Committee debates staffing expansion for Child and Family Ombudsman office; lawmakers split on cost

Senate Bill 250, sponsored by Senator Dennis Lenz, would expand the Child and Family Ombudsman office by adding intake specialists, an associate ombudsman and research/data analysts to allow the office to analyze statutory reporting and produce systemic reviews.

Ombudsman Kaci Gaub-Bruno told the committee the office currently operates with only one staffer and has a backlog of cases (36 waiting for review; a record month produced 27 referrals). She said the office receives about 5,000 discrete data items per year from Child and Family Services and that additional staff would allow the office to analyze data and produce statutorily required reports.

Committee members questioned whether the requested staffing was too large, whether functions overlapped with CPS or the public defender system, and how appropriations would be handled (the bill contains no direct appropriation; fiscal notes indicate costs if the positions are funded later). Senator Lenz said DOJ leadership helped define the FTE package and argued that stronger oversight is needed because the office had been "languishing." He said the expansion would allow the ombudsman to appear more effectively in court and to conduct independent investigations.

Members adopted a conceptual amendment to halve the requested FTEs (roll call: 13 ayes, 9 no). Later the committee accepted a conceptual amendment striking the word "outreach" from the intake specialist title (roll call: 16 yes, 6 no). On the final motion to pass SB250 as amended the committee vote failed (10 yes, 12 no) and the chair tabled the bill.

Outcome: The committee did not advance SB250 after amendments and the item was tabled for further work; sponsors and DOJ offered to refine position descriptions and fiscal details.