Jordan Bogie and Laurel Smith presented three legislative priorities from the Children’s Justice Center (CJC) during the Jan. 7 council meeting.

First, staff described a senate bill to expand the crime-of-endangerment statute to include fentanyl and synthetic opioids and to make child exposure to fentanyl a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Laurel Smith said the CJC has handled "a number of infant and toddler exposures" to fentanyl and that prosecutors lack a felony charge short of manslaughter for nonfatal exposures, limiting options to place people into longer treatment programs (SEG 2668–2698). Councilors signaled support and several gave a thumbs-up to track or support the bill should it be reintroduced.

Second, CJC asked the county to support aligning statutes of limitations for witness tampering and related offenses with expanded child-abuse statutes so prosecutors can charge abettors or those who silenced victims even when the primary disclosure is delayed (SEG 2726–2751). Staff said they will coordinate with the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and county lobbyists to explore drafting legislation.

Third, CJC requested consideration of statutory changes to require registered sex/offenders to provide additional reporting details (employer, school attendance, volunteer roles, contact information and vehicle information) so the sheriff’s office can meet its duty to notify schools when a registrant attends or works at an educational institution (SEG 2809–2860). Laurel Smith noted this proposal was prompted by a local news story about a youth football coach who was a registered offender whose status had not been apparent to the organization; councilors discussed concerns about privacy and downstream consequences for housing or employment and asked staff to follow up and coordinate drafting and outreach.

Councilors asked staff to track these items during the legislative session and to work with the county’s lobbyists and regional prosecuting- attorney networks on possible drafting support; no formal ordinance or county legislative position was adopted at the meeting.