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Bill expands child-endangerment statute to include fentanyl and certain THC exposures
Summary
Sen. Greg Hertz and the Montana Department of Justice proposed adding fentanyl, other scheduled drugs and certain THC exposures to felony criminal-endangerment-of-a-child statutes; prosecutors and law-enforcement groups supported the change while lawmakers sought clarifications about "exposure" and prosecutorial discretion.
Sen. Greg Hertz said Senate Bill 261 updates criminal-endangerment-of-a-child law to add fentanyl and other controlled substances and to address adult conduct that exposes children to those drugs. "If you look at the changes...causing or permitting the child to inhale to be exposed, to ingest marijuana and other products containing THC," Hertz said when describing the bill.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said the bill grew out of experiences in the field where investigators found children in residences with fentanyl and other dangerous drugs. Knudsen described the bill as primarily a fentanyl measure to allow felony child-endangerment charges to apply in cases where children are present where fentanyl is produced or used. "This is a fentanyl bill primarily...we forgot a couple of things," Knudsen said, recounting a detective's observation from Great Falls that prompted the drafting change.
Assistant Attorney General Selene Koepke and Dan Smith of the Montana Police Protective Association testified in support. Bonnie Clites, a chemist in the Forensic Science Division, also rose in favor.
Several representatives questioned how broadly the term "expose" could be applied and whether routine lawful possession of edible THC or incidental secondhand smoke would trigger felony charges. Committee members noted a Senate amendment stating that "expose" does not include incidental secondhand smoke from lawful use; Knudsen and prosecutors said charging decisions will depend on facts and prosecutorial discretion. Koepke said she could not imagine charging a case where an edible was locked away and a parent had no knowledge of a child’s access: "I don't believe that that would qualify as exposed to because we couldn't prove that the parent knowingly provided that or exposed the child to that."
Representative Howell asked why alcohol was not included; Knudsen answered that modern high-concentration THC products pose different risks and that the legislature could choose to include alcohol but had not done so in this bill. Supporters said the measure is aimed at serious, often egregious situations where children have access to high‑potency or dangerous drugs and where law enforcement find children during lawful investigations.
The committee closed the hearing without a vote; sponsors said the change responds to field reporting that children are increasingly found in homes with fentanyl and other dangerous substances.
