Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Witnesses tell Senate Judiciary H.105 would streamline youth diversion; urge adding cannabis and 0.02 citations
Summary
Three witnesses told the Senate Judiciary Committee that H.105 would reduce confusion and speed interventions by moving some underage alcohol and cannabis matters into the Youth Substance Assessment Services (YSAS) civil process, and urged the committee to add cannabis and 0.02 BAC citations to the bill.
On April 22, the Senate Judiciary Committee received testimony on H.105, a bill that would change how certain underage alcohol citations are handled by allowing Youth Substance Assessment Services (YSAS) to receive referrals now routed to juvenile delinquency or family court.
Supporters told the committee the change would speed services, reduce court involvement and reduce confusion for youth, families and law enforcement. Meg Rizzo, executive director of the Washington Hennie Diversion program, testified that separate processes for 16-year-olds and other youth create practical problems for officers and families and slow timely access to services. “It just prolongs that, and there's extra steps, which can be really confusing for parents and especially when they're seeing their peers have a completely separate process that looks different,” Rizzo said.
YSAS would handle some matters as civil violations instead of delinquency referrals, proponents said,…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
