Judiciary Committee - Senate

Thank you Mr help but with me today show me doc Washburn was on the okay are in for years and has a national podcast so. Good morning doctor what is good to have your. One all right we are my waiting I think Senator Irvin said should be here in fifteen seconds on countdown. There's a song about what known woman that's what I thought. Yeah I guess I better be careful. I don't. Senator Irvin when you get the other This Is Your identify yourself you're recognized. Thank you members of the committee apologize for. Is he health committee up stairs so create a your indulgence. Do you have your button on I do yes Senator Missy Irvin district twenty four. Okay members this is an update to our safe haven safe haven Act I just want to acknowledge the good work done on this legislation by former Senator Cecile Bledsoe she has been a. Really a champion that started this legislation with a lot of us so I think this update is a it's a great update to the law and and I'm gonna let Roseman's from Arkansas right to life committee the table and just really talk about the the bill so that we can just be respectful of your time if that's allowed Mister chair yes miss ma'am if you want to come down the table and state your name for the record you're recognized to speak. Good morning it's rose man's Arkansas right to life and this like Senator Irvin said it is an amendment to the bill that we passed in twenty nineteen that allows for volunteer of a volunteer fire departments are actually any fire department if they are staffed twenty four seven to I have a safety devices safe haven baby box installed at a fire department. For the anonymous surrender of an infant from a parent who could not hear that child and wanted to make sure was in a safe place so that. What to us a representative Mayberry discovered though that her own fire department in Hensley Arkansas. I was a volunteer fire department so it did not qualified to get a safety device but that there was an EMS station right near it. That was staffed twenty four seven so she wanted to see if possible we could come back and amend the law to allow any fire department in Arkansas that would have emergency services nearby that could meet the response time which is you know less than five minutes if the child is put in the box do it for them to be true you know take care have been checked out medically and and then stocks got custody bites DHS. With so that is the the the reason that Senate representative Mayberry came with this amendment to safe haven but then we also understood that there was a need for any woman who delivered a baby in a hospital to be able to invoke the safe haven law if she wanted to surrender her baby after birth so this all of this bill also includes that so that she can surrender her or her baby right there not have to leave the hospital come back in and deliver her baby under the safe haven Act so that's it in a nutshell. Might be happy to answer any questions that you may have our committee over the these explanation the bill or any questions from committee. Posted Centerville more. I have a motion property are we'd love to the proper time we have one more individual who would like to speak for the bill you still want to speak for the bill. Assess any Miller. Thank you. If you state your name for the record city Miller. You're recognized speak ma'am thank you I just want to say I I am the office manager at the moment fire department and we have a safe haven box and we have had to surrender so with putting them and volunteer departments that have closed medical services especially in the rule areas would be the bill would be wonderful I mean it it needs to. Have the bill and fail ability for the boxes to be in other areas other than cities or just in town. Okay March any questions for members. Seeing none. So would you like to close for your bill yes I thank you and I appreciate the work that these first responders all across the state of Arkansas are doing to step up to save babies lives I mean it's really commendable to hear the stories of these babies to are being you know taken care of by our first responders out in the field and I think you know coming from a rule part of the state of Arkansas and being able to have the availability of this I think it's important but also I think the language that she referred to which is on page two to where a mother can surrender that baby in the hospital after she delivers the baby versus walking outside and then walk back in with the baby I think that's just a safer approach and I think it's really being able to invoke the safe haven Act at the point of an of impact and and I think for a young mother who is overwhelmed and you know doesn't know where to go and how to take care of this baby in those circumstances you know to be able to have the ability to do that I think it's incredibly important for us to support her in that decision that she's making at that moment so thank you and without I'm close for the bill and I appreciate to get that. Okay Centerton close for the bill we have a motion for do pass center Gilmore have second. Senator McGee I am discussion. All those in favor say aye aye All opposed. Congratulations your bill passes. Clear that an attorney he's acting as counsel for a parent guardian pager you all this is on page four of the bill and this begins with line twenty and twenty one. So we've in the in the drafting of this legislation those rights of the parent have specifically been protected and not only does this allow an attorney for a pair from whom custody has been removed but in many instances the mother and father may not be together so it allows that the an attorney for a parent from whom custody may not have been removed to participate is as well in this it also includes some procedures and safeguards because this is a more informal process to ensure that there are certain certain topics that do not get discussed during the staffing for example changes to custody or changes to visitation those issues should be resolved actually during a a hearing so that due process is given to both parents in that situation and even if you have a parent who has not opted to participate in this particular specialty court program the other parent is still allowed to attend so that their president can hear and be involved in not only the family centered meetings that DHS is required to provide that also the staff things that would happen in the specialty court setting. Thank you and I appreciate that I have two other Enquiries and. One is. The fiscal impact of this and whether this specialty court is voluntarily set up by the different judicial districts across the state or what. So yes it is a voluntary program currently there are three of these family treatment courts are being piloted there's a one in Jefferson County there's one in Lawrence County there's one in Benton County the funding for these treatment courts typically initiates with grant funding and. At some point local entities have to decide whether or not they want to step up and continue funding those programs but the the money that comes from the grants again funds the staffing positions for this of the specialty treatment coordinator and then also for some of the supplemental services. Miss Clark