Sponsor proposes penalty for counties that fail to report child abuse referrals to attorney general; commissioners and prosecutors object

Representative Bill Mercer opened the hearing on House Bill 6 25 by recounting the statute changes since 2019 that require county attorneys to report quarterly to the Attorney General on centralized intake referrals of suspected child sexual abuse. Mercer said the requirement arose from high‑profile cases where county attorneys did not have clear notice of referrals and that, in practice, many county attorneys failed to send the required information to the Attorney General’s office.

The bill would require the Attorney General to notify the county commission if the county attorney failed to submit the required report and then withhold part of the county entitlement share until the county becomes compliant. Mercer said the provision is intended as a last‑resort enforcement mechanism to improve data collection and oversight of child‑abuse reporting.

Opponents included Big Horn County Commissioner George Realbird and Big Horn County Attorney Jean Torske. They told the committee county entitlement dollars flow into the general levy and fund a broad set of county services (DMV functions, treasurer services and others). They argued that docking an entire county for an administrative failing in one office would unfairly harm taxpayers and county services. Torske described operational challenges, including tribal jurisdiction overlap and backlog problems she inherited when taking office; she said local circumstances — including overlapping tribal, federal and state jurisdiction — can make accurate reporting difficult.

The sponsor said he was willing to work on refinements and referenced a possible Indian‑country carve‑out for conduct that occurs entirely within tribal lands. The committee did not take final action and the sponsor asked to work with stakeholders on possible amendments.