Commission withdraws support for amended HB 3402; commissioners urge caution on bill that would reassign OCCY functions in SB 1570

The commission voted unanimously to withdraw its prior support for the House floor'amended language in House Bill 3402 after staff and commissioners raised concerns about operational liability and ambiguities in language governing when the agency may notify law enforcement about a complainant who expresses threats.

Marsha Johnson, the commission's legislative lead, summarized the bill history: the commission originally asked for language authorizing the Office of Juvenile System Oversight (OJSO) to notify law enforcement if a complainant communicated an explicit threat; the House floor amendment substantially broadened and reworded that approach, adding qualifiers such as whether a threat was "credible" or "imminent." Commissioners questioned how staff would judge credibility in the moment, whether the change created civil-liability exposure for the agency or director, and whether internal policy and training could adequately mitigate risk.

By motion and roll call the commission withdrew support for the bill as amended and directed staff to seek clarifying language or consider starting over next legislative session. The roll call on the motion recorded the commissioners present voting in favor.

Separately, commissioners discussed Senate Bill 1570, a substitute that would create a Department of Child Safety and Well-being and fold DHS child-welfare functions and the Office of Juvenile Affairs under a new agency. A late floor amendment also proposed moving some OCCY oversight functions to the Office of Client Advocacy at the state Department of Health. Commissioners uniformly urged caution: many expressed that oversight and investigative capacity should remain independent from service delivery, that staffing and evaluation data should guide any structural redesign, and that an interim study would be the prudent next step before transferring statutory oversight responsibilities.

Ending: Commissioners directed staff to continue stakeholder engagement with legislative sponsors and asked DHS and oversight staff to surface options that would preserve independent oversight capacity while exploring ways to improve outcomes.