LB687 LB687
2023 2023
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 687
Introduced by Cavanaugh, M., 6; McKinney, 11.
Read first time January 18, 2023
Committee: Judiciary
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to juveniles; to create and provide duties for
2 the Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body; to create the
3 Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data and Information System; and to
4 provide for reports.
5 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body is
2 created. The purpose of the governing body is to develop a plan to create
3 and sustain a unified juvenile justice and child welfare data system in
4 Nebraska which shall answer key questions about youth in the child
5 welfare and juvenile justice systems and guide future investment in
6 preventing involvement in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
7 Sec. 2. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body shall
8 consist of the following members:
9 (1) The Governor or the Governor's designee;
10 (2) The administrator in the State Department of Education
11 responsible for data, research, and evaluation or such administrator's
12 designee;
13 (3) The senior administrator in the State Department of Education
14 responsible for school attendance or such senior administrator's
15 designee;
16 (4) The data systems manager in the State Department of Education
17 responsible for the data system developed pursuant to sections 79-776,
18 85-110, and 85-309 and subdivision (20) of section 85-1511 or such data
19 systems manager's designee;
20 (5) The Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare or the Inspector
21 General's designee;
22 (6) The State Court Administrator or the administrator's designee;
23 (7) The executive director of the Foster Care Review Office or the
24 executive director's designee;
25 (8) A representative from an association of county officials
26 appointed by the Governor;
27 (9) The chief executive officer of the Department of Health and
28 Human Services or the chief executive officer's designee;
29 (10) The Director of Children and Family Services of the Division of
30 Children and Family Services of the Department of Health and Human
31 Services or the director's designee;
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1 (11) The administrator responsible for data, research, and
2 evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services or such
3 administrator's designee;
4 (12) The Director of Public Health of the Division of Public Health
5 of the Department of Health and Human Services or the director's
6 designee;
7 (13) The Director of the Community-based Juvenile Services Aid
8 Program or the director's designee;
9 (14) The director responsible for systems and research for the
10 Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice or such
11 director's designee;
12 (15) The director of the Office of Violence Prevention or the
13 director's designee;
14 (16) The deputy probation administrator or the deputy probation
15 administrator's designee;
16 (17) The director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Juvenile
17 Justice Institute, or the director's designee;
18 (18) The director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Center on
19 Children, Families, and the Law, or the director's designee;
20 (19) A representative from the University of Nebraska at Omaha,
21 School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, appointed by the Chancellor
22 of the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and
23 (20) The Chief Executive Officer of the Nebraska Health Information
24 Initiative or the chief executive officer's designee.
25 Sec. 3. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body shall
26 establish a Prevention and Early Intervention Governing Body, a Juvenile
27 Justice Systems and Facilities Governing Body, and a Data Sharing
28 Governing Body to assist with the work of the Nebraska Integrated
29 Juvenile Data Governing Body and to provide recommendations for the plan
30 required by section 5 of this act.
31 Sec. 4. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body may
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1 establish a separate management team and a separate technical assistance
2 team to support and assist in developing and drafting the plan required
3 by section 5 of this act.
4 Sec. 5. (1) The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body
5 shall propose a plan to develop the Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data and
6 Information System, a statewide education, juvenile justice, and child
7 welfare unified data system created pursuant to section 7 of this act.
8 The system shall include fully integrated data from the State Department
9 of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the case
10 management system used by the Community-based Juvenile Services Aid
11 Program, the juvenile probation system, juvenile detention centers, the
12 case management system used by the state trial courts, state and local
13 law enforcement agencies, the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and
14 Criminal Justice, and relevant data from county attorney offices to
15 improve the coordination and streamlining of services, guide resource
16 allocation, and provide greater accountability for investments in
17 juvenile justice and child welfare services.
18 (2) The plan required under subsection (1) of this section shall
19 also address the following data and information needs as identified by
20 the governing body:
21 (a) Identification and approval of the demographic and outcome
22 variables that will be integrated into the Nebraska Integrated Juvenile
23 Data System from each agency or organization, including, but not limited
24 to, outcome variables that measure whether juvenile prevention and
25 intervention services are evidence-based or research-based, whether there
26 are racial and ethnic disparities at each system point, and whether the
27 juvenile justice system is effectively processing cases;
28 (b) Unique identifiers that allow individual youth data to be
29 matched across systems for the purpose of research and evaluation;
30 (c) Common data definitions and standards and data audits to ensure
31 the validity of the data;
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1 (d) Secure data storage and a process for requesting de-identified
2 individual youth data for the purposes of research and evaluation;
3 (e) A process for making current aggregate data publicly available
4 online;
5 (f) Administrative safeguards to ensure effective and appropriate
6 use of data by multiple agencies in a manner that ensures professional
7 privacy and privacy for children, families, and programs; and
8 (g) Current integrated juvenile justice and juvenile justice-related
9 data systems in Nebraska, including, but not limited to, the community-
10 based aid utilization and evaluation data stored and maintained pursuant
11 to section 43-2404.02, the Justice Data Transformation System, and the
12 Nebraska Health Information Initiative statewide health information
13 exchange.
14 Sec. 6. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data Governing Body shall
15 report to the Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature and
16 the Judiciary Committee of the Legislature on its activities on or before
17 January 1, 2025, and on or before July 1, 2025. The governing body shall
18 complete the plan required by section 5 of this act and submit a report
19 to the Governor and electronically to the Legislature on or before July
20 1, 2026.
21 Sec. 7. The Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data and Information
22 System shall be created pursuant to sections 1 to 8 of this act and use
23 of the system shall begin on July 1, 2025. In the first year, individual-
24 level juvenile justice data, including diversion, courts, probation, and
25 detention, shall be integrated with individual-level data from the
26 Department of Health and Human Services and Foster Care Review Office. In
27 the second year, individual-level data from the State Department of
28 Education shall be integrated into the Nebraska Juvenile Justice
29 Information System. In the third year, individual-level health data shall
30 be integrated into the Nebraska Integrated Juvenile Data and Information
31 System.
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1 Sec. 8. (1) The University of Nebraska at Omaha, Juvenile Justice
2 Institute, shall manage the Nebraska Juvenile Justice Information System.
3 The Juvenile Justice Institute shall maintain current publicly available
4 data online to allow users to answer basic questions regarding system-
5 involved youth and various policy initiatives using data and information
6 from the Nebraska Juvenile Justice Information System. The Juvenile
7 Justice Institute shall provide training and technical assistance
8 statewide on data collection.
9 (2) The Juvenile Justice Institute may be directed by the Executive
10 Board of the Legislative Council to conduct research and evaluation on
11 relevant policy questions at the request of members of the Legislature.
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