Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
03/08/2018 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB358 | |
| HB351 | |
| HB193 | |
| HB336 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 358 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 351 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 193 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 336 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 351-JUVENILES: JUSTICE,FACILITES,TREATMENT
3:36:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 351, "An Act relating to care of
juveniles and to juvenile justice; relating to employment of
juvenile probation officers by the Department of Health and
Social Services; relating to terms used in juvenile justice;
relating to mandatory reporters of child abuse or neglect;
relating to adjudication of minor delinquency and the
deoxyribonucleic acid identification registration system;
relating to sexual assault in the third degree; relating to
sexual assault in the fourth degree; repealing a requirement for
administrative revocation of a minor's driver's license, permit,
privilege to drive, or privilege to obtain a license for
consumption or possession of alcohol or drugs; and providing for
an effective date."
3:37:39 PM
MATT DAVIDSON, Social Services Program Officer, Division of
Juvenile Justice, Department of Health and Social Services,
stated that the proposed bill was an update for the terms used
in the juvenile justice statute to describe the facilities and
staff. Most of the bill applied to conforming changes
throughout the statutes, and not for actual changes to meaning,
or changes to the powers or duties of the Division of Justice.
He listed some of the outdated terms used in statute, which
included juvenile work camps and detention homes, noting that
these were being updated with modern terms to describe the
facilities. He stated that the definition for juvenile
probation officer was being updated, as well as providing a
delineation between adult and juvenile probation officers in
statute. He pointed out that the proposed bill added juvenile
justice staff and probation officers as mandatory reporters of
child abuse and neglect in AS 47.17. He stated that this
reflected a role of the staff in working with kids, as they were
often disclosing this type of activity, which would be reported
to the Office of Children's Services.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR clarified that this was current policy and
was now being written into statute.
3:39:38 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR opened public testimony and after
ascertaining no one wished to testify, closed public testimony
on HB 351.
3:40:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR moved to adopt proposed Amendment 1, labeled
30-LS0416\R.1, Glover, 2/28/18, which read:
Page 13, lines 6 - 7:
Delete "the minor is not in sight or sound of
adult prisoners, and"
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN objected for discussion.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR explained that proposed Amendment 1
addressed page 13, lines 6 - 7, of the proposed bill in which
youth could be detained in a temporary secure holding area. She
stated that removal of this language could be problematic for
these temporary secure holding areas.
3:41:40 PM
MR. DAVIDSON clarified that this section of the bill was in the
delinquency statute and, while drafting it, the separation of
sight and sound had been added to the wrong place. He explained
that currently this applied to youth in the custody of the
Department of Corrections, as explained in lines 18 and 21. He
stated that the intent of the bill was not for the Department of
Corrections to have sight and sound separation for those
individuals and that it was not required by law.
3:42:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN removed his objection. There being no
further objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
3:42:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN moved to adopt proposed Amendment 2,
labeled 30-LS-0416\R.2, Laffen, 3/8/18, which read:
Page 18, line 21, through page 19, line 13:
Delete all material and insert:
"* Sec. 38. AS 47.17.020(a) is amended to read:
(a) The following persons who, in the
performance of their occupational duties or [,] their
appointed duties under (8) of this subsection, [OR
THEIR VOLUNTEER DUTIES UNDER (9) OF THIS SUBSECTION,]
have reasonable cause to suspect that a child has
suffered harm as a result of child abuse or neglect
shall immediately report the harm to the nearest
office of the department:
(1) practitioners of the healing arts;
(2) school teachers and school
administrative staff members, including athletic
coaches, of public and private schools;
(3) peace officers and officers of the
Department of Corrections;
(4) administrative officers of
institutions;
(5) child care providers;
(6) paid employees of domestic violence and
sexual assault programs, and crisis intervention and
prevention programs as defined in AS 18.66.990;
(7) paid employees of an organization that
provides counseling or treatment to individuals
seeking to control their use of drugs or alcohol;
(8) members of a child fatality review team
established under AS 12.65.015(e) or 12.65.120 or the
multidisciplinary child protection team created under
AS 47.14.300;
(9) juvenile probation officers, juvenile
probation office staff, and staff of juvenile
detention facilities and juvenile treatment
facilities, as those terms are defined in AS 47.12.990
[VOLUNTEERS WHO INTERACT WITH CHILDREN IN A PUBLIC OR
PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR MORE THAN FOUR HOURS A WEEK]."
