Public safety has been a significant and growing concern in our communities for the past several years. The 2023 Legislature heard these concerns loud and clear and acted to make our state a safer place to work, play, and raise a family.
We took on human traffickers with House Bill 112 from Rep. Jodee Etchart. It increased penalties for human trafficking and gave law enforcement more tools to prosecute these heinous crimes. HB 112 has already been credited for a major prostitution bust in Bozeman. Senate Bill 265, sponsored by Sen. Mark Noland, drastically increased fines for human trafficking. Senate Bill 522 from Sen. Daniel Zolnikov will help provide short-term lodging to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.
The Legislature aided the victims of sex crimes by passing House Bill 79 (Rep. Amy Regier), House Bill 640 (Rep. Narrah Hastings), and Senate Bill 38 (Sen. Bob Brown). Those three bills created a sexual assault response network within the Montana Department of Justice, required sexual assault evidence to be preserved for 75 years, and strengthened sex offender registry laws, respectively.
We also cracked down on dangerous drug activity by imposing mandatory jail time and large fines for fentanyl traffickers (House Bill 791, Rep. Courtenay Sprunger) and expanding the ability to test for drugs in DUI cases by using saliva test kits (Senate Bill 13, Sen. Keith Regier).
Legislators continued our work to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. House Bill 163 by Rep. Tyson Running Wolf extended the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force and authorized a full-time coordinator. House Bill 18, also by Rep. Running Wolf, established a missing persons response team training grant program. Sen. Bob Brown sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 5, which calls on Congress to fulfill the federal government’s obligation to fully fund law enforcement in Indian Country.
We also made significant reforms to the child protective services (CPS) system and sober living houses. Senate Bill 94 by Sen. Barry Usher raised standards for sober living housing and recovery residences. Sen. Dennis Lenz and Rep. Jennifer Carlson passed five bills to ensure minors in CPS cases have proper legal representation, require more accountability and responsiveness to families from CPS, created a speciality court for dependency and neglect cases, and created penalties for false reporting in CPS cases.
The Legislature gave law enforcement more resources to protect the public. House Bill 597 from Rep. Neil Duram provided funding for a statewide Next Generation 9-1-1 system. We also funded 10 new positions at the Montana Department of Justice dedicated to combating human trafficking, internet crimes against children, sexual assault, elder abuse, and the MMIP crisis.
Finally, Sen. Barry Usher sponsored Senate Bill 294 to create the End of Watch Trust to cover medical and other expenses for catastrophically injured or killed law enforcement officers and their immediate families for five years after the injury or death of the officer.
In summary, the 2023 Legislature worked to improve public safety by cracking down on violent criminals, helping crime victims, and supporting law enforcement.
- Senators Jason Ellsworth, Barry Usher, Dennis Lenz, and Chris Friedel
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