3-15-205 - Duties of committee.

3-15-205. Duties of committee.

It is the duty of the select committee on children and youth to:

     (1)  Review current state policies on children and youth as reflected by Tennessee statutes, regulations, programs, services, and budgetary priorities;

     (2)  Study the many problems which jeopardize the development and well being of Tennessee children and youth, including, but not limited to, such persistent, interdisciplinary problems as teen pregnancy, educational underachievement, youth employment, alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, emotional illness, birth defects, day care, homelessness, child abuse, and the growing impoverishment of childhood and adolescence;

     (3)  Define and establish the components, guidelines, and objectives of a comprehensive state policy to ensure and promote present and future health, welfare, and opportunity for all of Tennessee's children and youth;

     (4)  Identify any Tennessee laws, regulations, programs, services, and budgetary priorities which conflict with the components, guidelines, and objectives of such comprehensive policy;

     (5)  Search for any interdepartmental gaps, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies in the implementation or attainment of such comprehensive policy;

     (6)  Identify any new laws, regulations, programs, services, and budgetary priorities which are needed to ensure and promote present and future health, welfare, and opportunity for all of the state's children and youth;

     (7)  Serve as an in-house informational resource for all members and committees of the general assembly on legislative policy matters concerning children and youth; and

     (8)  Perform such other activities as are reasonably related to the legislative intent of this part, including, but not necessarily limited to, improving public awareness of the special needs of Tennessee children and youth.

[Acts 1987, ch. 348, § 6; 1993, ch. 216, § 6.]