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Senate finance committee adopts committee substitute for HB 239, adds parole-board changes and address confidentiality program
Summary
The Senate Finance Committee adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 239 (public safety omnibus), adding an address confidentiality program, parole-board membership and qualification changes, a tribal liaison in the Department of Corrections and targeted technical fixes; the CS was set aside for further consideration.
The Senate Finance Committee on May 16 adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 239 and set the bill aside for further consideration.
Liz Harpold, staff to Senator Olsen and the Finance Committee, summarized the changes in Version W. She said the CS adds new definitions (including theft in the third degree), inserts an Address Confidentiality Program for survivors and certain public-safety personnel, and creates a tribal liaison position within the Department of Corrections.
"This is a very collaborative process between members of this body and the Department of Law," Harpold said as she walked committee members through the sections. She said the CS also incorporates portions of SB 62 and includes technical corrections flagged by the Department of Law.
The CS amends parole-board provisions in sections 68–71, specifying member qualifications and instituting two-term limits; Harpold said the CS adds one member with medical licensure (physician/psychologist/psychiatrist), one member with personal or professional experience in substance-use disorders, and one member from a federally recognized tribe while retaining district representation and a member experienced in criminal justice.
When Senator Cronk asked how the phrase "age at the time of the offense" in Section 72 should be interpreted, the committee called Casey Schroeder, Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, to the table. Schroeder said the phrasing derives from case law, citing Fletcher v. State, and explained the court's guidance that sentencing and parole decisions for people who were juveniles when they offended should consider maturity and the circumstances at the time of the offense.
Schroeder said the court has directed sentencing courts and parole boards to factor those considerations into discretionary parole decisions for juveniles sentenced as adults.
Other changes in the CS include exemptions for employees of some technology companies in handling child sexual abuse material when their work requires limited distribution to detect and remove such material, and tightened eligibility language for medical release and electronic-monitoring provisions. Harpold described changes to the parole-board statutory language and several technical corrections throughout the bill.
After questions and explanations from staff and Department of Law counsel, chair removed his objection, and "seeing none, the CS is adopted," the committee reported. The committee set HB 239 aside for further consideration later in the process.
What happens next: HB 239 remains before the Senate Finance Committee as the adopted Version W CS; the committee did not take a recorded roll-call vote during the session and left the bill for future action.
