Committee hears bill to fund juvenile residential beds and authorize KDOC to contract for at least 40 non‑foster placements

At a meeting of the Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice (date not specified), the committee held a hearing on House Bill 2329, which would increase placement options for juvenile offenders by authorizing the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) to contract for youth residential facility beds and to use up to $10 million per fiscal year from the Evidence Based Programs account to pay for them.

Jason Thompson, advisor from the Revisor's Office, briefed the committee on the bill’s structure. Thompson said the bill restores and amends portions of statutes that previously allowed placement in non‑foster residential beds, references K.S.A. 38‑23‑61 and related code sections, directs KDOC to follow specific court orders for placements, creates a rebuttable presumption for certain chronic offenders to be placed in residential facilities rather than the juvenile correctional facility, and would change the existing statutory contracting language so KDOC "shall contract for use of not less than 40 non‑foster home beds." Thompson said the bill would permit KDOC to use up to $10,000,000 in any fiscal year from the Evidence Based Programs account to contract for those beds.

Proponents described operational strains…