Stateline Midwest
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Stateline Vol. 24, No. 5 • May 2015 MidwestTHE MIDWESTERN OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS INSIDE CSG Midwest Issue Briefs 2-3 New approach to juvenile justice • Nuclear energy: Federal government has new plan for storing nation’s nuclear waste In states such as South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, reforms • Health & Human Services: HIV outbreak in Indiana leads to new law on needle exchanges reduce reliance on incarceration, invest in proven interventions • Education: Wisconsin bill would incentivize by Ilene Grossman ([email protected]) schools to improve programs for disabled • Passenger Rail: Hoosier State line had year ago, officials from all three number of young offenders were being Juvenile commitment rates in bumpy ride in first few months of 2015 branches of South Dakota govern- tried in adult, rather than juvenile, courts. Midwest, 2011 (per ment began taking a close, critical “Besides helping kids, these efforts are Around the Region 4 A 100,000 juveniles) Civic education bills pass in two states; look at the state’s juvenile justice system. preventive maintenance,” Nebraska Sen. a look at the impact of this year’s “bird flu” The working group didn’t like what 217 Bob Krist says about the state’s new laws. it saw. “In the long run, if we keep creating 108 Capital Closeup 5 “What we found is that South Dakota criminals in the juvenile justice system, Proposals in Illinois, Michigan aim to kill 385 125 155 the “lame duck” legislative session was an outlier nationally,” Sen. Alan our corrections system will blow up.” 170 Solano says. 244 As a first step, Nebraska legislators 125 Question of the Month 5 “While juvenile commitments were 115 188 passed a measure requiring that youths What is the status of “shared parenting” declining,” he adds, “South Dakota had 157 be placed in the least restrictive situation legislation and laws in the Midwest? the second-highest incarceration rate in that their offense would allow. At the the country in 2011, a rate of 385 youth same time, the Unicameral Legislature in- Profile 8 Higher than U.S. rate of 134 Michigan House Majority Floor per 100,000.” creased funding for a violence-prevention Leader Aric Nesbitt Further, that high commitment rate Lower than U.S. rate of 134 fund in local communities. was not connected to a correspondingly Then, in 2013, lawmakers expanded Source: U.S. Oce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection FirstPerson 9 high rate of violent crime, and South a successful pilot project between the Illinois Sen. Michael Connelly on “right Dakota’s juvenile offenders were staying state’s probation and health and human to try” laws for terminally ill patients do better in a community setting, and are longer in out-of-home placements than services departments. The goal: Keep more likely to reoffend if incarcerated. CSG News & Events 10 they had in the past. young offenders in their homes and out Juvenile incarceration rates have, in fact, 2015 class of BILLD fellows announced; Those placements were costly (any- of detention facilities or group homes, dropped sharply in many states over the deadline for MLC Annual Meeting is June 5 where from $41,000 to $144,000 per bed); and provide them with greater access to past 15 years. were often for misdemeanors, probation services (such as substance-abuse treat- Capitol Clips 12 Part of that decline is due to a drop violations and status offenses (such as ment and behavioral health counseling) • Laws strengthen rights of pregnant workers in the number of violent crimes being truancy and underage drinking); and as an alternative to incarceration. • Indiana legislature approves new ethics law committed by juveniles, but a shift in were not necessarily effective in treating “We created a system where one • South Dakota establishes youth minimum wage public policy has contributed to this young people (community-based supervi- person, rather than two or three or four • Michigan voters reject road-funding plan incarceration trend as well — namely, a people, is connected with a child’s case, sion tends to yield better results). decision not to commit low-risk juvenile and that person can deal with the child The state needed to do better, the offenders to state facilities. working group concluded. With this and family in real time,” Krist explains. year’s passage of SB 73, lawmakers believe Five years of reform in Nebraska Prior to this change, he says, these they have taken a big step forward, one young people could have had a probation Stateline Midwest is published 12 times a year that will save taxpayer dollars, reduce Nebraska’s reforms began in 2010, in part officer and caseworkers from several by the Midwestern Office of recidivism and improve long-term out- because the state had the nation’s fourth- social-service agencies. The Council of State Governments. comes for young people. highest rate of incarceration. And a large Jeanne Brandner, deputy administrator Annual subscription rate: $60. These same goals are driving proposed PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 To order, call 630.925.1922. reforms of juvenile justice systems in other states as well. Using evidence of what Using evidence of what has proven has proven to work and to work and not work in supervising not work in supervising and treating young offenders, states are and treating young reshaping their systems, in part by relying offenders, states are CSG Midwestern Office Staff less on confinement. reshaping their juvenile Michael H. McCabe, Director “There is increasing recognition from justice systems, in Tim Anderson, Publications Manager the research that the effects of incarcera- part by relying less Cindy Calo Andrews, Assistant Director on confinement. The tion have not been particularly positive,” Ilene K. Grossman, Assistant Director goals of these reforms Lisa R. Janairo, Program Director notes Josh Weber, director of the juvenile are to cut costs, reduce Laura Kliewer, Senior Policy Analyst justice program at The Council of State Gail Meyer, Office Manager recidivism and improve Laura A. Tomaka, Senior Program Manager Governments Justice Center. long-term outcomes Katelyn Tye, Policy Analyst Instead, many nonviolent offenders among young people. Kathy Treland, Administrative Coordinator and Meeting Planner CSG MIDWEST ISSUE BRIEFS Issue Briefs cover topics of interest to the various groups and policy committees of CSG Midwest, including the Midwestern Legislative Conference, Great Lakes Legislative Caucus, Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission and Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee. Nuclear Safety & Radioactive Materials Transportation U.S. announces two-pronged Sites of nuclear power plants in Midwest Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee plan for storage of ‘defense- plans to hold a special event in the fall to educate only,’ commercial nuclear waste legislators and other state officials about the federal radioactive waste management program, with an or decades, the federal government’s plan emphasis on shipments and their impact on this for nuclear waste — both from production region. Fof nuclear weapons and from commercial In addition to the four shut-down sites, the nuclear reactors — has been to store all of it at a Midwest is home to 19 operating nuclear power single, permanent geologic repository. plants. Spent fuel is being stored at these sites as But in March, the Obama administration an- well until a permanent repository for the nation’s nounced a significant shift in that policy strategy. commercial waste is operational. The U.S. Department of Energy now plans “to Until 2010, it appeared that site would be at move forward with the planning for a consent- Operating nuclear plant Shut-down nuclear plant Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada. The federal based, defense-only repository for some of the Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission government originally identified the site as a potential DOE-managed high-level wastes,” Energy Secretary repository in 1987, then spent two decades studying it Ernest Moniz said. Meanwhile, the DOE is still actively pursuing one and eventually filed a construction license application. This decision, he said, reflects in part the differ- or more interim facilities to store commercial spent However, in 2010 President Obama put a halt to ence between the two types of waste. The nation’s fuel from the nation’s shut-down nuclear reactors. The the licensing process, and federal funding for the inventory of high-level defense waste is finite, and Midwest currently has four of these: one in Michigan Yucca Mountain project was stripped in the next some of that waste is cooler and easier to handle (Rock Point), two in Wisconsin (Kewaunee and La budget. than commercial waste. This could mean greater Crosse) and one in Illinois (Zion). All four now store In 2013, in response to recommendations from flexibility in site selection, a simpler site design, and a their waste onsite. the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear shorter timeline to begin disposal at a “defense-only” Depending on the location of an interim storage Future, the DOE released a strategy document, repository. facility, other Midwestern states could serve as which emphasized using a consent-based approach For the Midwest, the impact of pursuing a defense- “corridors” for the waste as it travels from these four to identify sites for both a pilot and a full-scale only repository will depend on where it is located and reactors to a repository. interim storage facility in addition to a geologic the routes chosen for shipping the waste there. The Council of State Governments’ Midwest repository. Brief written by Katelyn Tye, who can be reached at [email protected]. CSG’s Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee includes representatives from the executive and legislative branches of government in 12 Midwestern states. The committee’s co-chairs are Laura Dresen of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and Kelly Horn of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.