SESSION OF 2023
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2033
As Amended by Senate Committee on Public
Health and Welfare

Brief*
HB 2033, as amended, 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 also would make technical changes.

Definition of Behavioral Health Crisis (Sections 1-6)
The bill would define “behavioral health crisis” in the
Revised Kansas Code for Care of Children to mean
“behavioral and conduct issues that impact the safety or
health of a child, members of the child’s household or family
or members of the community, including, but not limited to,
non-life threatening mental health and substance abuse
concerns.” A definition identical except for “juvenile” rather
than “child” would be added to the Revised Kansas Juvenile
Justice Code and to a statute regarding juvenile crisis
intervention centers.
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.

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*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
Juvenile Crisis Intervention Centers (Section 6)
The 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.

Evidence-based Programs Account (Section 7)
The 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.

Background
The bill was introduced by the House Committee on
Corrections and Juvenile Justice at the request of
Representative Owens.

House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice
In the House Committee hearing on January 23, 2023,
representatives of Johnson County Mental Health Center and
Children’s Alliance of Kansas provided proponent testimony,
stating the bill would allow for more interventions for youth in
crisis and close a gap between youth exhibiting “severe
behaviors” and receiving services.
The Deputy Secretary for Children and Families and for
Aging and Disability Services provided written-only
proponent testimony stating the definition will provide
flexibility for juvenile crisis intervention centers to serve youth.
No other testimony was provided.

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Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare
In the Senate Committee hearing on March 6, 2023, the
Deputy Secretary for Children and Families and for Aging and
Disability Services and representatives of the Children’s
Alliance of Kansas and Johnson County Mental Health
Center provided written-only proponent testimony generally
stating that replacing the definition of “mental health” with
“behavioral health” will provide flexibility for juvenile crisis
intervention centers to serve youth with in a behavioral health
crisis, including substance use disorder.
Opponent testimony was provided by a private citizen
who stated the term “behavioral health crisis” and “substance
use related services” were too broadly defined and could
result in violations of both natural and constitutional rights, as
pertaining to the seizure of individuals, their detainment,
assessment, and billable treatment.
No other testimony was provided.
The Senate Committee amended the bill to correct the
alphabetical order of definitions.

Fiscal Information
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
Budget, enactment of the bill, as introduced, would have
negligible fiscal effect on the Judicial Branch, and no fiscal
effect on the Department of Health and Environment,
Department for Children and Families, or Department of
Corrections. Any fiscal effect associated with the bill is not
reflected in The FY 2024 Governor’s Budget Report.
Behavioral health; mental health; juvenile justice, child in need of care; Department
for Children and Families; juvenile crisis intervention center; substance abuse;
evidence-based programs account; Revised Kansas Code for Care of Children;
Revised Kansas Juvenile Justice Code


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Statutes affected:
As introduced: 38-2202, 38-2231, 38-2243, 38-2302, 38-2330, 65-536, 72-3120, 38-2232, 38-2277, 75-52
As Amended by Senate Committee: 38-2202, 38-2231, 38-2243, 38-2302, 38-2330, 65-536, 72-3120, 38-2232, 38-2277, 75-52