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Children's Commission outlines youth-justice priorities, flags bills on visitation, expungement and online harms
Summary
The Children's Commission reviewed several juvenile-justice bills — including a Foster Youth Bill of Rights, Senate Bill 111 on detention visitation, House Bill 1118 on expungement and proposals to criminalize doxing — and urged careful drafting and stakeholder engagement to avoid unintended consequences for youth and courts.
The Children's Commission and Justice Oversight Committee spent the opening portion of the meeting reviewing legislative work affecting youth justice, with an emphasis on codifying rights for foster youth and avoiding administrative burdens on courts.
Justice Kenworthy said the commission has advanced a Foster Youth Bill of Rights and a Foster Parent Bill of Rights that would codify existing practices and elevate protections for those groups. He said the commission is also continuing to build support for Senate Bill 111, which would set baseline visitation and phone access for youth in detention; the bill did not receive a hearing this year but the commission plans to reintroduce it next session.
"It's always disappointing when we don't get a hearing on them so we can start introducing the issue," Kenworthy said, urging stakeholders to be prepared earlier in the calendar next year so legislators have time to review new topics.
Members discussed House Bill 1118, a broad expungement bill moving through committees, and cautioned lawmakers to use precise terms. Kenworthy warned that the bill sometimes uses "arrest" and "charged" interchangeably and said that could create administrative headaches for juvenile records systems and courts if cause numbers and categories are not entered consistently.
On funding and court infrastructure, the commission reported an internal discovery that an umbrella problem-solving courts fund had been coded as reverting; the error was corrected so the fund is nonreverting. Members noted questions remain about whether newer revenue streams — specifically opioid settlement dollars — could flow into that fund without additional statutory language.
The commission also discussed a large omnibus bill (House Bill 1003) that includes language affecting the Kids First Trust Fund and the board that oversees those license-plate prevention funds. Kenworthy said the commission will monitor conference committee changes as omnibus language evolves.
A cluster of proposals on bullying and online safety drew substantive debate. Several members expressed concern about criminalizing common youth behavior, especially proposals to make "doxing" a specific criminal offense for sharing another person's personally identifiable information with intent to harm. The group discussed the trade-offs between giving prosecutors tools to address harmful conduct and the risk of sweeping impulsive youth behavior into the criminal system.
"We have to be mindful we could be criminalizing a behavior that a large number of youth simply haven't been educated about," Kenworthy said, urging caution and more youth-informed solutions.
What happens next: the commission plans to rework and resubmit stalled bills (including SB111) next session, solicit stakeholder letters of support where helpful, and continue reviewing technical tweaks to expungement and other bills to reduce burdens on courts.
