Criminal Justice

This bill requires Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services to automatically review a noncustodial parent's child support order within 15 business days if they are incarcerated for more than 180 days. The department must notify both parents, request financial information within 30 days, and complete the review within 120 days. If the review finds no need to reduce support, the incarcerated parent is granted a conference to discuss the findings. The bill directly affects incarcerated parents paying child support, their children, and the state agency managing these orders.

LB 640 modifies Nebraska's law (section 47-502) governing sentence reductions for good behavior in city or county jails. It changes how the reduction applies by allowing inmates to earn one day off their total remaining sentence - covering all consecutive sentences - for each day they maintain good conduct after the first 15 days of confinement. This directly affects individuals incarcerated in local jails, including those serving sentences for parole or probation violations. The bill repeals the original section and clarifies that the reduction applies to the "aggregate of [the inmate's] remaining term" rather than individual sentences.

LB 296 requires Nebraska's State Department of Education to create a centralized system for tracking education records of students under juvenile court jurisdiction, ensuring their academic progress isn't disrupted during court involvement. The bill mandates hiring registrars to manage these records, analyze completed coursework, and award appropriate credit hours for students who finish classes while in the juvenile system. It also updates graduation requirements to include mandatory personal finance courses (starting 2023-24) and computer science education (starting 2027-28). The centralized system and registrars will be funded through the State Department of Education Improvement Grant Fund.

This bill expands Nebraska's victim notification law to include additional offenses where victims must be informed about offenders' status. It adds specific crimes like sexual assault of children, sex trafficking, domestic assault, stalking, and child enticement to the list of offenses triggering mandatory notification. Victims of these newly included offenses will receive updates about parole hearings, release dates, and other custody changes, following the same process already used for existing offenses. The law directly affects victims of these specific crimes by ensuring they receive notifications about the offender's progress through the correctional system.