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Senate approves compromise on youth-corrections training; amendment to require POST certification fails
Summary
After a lengthy floor fight, the Senate rejected an amendment to require full POST certification for youth correctional officers but passed House Bill 191 (correctional officer amendments), following arguments over safety, fiscal cost, and retirement implications.
House Bill 191, described on the floor as correctional officer amendments informed by a juvenile-justice task force, drew extended debate over whether youth correctional officers should be required to obtain POST (peace officer standards and training) certification and how that would affect retirement eligibility.
Senator May, offering an amendment, said the amendment extended the POST requirement and explicitly addressed pension implications, arguing the front-line risks faced by youth correction counselors justified the training. “The people who interface, the people who deal with the day-to-day confrontation with violent youth need to be POST certified,” May said, urging the body to provide tools and training to protect staff and the public.
Senator Hilliard and other opponents said the amendment would create disruptive fiscal and personnel consequences. Hilliard warned the change could “take all of them out of their retirement” and called the proposed fiscal impact — which speakers placed in the millions — unacceptable. He urged a more gradual approach and defended the committee’s compromise as balancing safety and fiscal reality.
Senator Maine and others described violent incidents faced by correctional staff and urged better training; supporters asked to hear from front-line officers. A motion to take the amendment to a committee of the whole failed. The amendment itself failed on a roll call (11 ayes, 18 nays), after which supporters of the underlying bill defended the committee compromise. The Senate then passed House Bill 191 on final roll call (18 ayes, 11 nays, recorded as passage to the House for enrollment).
What changed and next steps: The final text as adopted keeps the bill’s committee compromise rather than imposing full POST certification and clarifies that the youth-corrections employees remain ineligible for the public-safety noncontributory retirement act under a provision cited in the floor amendment explanation. The bill will be transmitted to the House for final signature and enrollment.
