Senate committee passes bill allowing shelters to keep kids overnight

A bill that would allow runaways and other homeless kids to spend the night in a shelter was approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday morning.

HB22, sponsored by Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, was approved unanimously in the House last week and will now go to the full Senate for consideration.

Under current state law, shelters are required to put minors out on the street after 7 p.m. — even if they have nowhere to go.

"It's a big problem," Fowlke said.

Fowlke said the current law was put into place in a time when it was not unreasonable to expect that runaways should be sent home, but that now it is often dangerous for them to be there.

"Now we have these situations where kids simply have nowhere to go," she said. "Even if there's a blizzard outside, the law requires that the shelters put these kids out. That's not only unpleasant, it's actually very dangerous."

Fowlke said recent studies have shown that, in Utah, 39 percent of homeless youths are physically abused at some point, 32 percent exchange sex for food or a place to stay, and 61 percent attempt suicide. More than half of the kids in shelters say their parents told them to leave or do not care.

"Shelters are certainly nowhere to go and live, but it's a place they can take a shower, a place to sleep and get a little bit of food until they can get on their feet," Fowlke said.

Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, described working with youth shelters in his district and called it a "heart-wrenching" problem for these places having to force kids outside every night.

"I think this a very reasonable and compassionate answer to a problem that exists," McCoy said.

The current legal requirement that anyone harboring a runaway notify a parent, law enforcement agency or the state Division of Child and Family Services within eight hours will not change under Fowlke's legislation.

"It simply allows them to keep them overnight," Fowlke said.

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