A revised House Bill 3, now containing nearly four times as much funding for juvenile justice reforms as the original $11 million bill, is headed to the Kentucky House. The changes broaden the scope of the bill, which initially focused primarily on Louisville.
In addition to $17 million for the city's detention centers, the new version allots $9.6 million for staffing needs, and nearly $6 million for transportation costs, among other revisions.
But while the bill more closely resembles the requests from the Beshear administration, it also contains some possible non-starters for Democrats. Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson said one provision deals with opening up youth criminal records.
"That's definitely a sticking point for a lot of us," she said. "There was a lot of testimony against detaining juveniles to start with. There's a myriad of evidence that says that it is actually counterproductive."
Stevenson is referring to portions of the bill that would mandate detention for juveniles accused of certain offenses, regardless of any other details about their case. Critics say that would mean some juveniles are treated harsher than adults.
