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Committee advances restorative-workforce bill to codify documents for youth exiting state custody
Summary
House Bill 2361, an iteration of the "Successful Adulthood" / Sarastid Act presented by Representative Hill, was advanced 5-0. The bill codifies provision of IDs, transcripts, diplomas and health-insurance information for young people leaving DHS and OJA custody and updates the age threshold to align with federal guidance.
A House Human Services subcommittee voted 5-0 to advance House Bill 2361 — described by the sponsor as the next step in the restorative workforce effort — which codifies procedures that provide crucial documents to young people leaving Department of Human Services (DHS) custody and juvenile corrections (OJA).
Sponsor Representative Hill said the bill codifies work DHS and OJA already provide to youth aging out of foster care or leaving juvenile custody: issuing state identification, educational transcripts, diplomas, professional certifications and health insurance information. The bill retains an age threshold of 16 in current statutory language rather than reverting to 14; the sponsor said he and DHS will monitor federal regulation and could amend to 14 if federal guidance changes.
Representative Hill described measurable effects tied to prior efforts: earlier programs increased the number of state-issued IDs provided to people exiting incarceration from roughly 900 to nearly 3,000, which Hill said supports faster job placement and reduces recidivism. He and other members cited improvements in foster care counts compared with prior years, and noted roughly 400 youth age out of foster care annually with a historically high propensity to enter adult incarceration.
Committee members praised the bill as a low-cost intervention intended to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for youth. The subcommittee gave the bill a do-pass recommendation by recorded vote, 5 yes, 0 no. The bill will proceed with the committee's recommendation to the next legislative step.
