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Bill would use unallocated marijuana revenue to centralize payment for sexual assault forensic exams
Summary
Senate Bill 491 would allocate $375,000 in unallocated marijuana tax revenue to a Department of Justice program to reimburse forensic sexual‑assault examinations and create a single‑payer reimbursement system.
Senators heard testimony on Senate Bill 491, a proposal to use $375,000 in unallocated marijuana tax revenue to create a centralized reimbursement program for sexual-assault forensic medical examinations (FREPs).
Sponsor Senator Bob Phelan (Senate District 17) told the committee the bill would direct up to $375,000 to the Department of Justice’s Office of Victim Services to administer reimbursement and that, under the fiscal assumptions in the bill, the money would cover up to 468 exams at a proposed maximum reimbursement rate of $800 per exam.
Hope Stockwell, program manager for the Forensic Examination Payment Program in the Department of Justice’s Office of Victim Services, said the program currently purchases and manages evidence kits and reimburses a small percentage of exams using existing crime-victim compensation appropriations. Stockwell said the bill would create a single-payer system that removes law-enforcement billing responsibility for exams and kits and would “support a single payer system,” while acknowledging the change would increase DOJ’s payment obligations.
Stockwell and other witnesses told the committee the program’s invoice data suggest an average reimbursable exam cost of about $1,000, with higher-cost outliers. The department noted the program’s current administrative rule lists a $600 maximum reimbursement and the bill would codify and raise the cap to $800. The department also said the funding as written does not permit the DOJ to purchase kits directly and staff asked to work with the sponsor on possible amendments to allow that.
Teresa Olsen, a physician assistant and sexual-assault examiner in Glendive, told senators forensic‑nurse and examiner programs are fragile in rural areas and that victims sometimes travel hundreds of miles for care. She and the department said the centralized reimbursement could help sustain services in frontier and rural hospitals.
Law-enforcement organizations including Montana Police Protective Association, Montana Chiefs of Police Association, Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and County Attorneys Association testified in support of the bill, saying consistent reimbursement removes cost barriers for victims and local agencies. Department of Revenue staff served as informational witnesses about state special revenue accounting.
Committee members questioned whether the proposed $375,000 would cover exams that do not result in a kit being collected: Stockwell said the department estimated roughly 350 exams in recent review period involved a forensic exam but no kit; those exams are currently billed differently and could increase the program’s obligations if the single‑payer framework expands. The sponsor noted an existing DOJ line item of $300,000 scheduled to terminate in June 2025 and suggested that appropriation could factor into funding choices.
The hearing closed with supporters emphasizing survivor access and local forensic-program sustainability; no committee action or vote occurred during the hearing.
