Senate Bill No. 305

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act requiring the department of public health and human services to receive data on chemically dependent pregnant women; and requiring the department to implement a public information program for the dissemination and use of information concerning the sources and hazards of chemical dependency as they relate to pregnant women."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Department to receive data and coordinate program concerning chemically dependent pregnant women. (1) The department must, on an ongoing basis, receive from the following sources the information provided in subsection (2):

(a) local boards of health and health officers;

(b) the program established pursuant to 53-24-207;

(c) reports made pursuant to 41-3-201; and

(d) the Montana initiative for the abatement of mortality in infants (MIAMI) project provided for in Title 50, chapter 19, part 3.

(2) The department must receive information concerning chemically dependent pregnant women. The information compiled by the department may consist of the names, places of residence, and treatment status of chemically dependent pregnant women and must identify as a separate category those pregnant women whose unborn children are considered by the department to be at high risk because of the degree or type of the chemical dependency of their mothers.

(3) Within the limitation of the resources of the department, the department shall implement a program for the dissemination and use of the information received pursuant to subsection (2) and the information designated in subsection (4).

(4) The department shall create an informational program concerning the sources and hazards of chemical dependency as they relate to pregnant women. The program must consist of at least:

(a) information provided to persons engaged in the retail sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages, as defined in 16-1-106, of the sources and hazards of substance abuse by pregnant women. The department shall determine the retailers who, because of their type of license for the sale of alcoholic beverages, location, or manner of sale, or consumers who, because of the place of consumption, should receive the information from the department.

(b) information provided to persons required to report pursuant to 41-3-201 of the sources and hazards of chemical dependency as they relate to pregnant women.

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 53, chapter 24, and the provisions of Title 53, chapter 24, apply to [section 1].

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