SB 31, Kinship Guardianship Changes, and HB 389, No ID Card Fee for Homeless Individuals, made it through the legislature!

Young people attended committee hearings, called and emailed their legislators, and shared their experiences. We are grateful for their leadership. Thank you to everyone who supported these bills and contacted their legislators! 

SB 31, Kinship Guardianship Changes

Senate Bill 31 passed the House floor unanimously and is now headed to the Governor’s desk. 

Kinship guardianship allows for a close family member or other qualifying person to care for a child when the parents are unable or unwilling to care for them. In these situations, we want to ensure parents have access to legal counsel prior to signing and throughout the life of voluntary placement agreements to ensure that the agreements are not coercive. Young people supported this bill because families deserve to stay together as much as possible.

HB 389, No ID Card Fee for Homeless Individuals

Accessing identification documents is an issue that most of the young people we work with struggle with, and a lack of an ID can prevent them from securing employment, housing, banking, and many other simple things that require an ID. Young people supported this bill and shared their experiences.

If signed, this bill will remove barriers to getting an ID card and will help people experiencing homelessness move forward in other areas of their lives and help with access to housing and other services.

This was a continued effort after the passage of a law in 2021 that removed the fee for birth certificates for people experiencing homelessness.