Page 19, following line 13:
Insert a new bill section to read:
"* Sec. 39. AS 47.17.022(e) is amended to read:
(e) Each school district that provides training
under this section shall provide notice to public and
private schools located in the school district of the
availability of the training [AND INVITE VOLUNTEERS
WHO ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT ABUSE OR NEGLECT OF
CHILDREN UNDER AS 47.17.020 TO PARTICIPATE IN THE
TRAINING AT NO COST TO THE VOLUNTEER]."
Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.
Page 19, line 15:
Delete "and 47.14.990(9)"
Insert ", 47.14.990(9); and AS 47.17.020(j)"
Page 19, line 31:
Delete "Section 41"
Insert "Section 42"
REPRESENTATIVE TARR objected.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN explained that proposed Amendment 2 would
protect the treatment of volunteers and recognize them as not
paid and not receiving direct benefits for their service. He
stated that the current proposal would allow that volunteers
were criminally liable for not reporting under the mandatory
reporter requirement. He said that the proposed amendment would
not limit a volunteer's ability to make a report. He stated
that making a volunteer criminally liable just for their
volunteer work would result in fewer volunteers.
3:44:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR shared a provision from House Bill 44 that
had been added to statute in 2015. She noted that there had
been a lot of discussion for this provision, and that the
provision had been added because of some very high-profile
incidences for individuals abusing children. She stated that
this was an attempt to create a better system, and it only
applied to those who volunteered for more than four hours each
week. She pointed out that it was important for these longer-
term volunteers to have the training as their behavior and their
recognition of other behavior would be enhanced. She shared
that, although she frequently received communication regarding
this bill, she had not heard of any issues with this provision.
She declared that she was not supportive of the proposed
amendment. She pointed out that the proposed bill was focused
on updates to the Division of Juvenile Justice statutes, and
that the mandatory reporter provisions were specific to juvenile
probation.
3:47:34 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked whether volunteers were
already covered for liability.
MR. DAVIDSON explained that the volunteers referenced in the
proposed amendment were not specific to Juvenile Justice
volunteers. He noted that the proposed bill added juvenile
justice officers and juvenile probation staff to the mandatory
reporting requirement. He deferred to Representative Tarr for a
better understanding of the mandatory reporter statute. He
pointed out that the Office of Children's Services administered
the mandatory reporter training.
REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD stated her understanding that
there was liability coverage for volunteers and asked for a
comparison of the description beginning on page 18, line 22 of
the proposed bill with the proposed Amendment 2.
MR. DAVIDSON said that he was not familiar with liability
coverage for volunteers.
3:49:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR opined that volunteers were covered through
the school district and elsewhere.
3:50:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN reported that, as a mandatory reporter in
his role as a firefighter for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough,
they regularly received this training. He stated that proposed
Amendment 2 recognized that volunteers should be treated
separately than those who were paid. He offered his belief that
"telling someone who's abusing a child that they need to report
the abuse of that child is not going to have much of an effect
on stopping that abuse. I think if someone already violating
the law ... probably isn't going to change much." He said that
it would impact those who were recruiting volunteers to work
with children, as many volunteers would not sign up under a
condition of liability. He pointed out that liability insurance
would protect against a civil suit, but proposed Amendment 2
would protect against criminal sanctions. He stated that this
amendment was not limiting the ability to report anything that
was of concern or limiting the training offered.
3:52:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR maintained her objection.
3:52:29 PM
A roll call vote was taken. Representative Eastman (via
teleconference) voted in favor of proposed Amendment 2.
Representatives Sullivan-Leonard, Claman (alternate), Kito,
Edgmon, Johnston, and Tarr voted against it. Therefore,
Amendment 2 failed by a vote of 1 yea - 6 nays.
3:53:29 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON moved to report HB 351, Version 30-
LS0416\R, as amended, out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being
no objection, CSHB 351(HSS) was moved from the House Health and
Social Services Standing Committee.