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Committee advances code cleanup to streamline foster-care timelines and add kinship language
Summary
The committee sent Senate Bill 1266 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Sponsor Representative Healy said the bill corrects prior code language to restore 12-month timelines and adds kinship placement language; members sought clarification about the perceived shortening from 15 to 12 months.
Senate Bill 1266, described by sponsor Representative Healy as a technical cleanup to existing foster-care statutes, was advanced to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation.
Healy told the committee the bill removes an instruction that judges "expedite" placements for those 18 and older, inserts kinship-placement language to encourage placement with relatives or trusted community members, and corrects code references that should have read 12 months rather than 15. "That's actually a code cleanup," Healy said, adding the change restores intended statutory language.
Representative Kaler asked whether reducing a 15-month reference to 12 months effectively shortens the timeline for filing petitions to terminate parental rights. Healy replied the change aligns text with existing code and was not intended to accelerate termination timelines beyond current law. After limited questions and clarifications, the committee voted by voice to send SB 1266 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.
