Bill would expand grants for pretrial monitoring of people charged with intimate-partner offenses

Senate Bill 280, introduced by Senator Mike Yakawich, would authorize the Montana Board of Crime Control to provide grants to communities to monitor compliance with court-ordered conditions for offenders convicted of or charged with certain partner or family-member assault offenses.

The sponsor, Senator Mike Yakawich, said the funding would come from an existing domestic-violence intervention fund supported by a small fee on marriage licenses and that the program is targeted to monitor and provide intervention for people—frequently pretrial—who otherwise would remain in jail due to inability to afford monitoring. "We're trying to help those who are able who can't afford it," Yakawich said, explaining the goal…