is this so talk court of in place somewhere else another state's. So yes it is based on the model treatment. That we have for national standards with all specialty court so it is in place in other states if you want to know the specifics of all those states I don't have that information with me today but I'd be happy to get it for you per the release states that you know close to us. I I don't have that information today but I'll be happy to get it for you senator Clark two of the don't see these people in the room do you know we're DCFS is on this. So I do when the bill was initially filed there were as a stakeholder meeting that involve DHS an involved parent council it involved a casa and a lot of times in the amendments to the bill that were presented by representative Dalby are heirs as a result of that work with all the stakeholders coming together so it's my understanding that they are all supportive of this particular bill no sooner test before they're not here to testify against it. Yeah I see that. You have another question Senator Clark of DO help of. Do you have locations in my. So as I was sharing with senator flowers currently they're being piloted in Benton County Lawrence county in Jefferson County at this point since you all have an authorized this wide wide scale we don't know where the circuit judges would want to actually try to establish these the other check in this process is the circuit judge would have to include this in the administrative plan and provide all of the detailed information that's required by the Supreme Court administrative order number fourteen we know that administrative plans will come due again for the circuit courts and the District Court on July one so I think that if this goes into effect and it has an effective date if sometimes the summer that we would anticipate seeing more these being established across the state. The pharmacy manager. The. What me through make it simple for me. What you see as the difference. And happening in a case between normal court and this court. So I will tell you as someone who has practice in juvenile court before the service parent council internet lot on I two had that question when we initially started talking about this and it's my understanding that what this does is it'll provides an opportunity to have grant funding come in and support to provide additional support it also allows for there to be a coordinator come in and who is going to help facilitate and coordinate those services so in some instances you have a DCFS caseworker he's going to make referrals out based on what the court has ordered and that may be the end of it they are they done with their party is and they're just waiting for the provider side to schedule the drug and alcohol assessment or the substance abuse assessment or to get them in for individual or family counseling one of the advantages of having a family treatment court is you've got another person who does not have that same case load as the DCFS worker and that's the treatment coordinator who can in turn follow up with these referrals make sure that services are actually being offered not just referred that are actually being received and then this person also is going to coordinate with the different parties for the staff means which are a separate type of staffing in the family centered meeting that happens according to DHS guidelines in their policy so it's a little more intensive look and help with these families particularly if they got substance abuse or behavioral health issues you've got another set of eyes you can help coordinate this treatment so it is not entirely dependent on a DCFS worker who has a significant case load in addition to the S. and then of course you've also got supplemental funding that might be available. The pope may ask one more question manager. Go ahead the. If Well my what what of. Senator Tucker you're recognized. His nine minute blank said. Thank you madam chair I just wanna take a moment and thank you Senator Stubblefield representative Dalby and miss Clark for bringing this this is very admirable work to keep families together but it it's also very effective because if some it lowers future crime rates or if someone's already committed a crime it lowers recidivism families have better financial outcomes and just better across the board so this is the type of program that is both it makes us feel good but it's also the smart policy for us to have is a state and I just want to thank you for for bringing this bill and and creating these course would you agree. the chair on both ends actually Share for for bringing this bill of this building for doing this because to echo my colleague Clarke Tucker said point this is good legislation this is the kind of stuff we want to see come through here that helps families and and obviously you know we want to try to mitigate long term effects of of the breakdown of family and I think this bill certainly will help mitigate some of that so would you agree Senator Stubblefield that this bill would do that. Attorney Michael. This will do exactly that the ultimate goal of this bill is to keep families together and that's the best thing for society thank you for bringing bill. One last thing the ms Clark. Can you tell us a little bit about the results. Of these model. Specialty court should have been set up in these areas that you mention. and I thought I heard you say Pulaski when you first started identifying where they are so Pulaski does not have one currently they are piloted in Jefferson County Lawrence County and Benton County the. For how long for about one year. And I will tell you that in some ways these are similar to the the initiative that DHS let it was the state baby courts like zero to three court you may be familiar with the work and some of those so in some ways they're similar to that work but they're still new and so although we do collect data in our skills application that specific to specialty court's their new enough that we don't have a great deal of data available. Is there a plan to gather the data and present it to the General Assembly. Yes ma'am so as you all are aware there is a requirement that's in the specialty court program subchapter of the code that requires us to do to collect that data and to provide that information to you all upon request and I believe there's actually an annual reporting requirement to that we have to comply with so yes that data will be collected and shared thank you senator Clark you have another question the center manager that was my question was about reporting and so I would hope that we would see reporting on this particular court to children you. I will make sure it happens thank you miss Clark thank you madam chair any other questions from the committee. If not is there someone in the audience signed up to speak for against see no of mis Senator Stubblefield which like to close for your bill. Yes madam chair I'm closed. what's the will of the committee. Motion from Senator Tucker and second. Senator Gilmore all those in favor. I've opposed Like sign. Bill passes. Congratulations thank you miss Clark. Well saying or the bills on the agenda anyone have any discussion. This year. Say no we are Journ. Bills yeah it is really is already I only read it once.