Committee advances bill requiring warrants for CPS child removals; fiscal note flags overtime assumptions

Senator Emerich, sponsor: "Senate Bill 50 provides for making sure that CPS is seeking warrants when they are removing a child. The fiscal note has a $362,000 initial cost." Senator Emerich opened the hearing on Senate Bill 50 and described the bill's purpose: to require Child Protective Services to seek warrants when removing children.

Nut graf: Committee discussion centered on the fiscal-note assumptions used to calculate a $362,000 initial cost, specifically an assumption that each warrant-related removal would require seven hours of work billed at overtime (time-and-a-half). Sponsors and administrators differed on the correct time estimate and whether the overtime assumption is appropriate; committee members pressed program staff on the waiting time and field conditions that drive costs.

Nikki Grossberg, division administrator for Child and Family Services, explained the fiscal-note assumptions. Grossberg said the note estimates an additional two hours to write a warrant plus about five hours waiting for approval: "that 5 hours would be waiting for approval for that warrant to be able to be issued. It was an estimate not knowing exactly what this process would look like, how often judges would be available." She added that in some communities judges might be available within an hour or two and in others it could be 10 hours.

Sponsor and committee concerns: Senator Emerich and other senators questioned the overtime assumption. Emerich called the overtime estimate "probably an inaccurate assumption" and suggested average actual time in the field could be "3 to 5 hours, for actual time." Senator McGillivray and others pressed staff for operational details about whether staff would be idle while waiting or performing other tasks; Jared Grama clarified that removals in the field could require staff to remain on location and not be available for other duties: "Because it based on that, they could be in the field waiting. They wouldn't be doing something else."

Informational testimony: Brian Smith from the Office of the State Public Defender appeared informationally. Committee members did not receive proponents online; no opponents in the room were recorded.

Executive action: The committee moved to give Senate Bill 50 a do-pass recommendation in executive action. The transcript records the bill as having "passed unanimously" in Finance and Claims and sent back to the originating chamber (noted as returning to second because the committee amended language during deliberations). The fiscal note's assumptions and the practical question of whether waiting time should be compensated at overtime rates were left as implementation and fiscal issues for further review.

Ending: Senator Emerich closed by noting the process is new for CPS and that the estimate may be adjusted in the interim; the committee advanced the bill to the next step in the legislative process.