Legislation
During the 2011 Legislative Session of the General Assembly, the Committee on Children endorsed the following bills:
- S. 292, H. 3202. Prohibit Smoking in a Vehicle with a Child Present - Prohibits an adult from smoking in an enclosed vehicle where a child is also present provided the child is so young as to be required to ride in a child’s safety car seat.
- S. 293, H.3206. Family Counseling Prior to Filing a Petition for Incorrigibility - Requires that prior to filing a family court petition for “incorrigibility,” parents must provide documentation that the family has participated in counseling.
- S. 294, H. 3205. Codify Joint Coordinating Council on Children and Adolescents - Codifies the existing Joint Council on Children and Adolescents which facilitates collaboration and exchange of best practices among child-serving state agencies.
- S. 295, H. 3204. Summer Camp Regulation Study Committee - Creates a study committee to recommend regulations to protect the safety and health of children while in attendance at summer camps.
- S. 296, H. 3130. Sexting - Creates a civil (noncriminal) offense of “sexting” when a minor transmits sexually explicit photographs of themselves or others to other minors.
- S. 297, H. 3203. Disturbing Schools - Amends the offense of “disturbing schools” and increases the penalties for an offense committed by non-students.
- S. 298, H. 3201. Family Childcare Homes (Kendra’s Law) - In family childcare homes: provides for training for operators within thirty days of initial registration, notification of parental training courses, and permits corporal punishment of children only with written parental permission.
- S. 299, H.3155. Admissibility of Children’s Statements to Forensic Interviewers - Allows the admission in child abuse and neglect cases in the family courts of statements made by children less than twelve years of age to forensic interviewers.
- S. 300, H. 3200. Community Evaluations for Juveniles - Codifies a current proviso that permits DJJ to conduct a pre-sentencing community-based ev aluation of a juvenile who is not deemed to be a public safety risk
- S. 301, H.3198. Determinate Six Month Sentence for Juveniles - Provides family court judges an additional sentencing option of imposing a six month sentence to DJJ of juveniles who commit certain crimes.
- S. 302, H. 3197. Ten Day Credit for DJJ Probationers or Parolees - Allows a juvenile on probation or parole to receive a credit of ten days for every month of good behavior. (This credit was provided to adults in the Omnibus Crime Reduction and Sentencing Reform Act of 2010.)
- S. 303, H. 3196. Eliminate Shackling of Juveniles in Courtroom Unless Necessary - Permits a juvenile to be shackled during a family court hearing only upon a finding by the judge that the juvenile presents a risk of safety or flight.
- S. 323, H.3195. Release of Children in DJJ Custody to Prevent Overcrowding - Codifies a current proviso that permits DJJ to release status and misdemeanor offenders in the event of institutional overcrowding.
- S. 498, H. 3529. School Nutrition Bill - Establishes nutritional standards for snacks, a la carte items in public schools with an exception for fundraising purposes.
- **Act 60 S. 445, H. 3496. Blood Borne Disease Confidentiality - Deletes the requirement that the superintendant and school nurse be notified when a minor with AIDS or who is infected with HIV attends public school and requires schools to adopt universal precautions.
- **Act 24 S. 448, H. 3562. ATV Safety (Chandler’s Law) - Adopts safety standards and minimum age requirements for all-terrain vehicle use, exempts ATVs from taxes, and provides for titling. The bill also specifically prevents entry into private lands except when based on plain view observation or incident to an accident investigation.
** Enacted
The Committee on Children tracked 2011 bills in the General Assembly affecting children.