A long-planned overhaul of Georgia’s juvenile justice code received it’s first official nod of approval Wednesday. Now the state must figure out how to pay for it.
An estimated $15M dollar price tag is attached to the proposed Child Protection & Public Safety Act, sponsored by State Senate Judiciary Chairman Bill Hamrick of Carrollton, whose committee gave the bill a “do-pass” without dissent. Hamrick says since the cost is not in the current year’s budget, the effective date of the bill is pushed back to July 2013 — to buy the time to find funding for it.
Hamrick’s bill would establish a new classification for juveniles — children in need of services, or CHINS— to provide so-called ‘status offenders’ with a wide range of services. CHINS kids and their parents would have access to tutoring, counseling, anger management and other mental health services and not be lumped in with more serious young offenders.