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Senate Judiciary Committee advances juvenile-justice bill with mandatory detention overrides and added crisis-services funding
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended House Bill 2329 as amended, adding automatic detention overrides for juveniles presented twice to intake within one year and folding in provisions from Senate Bill 414 to fund residential behavioral-health crisis services. The committee advanced the bill despite objections about assessment accuracy and concerns the measure could increase youth detention.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on an earlier agenda voted to recommend House Bill 2329 as amended, a package of juvenile-justice changes that adds mandatory overrides to the detention-risk assessment and incorporates funding pathways for residential crisis services.
Reviser testimony summarized HB 2329 as a bill that “requires the Department of Corrections to contract for a minimum number of beds in youth residential facilities” and allows courts to place juveniles directly in those facilities while making sentencing adjustments for offenses involving firearms. Committee members adopted an amendment that requires juvenile intake and assessment to place a juvenile in detention when the juvenile has been presented to intake twice within one year or when alleged to have possessed or used a firearm during an offense.
Proponents framed the amendment as a tool for at-risk youth. The chair described it as “an automatic override” to allow detention when the intake pattern indicates repeated contact in a year. Senator Titus, who moved the committee recommendation, said he supported the measure out of concern that the current system leaves gaps and that he was “unwilling to continue shifting this burden into our already strained foster care system.”
Opponents and skeptical members pressed on the assessment tool’s reliability. Senator Clays told the panel that the 2024 post-audit shows the assessment in use is “no better than a coin flip,” and proposed focusing on the section he said had predictive validity. Senator Corson warned that some changes in the bill risk “reopening group homes” and increasing case lengths from 45 to 90 days in ways he described as not evidence-based. Senator Haley repeatedly said she opposed putting more youths into detention where treatment might be preferred.
The chair also moved to insert the contents of Senate Bill 414 into HB 2329. Reviser testimony said SB 414 would authorize the Secretary of Corrections to enter memorandums of understanding with other cabinet secretaries to provide money from the evidence-based programs account to residential facilities that offer behavioral-health crisis intervention services. Supporters argued folding SB 414’s provisions into HB 2329 would expedite funding for crisis services; opponents said the bills were an awkward fit because the Department of Corrections had supported one measure but opposed the other.
After debate and several amendment votes, the committee voted to recommend HB 2329 as amended favorably for passage. The motion carried; Senator Haley asked to be recorded as voting no on the final recommendation.
What happens next: HB 2329, as amended, was sent forward by the Judiciary Committee for further consideration by the Senate. Any additional conference-stage changes or floor amendments could alter both the detention-override language and how the SB 414 funding provisions are implemented.
