Sedgwick County commissioners back testimony to restore limited juvenile offender beds

Commissioner Howe told the Sedgwick County Commission he will testify in Topeka in support of Senate Bill 367, a proposal to restore a limited number of state-funded criminogenic juvenile-offender beds and asked the commission to endorse his testimony.

"It does take some of the savings that came from those changes back in 2016, and it spends them to create, if you will, a limited number of beds," Commissioner Howe said, describing the bill as "in concert with the community-based programming efforts of our state." He added: "It's a state cost if they would do this."

Howe said judges and local corrections officials have been constrained by changes made in 2016 and that having some state-funded placements would give courts and providers more options. "Right now, there are 0 beds in the state for this purpose, and, that's not the right number. So I think everybody agrees with that," he said.

Howe told the commission the amount available to the state for such programs has grown and was described in his testimony as "north of $50,000,000" and possibly "as much as 50 or 60 or even $70,000,000." He said the proposal would use state funds rather than create a new county expense. "I'm not asking for the state to put the monkey on our back here at Sedgwick County to spend another million dollars or $2,000,000 a year," he said.

Chairman and fellow commissioners expressed personal support and, when Howe asked whether he could say the full commission supported his testimony, the panel indicated consensus backing. The commission also received a scheduling update from staff: the juvenile-offender bill testimony was moved to Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

The commission did not take a formal recorded vote; staff and commissioners framed the exchange as an expression of support and permission for Howe to say the commission supports his testimony. No changes to county policy or budgeting were proposed by the commission during the discussion.