Florida Juvenile Justice Association Meeting Report: December 9

The Florida Juvenile Justice Association (“FJJA”) held a meeting on December 9, 2008 to discuss the upcoming 2009 Florida Legislative Session and FJJA legislative priorities.  Meeting materials are attached for your review.

Since the 2007-2008 Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (“DJJ”) budget was reduced by $65 million–cuts that were made mainly to residential and prevention programs–FJJA’s primary priority for the 2009 Legislative Session will be to ensure that no further budget reductions are made to Florida’s juvenile justice system.  

It is anticipated that Florida’s 2009 budget will be even smaller than last year’s.  Taking the anticipated spending cuts into consideration, the FJJA will ask for targeted, rather than across-the-board cuts, and will advocate for the Legislature to examine alternative funding sources to offset further reductions.

One of the FJJA’s main funding concerns are Juvenile Assessment Centers (“JAC”), which were funded in 2008 with approximately $7 million in non-recurring dollars.  Unless funding is recommitted for the next fiscal year, the JACs will be eliminated.  The FJJA has been working with the DJJ and law enforcement agencies to educate Legislators on critical role of JACs.

FJJA also is working with Associated Industries of Florida on legislation that is expected to promote efficiency and reduce redundancy in the contracting process, as well as in day-to-day DJJ operations and oversight.

The FJJA’s final priority is to continue implementation of the Blueprint Commission’s recommendations.  The Blueprint Commission was created by the DJJ in response to several key concerns, such as repeat juvenile offenders, the overrepresentation of minority youths and the alarming growth of girls in the juvenile justice population.

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Frank Mayernick Jr. at Colodny Fass.