Lawmakers hear plan to create state Office of Reentry Services, with proposed funding shift to a workforce special revenue account

Representative Seekins Crow told the Senate Business and Labor Committee that House Bill 718 would create an Office of Reentry Services in the Department of Labor and Industry to improve coordination of services for people leaving incarceration and reduce recidivism.

Why it matters: Supporters and state agency witnesses said a small, three-person office could reduce duplication across state programs and improve case management and workforce connections for people reentering communities. Agency witnesses and the bill sponsor also connected HB 718 to a separate funding bill (House Bill 656) that would allow the Employment Security Account (ESA) to fund reentry and workforce programs.

Representative Seekins Crow said the office would "put together a collaboration and an office of reentry services in the Department of Labor and Industry" to coordinate case management that begins in custody and continues to "off paper" when someone finishes parole or probation.

Sarah Swanson, commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, described the proposed office as a three-person team based in the workforce services division. She said the office's goals are to reduce duplication across agencies and to assess existing programs run by the Department of Commerce, Department of Corrections, DPHHS, OPI and others: "All of us have a piece of this already. All of us are doing this work. The bill you see before you is really what we came up with."

Swanson said the fiscal note for the office estimates state special revenue expenditures of $510,773 in the first year, with smaller amounts thereafter, and that the department proposes to use the Employment Security Account — a state special revenue fund supported by a small employer payroll tax — to pay for the office and related workforce supports. She said the office would coordinate with the State Workforce Innovation Board and tribal partners and would not use general fund dollars.

Representative Seacens Crow and other witnesses emphasized the office would try to leverage what works in the state, coordinate grant-funded programs, and improve the handoff from incarceration to community supervision. Don Cape of Opening Doors and the Coalition for Safety and Justice cited studies showing education and vocational training lower recidivism and urged passage: "Those that went to school or learned a vocation reduced their recidivism level all the way down to 13.4 percent," he said.

Committee members asked detailed questions about scope and coverage, including whether the office could coordinate services for people housed in out-of-state private prison contracts, juvenile reentry, sex-offender and violent-offender reentry, and the length of case management. Commissioner Swanson and Representative Seekins Crow said these variations informed the office design and that the Department of Corrections' contracts and handoffs would be part of coordination.

How funding ties in: The committee also heard House Bill 656, a companion measure from the Department of Labor and Industry asking to use ESA funds to support workforce programs currently paid in part from the general fund, including the Office of Community Service (AmeriCorps) and the Montana Human Rights Bureau. Swanson said an actuarial review showed sufficient long-term ESA resources and that the department expects HB 656 would return nearly $4 million per biennium to the state general fund by shifting some DLI expenses to ESA.

Swanson said the state match for AmeriCorps is about $95,000 per year and that other ESA-eligible programs already include apprenticeship and workforce training. She said the department hired an actuary to model long-term ESA resources and would seek a statutory clarification to permit reentry work as an allowable ESA use (the hearing on HB 656 covered that statutory change).

Where it stands: Supporters across multiple agencies testified as proponents; no formal vote was taken at the hearing. Several senators praised the collaborative development of the bill and asked for amendments to clarify juvenile services, funding authority, and how the office will coordinate with the Department of Corrections and tribal partners.

Ending: The sponsor asked the committee to "do concur." The Department of Labor and Industry framed the proposal as a modest investment in coordination with potential budget-neutral funding by shifting allowable uses of the Employment Security Account.