McKinney-backed pilot program to steer youths from trouble is rescued, for now
State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha. Aug. 15, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — After anger, threats of stalling legislation and accusations of discrimination, the Unicameral on Thursday resurrected a priority bill by State Sen. Terrell McKinney to help keep at-risk youths out of jail. It's now part of another proposal that advanced.
Earlier in the day, McKinney's Legislative Bill 48 was doused on a 22-14 vote. Eleven lawmakers marked present but not voting.
That led the North Omaha legislator to call opponents hypocrites. He said they claim to 'care about kids' but are more interested in 'keeping up with the status quo' and 'keeping black kids in the system.'
His priority bill calls for an around-the-clock Family Resource and Juvenile Assessment Center pilot program in Omaha. The goal is two sites that address family dynamics, mental health, substance abuse and educational challenges contributing to juvenile delinquency.
The effort would integrate 'culturally relevant services delivered by and for the communities served.' Subject to available funds, up to $1 million annually for five years would come from a Medicaid cash fund.
State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, after the earlier vote that sank LB 48, promised not to sit down until lawmakers 'fixed' the McKinney situation. She said she believed opponents have been unfairly dismissing his ideas.
'I don't know if it's because he is Black or a Democrat,' Cavanaugh said, imploring certain colleagues to 'have a frickin' backbone.'
During later debate on a different bill, State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln helped revive McKinney's pilot program. The rescue came in the form of a floor amendment attached to an aging services-related proposal championed by State Sen. Glen Meyer of Pender.
Meyer's LB 382, which had seen little opposition, proposes to direct $4 million over two years from a Medicaid cash fund to keep afloat activities and services offered by the state's eight designated agencies for the aging. That includes nutritional programs such as Meals-On-Wheels.
The floor amendment that revived McKinney's pilot program passed 27-7, picking up six new Republican votes and losing one from State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney.
Four of those six additions had sat out the first vote — Speaker John Arch of La Vista and State Sens. Myron Dorn of Adams, Jana Hughes of Seward and Mike Jacobson of North Platte — while the other two, State Sens. Mike Moser of Columbus and Dave Wordekemper of Fremont, originally voted 'no.'
Meyer's revised LB 382, including McKinney's proposal, moved on to the next phase of debate with a 37-2 vote.
Meyer, a member of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, was part of the group that advanced McKinney's pilot program bill out of committee and onto debate. But after that he voted twice against it, including when it was being attached to his LB 382.
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston was among those who remained opposed to the McKinney pilot program partly because of its cost. He also said Omaha has various nonprofits devoted to youths that already seek to curb juvenile delinquency.
Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, another opponent, said she'd prefer to see a comprehensive assessment of all Omaha-area programs available for at-risk youth. She views the McKinney-backed Family Resource and Juvenile Assessment pilot program as 'unnecessary bureaucracy.'
Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha called it 'foolish' not to embrace programs that intervene in a youth's life on the front end rather than pay back end costs such as incarceration.
McKinney said his pilot program was supported by law enforcement groups with whom he is typically at odds. He said his priority bill was a preventative effort to provide mentoring, mental health care, parenting and other support before youths sink into trouble.
It comes at a time when other public officials, including Riepe and Gov. Jim Pillen, are pushing to lower the age at which youth offenders can be detained and charged as adults. Riepe's priority bill, LB 556, would lower the age at which a Nebraska youth could be detained for an alleged crime from 13 to 11, and it would drop the age at which a minor could be charged as an adult for the 'most serious' felonies from 14 to 12.
McKinney argues adamantly that the Legislature should be doing more to prevent youths from going down the wrong path, one he said costs taxpayers more.
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