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 is to give eligible defendants supervised, evidence-based support and monitoring instead of continued detention.

Proponents included Patrick Yawake, representing three tribal communities, who cited research that monitoring lowers failure-to-appear and noncompliance and reduces the cost relative to incarceration; Scott Twito, the Yellowstone County Attorney, described existing local use of GPS exclusion and other technologies and said grants would expand pretrial options and relieve jail populations. Natalia Bowser, director of the Board of Crime Control, appeared as an informational witness and said the board currently administers limited offender-focused grants and would review applications for conformity with statutory requirements.

Committee members pressed on victim safety, whether GPS exclusion and compliance officers prevent return-to-victim scenarios, and how court orders, not the grant program itself, would determine conditions of release. Probing senators asked whether grants could intersect with child-protection (CPS) orders; Bowser said the statute as drafted focuses on misdemeanor-level partner/family member assault, strangulation, and orders of protection (citing 45-5-206; 45-5-2515; 45-5-526) and that the board’s awards would be limited to programs that fit the statute. She said applicants are vetted and that the program historically funds only a few entities because the fund is small.

Several committee members also asked about the fund’s size and fiscal note. Yakawich said the fund currently holds roughly $400,000 and historically averages about $120,000 a year, and Bowser confirmed the board has issued grants from that fund; the committee record later shows a fiscal note of $0 for SB 280. Senators sought clarity on whether victims have formal participation in grant decisions; Bowser said the grants fund offender programs and that victim input typically occurs at the court level and through victim services rather than in the grant application process.

No committee vote on SB 280 was recorded in the transcript; senators asked for and discussed the fiscal note and how the program would be overseen if the bill proceeds.