On January 21, 2020, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 335 authored by Sen. Young and Sen. Brown regarding criminal law issues. The bill provides that, if certain criminal penalties are increased (or, in the case of an infraction, imposed) due to a prior conviction or infraction committed by a defendant, the new offense must have been committed not later than seven years from t … [Read more...] about Criminal law issues
Child services oversight
The Senate Family and Children Services Committee heard SB 345 on creating a committee to for child services oversight for the Department of Child Services (DCS). Author Sen. Houchin introduced this legislation and noted the numbers of children who died recently, the amount of money allocated to DCS, the number of employees, and the number of calls to the hotline as part of the reaso … [Read more...] about Child services oversight
Immunity for child and family services providers
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 363 on immunity for child and family services providers. The bill is authored by Sen. Donato and Sen. Houchin and provides, with some exceptions, civil immunity to nongovernmental entities that contract with the department of child services and employees of nongovernmental entities that contract with the department of child services who act wi … [Read more...] about Immunity for child and family services providers
Concurrent criminal jurisdiction for the attorney general
The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 436 on concurrent criminal jurisdiction for the attorney general authored by Sen. Young. The bill grants the attorney general concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute certain crimes if the prosecuting attorney refuses as a matter of policy to prosecute those crimes, establishes a procedure for the attorney general to assume juris … [Read more...] about Concurrent criminal jurisdiction for the attorney general
Juveniles
The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law committee heard SB 449 on juveniles. The bill is authored by Sen. Houchin and does the following: for certain serious offenses committed by a juvenile: (1) reduces the minimum age for committing the child to the department of correction from 13 to 12; (2) adds an attempt to commit certain serious offenses to the list of serious offenses; and … [Read more...] about Juveniles