Kentucky's juvenile justice system has been under pressure after reports of riots, assaults and mismanagement.

A bill moving in Frankfort seeks to reorganize the Department of Juvenile Justice and invest money to recruit new workers and improve facilities.

Our Kacey Parker Bell kicks off tonight's legislative update with the report on the bill that passed the committee today.

Even though temporary safety measures are in place, DOJ remains in a state of crisis in many areas.

A day after the House passed a bill that makes changes to the state's juvenile justice system, the Senate moved a companion bill that would make more changes.

Senate Bill 162 would reorganize the Department of Juvenile Justice, also known as DJ.

This comes after recent reports of riots, assaults and rapes in juvenile facilities.

Benton Senator Danny Carroll says the bill comes after work during the legislative interim.

What we uncovered through these efforts was a severe understaffing issue within D.J., a culture of self preservation at the middle and upper management levels, a culture of fear of retaliation on the front lines.

Senate Bill 162 sets standards for juvenile detention facilities.

It requires monthly emergency response training.

It will have facilities, interim memorandum of Understanding with local law enforcement for emergency response.

It requires facilities to have alarms that directly contact a local dispatch center.

And it provides mental health treatment for children in crisis.

We must get these kids that are severely mentally ill out of these detention centers and into treatment centers.

Carroll says the University of Louisville is currently looking for facility the state can utilize for mental health treatment.

The measure allocated money for staff, raises new workers and security upgrades.

It would also transition the GE back to a regional model.

Senate President Pro Tem David Gibbons says the needs are due to a, quote, crisis in leadership.

$48 million annually to correct something that's broken.

That's got to be fixed.

It's a shame that we've gotten to this place.

Senate Bill 162 passed committee unanimously received praise from legislators on both sides of the aisle.

But those legislators say there is still work to be done.

So we've had a change of a people that were serving as juveniles and the societal issues that they face and all of those things as we we're usually slow to adapt and other states are going through the same thing.

The structure within DOJ needs to change.

It needs to be a more structured environment.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm K.C.

Parker Bill.

Senator Danny Carroll is calling for the juvenile Justice commissioner to be replaced.

A separate measure, Senate Bill 158, requires the state auditor to contract with a third party to do an independent review of the state's juvenile justice system.

It, too, is now headed to the Senate floor for action by the full membership.