Senate Bill No. 201, introduced by Senator Morris, amends the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding juvenile offender parole eligibility. The bill establishes that the primary purpose of the hearing is to determine whether a sentence will include parole eligibility. It requires the court to document the considerations and factual basis for its decision. Notably, the bill repeals the previous stipulation that sentences without parole eligibility should typically be reserved for the most severe offenders and cases.

Additionally, the proposed law mandates that a reviewing court must prioritize the information considered by the original trier of fact when evaluating the sentence. In instances where a juvenile offender was sentenced to death and the court previously rejected youth as a mitigating factor, the reviewing court is restricted from overriding the original judgment unless it can be demonstrated that the trier of fact clearly abused its discretion. This bill is set to take effect on August 1, 2026.