(March 6, 2023) - Today the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met, chaired by Senator Beverly Gossage (R-Eudora).  The committee held a hearing on House Bill 2033. The bill, which previously passed the House on a vote of 123-0, would change the criteria used to admit youths to a juvenile crisis intervention center by adding definitions for “behavioral health crisis” and changing the phrase “mental health crisis” to “behavioral health crisis” in multiple statutes. The bill would amend statutes relating to law enforcement officers taking children or juveniles into custody and the court directing temporary custody to refer to behavioral health crisis instead of mental health crisis.  This bill would amend the statute establishing juvenile crisis intervention centers to add substance abuse services to the services to be provided by a juvenile crisis center. The bill also would add a behavioral health condition as a reason a juvenile could be determined to be likely to cause harm to self or others. Finally, this bill would amend the evidence-based programs account statute to allow money in the account to be used for juveniles experiencing behavioral health crisis instead of experiencing mental health crisis.

Written proponents included:

• Tim DeWeese, Director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center
  

• Tanya Keys, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Children and Families and Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services
  

• Rachel Marsh, CEO of Children’s Alliance of Kansas

Nick Reiecker joined the committee virtually as an opponent, and questioned the constitutionality.

The chair closed the hearing and the committee will meet tomorrow, March 7.