House Judiciary heard testimony on House Bill 117, a proposal to continue the work started by 2023’s Senate Bill 11 to develop an integrated criminal justice data warehouse managed by the Montana Board of Crime Control and informed by the Criminal Justice Oversight Council.

Proponents told the committee the warehouse aims to break data “silos” among law enforcement, courts, public defenders and corrections so policymakers can analyze outcomes and craft evidence‑based laws. Supporters described a multi‑year rollout and requested funding for software, staff and court integration.

Brett Shandelson, director of the Office of State Public Defender and a Criminal Justice Oversight Council member, told the committee the project “is a 4 to 6 year project to get to something that might look statewide.” He said the warehouse would allow legislators to ask empirical questions about past policy changes rather than relying only on anecdote.

Multiple criminal justice stakeholders testified in support. Brian Gookin, director of the Department of Corrections, said the system would reduce operational inefficiencies caused by disconnected local and state systems. Jesse Luther of the Montana Association of Clerks of District Court said clerks already enter much of the data in the state’s FullCourt system and that clerks will work to support the effort. Representatives of sheriffs, county attorneys, and police unions also voiced support, and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and ****** Violence urged passage to secure ongoing funding.

Board staff and data experts described technical and privacy safeguards. Natalia Bowser, director of the Board of Crime Control, and Janice Fries, director of the Board’s Statistical Analysis Center, explained that the warehouse will ingest data from existing justice systems, run matching and de‑duplication, and publish anonymized, aggregated datasets for policy analysis. Adam Carpenter, the state chief data officer, said “the only people that are even subject or that are even in the system we’re touching are people who have interacted with the justice system,” and emphasized that the warehouse will mirror additions and deletions from source systems so, for example, records removed under legal processes would be removed from the warehouse as well.

Witnesses identified remaining gaps and limits. Committee members pressed on privacy and scope: Representative Sharp asked what firewall prevents ordinary citizens with no justice contact from appearing in the warehouse; witnesses replied that records come only from participating justice stakeholders and that traffic citations were excluded because of volume and limited usefulness. Representatives also asked about tribal inclusion; staff said tribal courts were not included in the initial SB 11 pilot and that separate tribal engagement and MOUs would be required.

Lawmakers questioned the proposal’s fiscal note and structure. Bowser outlined the draft appropriation in the bill: approximately $480,000 from the general fund for software (a data catalog and master data management tools), roughly $504,243 for additional FTEs to process and analyze incoming data, and a $500,000 general fund placeholder to help courts cover integration work so court budgets are not displaced. Bowser said the $480,000 figure was based on vendor cost estimates for a data catalog and initial master‑data work, and Adam Carpenter described estimated one‑time vendor costs for initial record matching and ongoing maintenance costs in the $50,000–$100,000 range annually. Proponents said they had pursued grants but had not secured sufficient outside funding.

Committee members also asked about operational coverage and timelines. Shandelson and project staff said the current pilots collect data from four counties and that the project is intended to be scalable; staff said the pilots focused on state stakeholders first and that local jurisdictions vary widely in their current systems. Adam Carpenter noted that many county offices still rely on paper or disparate systems and that onboarding smaller county systems will take additional work and support.

No formal action or vote on HB 117 was recorded during the hearing. Sponsor Amy Regier closed by asking the committee to support continued investment to expand the warehouse and provide legislators “better information when making justice decisions.”