill further.  (Attachment 16) 

Nick Reinecker, Private Citizen testified in opposition to the bill.  Mr. Reinecker shared his concerns, referencing specific sections of the bill.  (Attachment 17)

Jennifer Christie, Private Citizen testified in opposition to the bill.  Ms. Christie said that while there are aspects of this bill that addresses changes that are needed, there are portions that would cause unintended consequences to the youth and future adults of Kansas and would fail to achieve the intended results.  She said incarceration does not work to improve outcomes.  Rather, youths' protective factors are reduced and their risk factors are increased.  (Attachment 18) 

Thomas Foster, Private Citizen testified in opposition to the bill.  Mr. Foster said the stated juvenile justice goal is to promote public safety, hold juveniles accountable, and improve their ability to live more productively and responsibly in the community.  He said two sections of this bill are not supportive of that goal - Sec. 5 which proposed raising the maximum detention time for misdemeanors to 90 day is unnecessary and costly for counties and then Sec 6. b. 4. which he felt should be reconsidered.  (Attachment 19) 

Questions were asked of the opponent conferees by committee members.

Written only testimony in opposition to the bill was submitted by the following:

Chairperson Owens closed the hearing on HB2021. 

Chairperson Owens accepted additional written only testimony for HB2021 that was submitted by Marc Bennett, District Attorney, Eighteenth Judicial District.  (Attachment 25)

The meeting was adjourned at 2:56 PM.