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LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 226
Introduced by Quick, 35.
Read first time January 14, 2019
Committee: Appropriations
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to appropriations; to state intent relating to
2 appropriations for the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-
3 Kearney and the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Geneva.
4 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to appropriate
2 $3,948,965 from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human
3 Services, for Program 250, for the purpose of hiring and training staff
4 at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Kearney and the Youth
5 Rehabilitation and Treatment Center-Geneva to maintain (1) a youth-staff
6 ratio of no greater than eight to one at any time without use of
7 mandatory overtime, (2) evidence-based programming and mental health
8 treatment for youth while committed, and (3) re-entry planning and
9 transition supports and services for the youth exiting treatment at these
10 centers.
11 A portion of such appropriation shall also be used by the Department
12 of Health and Human Services to contract with an academic institution to
13 complete an independent evaluation of the Youth Rehabilitation and
14 Treatment Center-Kearney and the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment
15 Center-Geneva on the evidence-based spectrum.
16 Such evaluation shall assess the existence and role of the
17 facilities in an evidence-based juvenile justice system, whether the
18 programs and operations of the facilities are evidence-based, whether the
19 facilities improve short-term and long-term public safety, whether the
20 facilities effectively address the needs of committed youth, and whether
21 commitment reduces the risk that a youth will reoffend.
22 Evaluation measures shall include, but not be limited to:
23 (1) Measures of youth and staff safety during the period of
24 commitment;
25 (2) Educational, vocational, or educational and vocational
26 attainment of youth during the period of commitment;
27 (3) Educational, vocational, or educational and vocational
28 attainment of youth subsequent to release from commitment;
29 (4) The outcome of the juvenile court case under which commitment
30 was ordered, including whether completion of juvenile probation is
31 successful or unsuccessful; and
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1 (5) Recidivism rates of committed youth in the three years following
2 release from commitment which include the following information:
3 (a) Subsequent adjudications in juvenile court;
4 (b) Subsequent criminal convictions in county or district court; and
5 (c) For any sentence of incarceration in county or district court,
6 the length of sentence ordered to be served.
7 The department shall enter into such contract in FY2019-20 and
8 evaluation shall begin no later than FY2020-21. The department shall
9 electronically transmit the evaluation to the Health and Human Services
10 Committee of the Legislature.
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