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Bill would require county attorneys and APS to report elder‑exploitation allegations; DOJ and DPHHS back measure
Summary
Representative Bill Mercer told the Senate Judiciary Committee HB 743 extends mandatory reporting and reporting‑to‑the‑Attorney General procedures that applied to child abuse to financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. The Department of Justice and DPHHS supported the bill as a transparency and oversight tool.
Representative Bill Mercer said House Bill 743 would extend Montana’s reporting framework used for child sexual‑abuse allegations to reports of financial exploitation of incapacitated and vulnerable adults.
Mercer told the committee the bill would require reports from county attorneys and Adult Protective Services (APS) to be compiled by the Attorney General’s office and would permit the Attorney General to request investigative findings when a county attorney declines prosecution. Mercer said the reporting would give the Attorney General a statewide lens on whether cases are being investigated and prosecuted appropriately.
Allen Doane of the Department of Justice told senators the Department already maintains county‑attorney reporting portals for child abuse and fentanyl prosecutions and said adding elder‑exploitation reporting would impose minimal additional impact on DOJ. Lindsay Carter of the Department of Public Health and Human Services, who oversees Adult Protective Services, and Kristen Page Nye of AARP Montana both testified in support, saying the bill would increase transparency and accountability and could help identify prosecutable cases that might otherwise be missed.
The committee recorded questions about the fiscal note; Mercer said the most recent fiscal estimate was $0 and that the Attorney General’s oversight authority could be requested to review investigative findings when local prosecution was declined. The transcript shows the hearing closed with proponents supporting a due pass recommendation; no committee vote is recorded in the provided material.
