Legislative Alert: Stop SB 200 -- moving fast, call today
SB 200: Juvenile System Overhaul
WHY: The state takes more authority from the parents.
Call now: 1-800-372-7181
Message is for your senator and senate leadership:
"Oppose SB 200. Keep the elected court handling our juveniles with discipline and not undermining the family structure."
DETAILS:
This legislation was initially filed as a technical correction and nothing more.Then came over 100 page replacement last week with 2 discussions. It is now on the floor and flying, and so far we've been unable to get the details together in time to take solid action. Today may be our opportunity to break it up.
Synopsis: this is a 3-strikes-you're-out style bill (except about 20 strikes) that does not just have 1 major problem rather many little problems that snowball into a big bad bill.
Juvenile Justice reform is on the fast-track in many states all around the nation. Many major groups are pushing it nationwide and in the words of the ACLU this may be the biggest bill of the year.
PROBLEMS:
It locks in juvenile justice to things like:
Get kids out of detention and local court and on to case panels and shelters
Leave decisions to state-appointed bureaucrat-style committees rather than a judge and elected official
Sets up incentive money to show adherence to the new programming (could be federal funds dropped in because where in the state budget do we have money? supposedly this is going to save money but that is more like an excuse to appease conservatives to pass the bill)
We're dealing with family-related trouble with a layered up system of talking kids into doing right vs. the old method of discipline. These will be called "family accountability, intervention, and response teams." Since when did the government need to intervene in the family? We need to be strengthening parental authority, not diminishing it.
Here are some of the kids that we will add to the list of needing intervention: "Child with a behavioral health need" means a child with or at risk of developing an emotional disability, substance abuse disorder, or mental, emotional, or behavioral needs.
Who isn't included in that?
NOTE: In these last two weeks of regular session, alerts will come fast and furious. Please act -- we only have a short time to stop the bad bills! Thank you for participating in your freedom.