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VETOES
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H.B. 979
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months, this requirement for a written report would be eliminated by House Bill 979
and replaced with a requirement that the Department appear in court with the child
to verbally explain the reasons for the continued detention and reappear every 25
days thereafter. Since courts currently receive a written report, have the authority to
schedule a hearing at any appropriate time, and can require the presence of any
necessary parties to review the report and any continuing detention, House Bill 979
duplicates existing law and needlessly imposes a mandatory scheduling burden on
the juvenile justice system, the child and the Department.
House Bill 979 also creates a new joint legislative committee to review all required
reports from the Department of Juvenile Services as well as the Department's
operations, including implementation of the Facilities Master Plan. As a former
member of the General Assembly, I recognize the importance of having legislators
fully informed about programs in the Executive Department. The review and
oversight of the programs and activities undertaken by the Department of Juvenile
Services is already accomplished through the work of the Senate Budget and Taxation
Committee, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, the House Appropriations
Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee. The General Assembly's Joint
Committee on Children, Youth and Families, created in 1999, has the statutory
authority to review and make recommendations on state policies that "can work to
achieve conditions of well-being for Maryland children, youth and families." Other
legislative committees, including the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways
and Means Committee, consider juvenile prevention and intervention programs as
part of a broad policy review of programs impacting children and youth.
In addition to the legislative committees already performing the functions assigned to
the new joint committee established in House Bill 979, a member of the Senate and a
member of the House of Delegates are statutorily designated to serve on the State
Advisory Board for the Department of Juvenile Services. This Board is empowered to
consult with and advise the Secretary of the Department on "each aspect of the
juvenile justice program in this State" as well as "the educational programs and
services of the Department." The Board is also authorized to recommend "policies and
programs to improve juvenile justice in the State" and "participate in planning the
development and use of available resources to meet the needs of the Department." I
can appreciate that the work of these legislative committees and the State Advisory
Board for the Department of Juvenile Services already place a tremendous burden on
the time and talent of our legislators. All of these groups have made important
contributions over the years to the quality of our juvenile services programs and the
effectiveness of our juvenile justice system. I do not believe that an additional
legislative committee with a mandate already within the jurisdiction of other General
Assembly committees and the State Advisory Board can do anything other than dilute
the attention that these issues require and add to the already heavy workload of our
part-time legislators. I encourage the General Assembly to continue its efforts
through the work of the existing groups.
Finally, the mandates of House Bill 979 with respect to responses from the
Department of Juvenile Services to reports from the Independent Juvenile Justice
Monitor duplicate existing law establishing protocols for the submission, responses
and consideration of the Monitor's reports. Likewise, the work of the 2004 Task Force
- 4324 -
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