Montana State Legislature

2003-2004 Law and Justice Committee

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The Law and Justice Interim Committee (LJIC) is 12-member bipartisan statutorily provided for interim committee of the state Legislature. The LJIC is responsible for monitoring programs and policies carried out by the Department of Corrections and the Department of Justice. Monitoring duties include:

  • reviewing the agency's proposed administrative rules
  • reviewing and requesting legislation proposed by the agency's
  • monitoring agency programs with respect to legislative appropriations and policy intent

The LJIC also acts as the Legislature's primary liaison with the Judicial Branch and conducts legislatively requested studies assigned by the Legislative Council.

August 5, 2003

October 23, 2003

March 20, 2004

September 8, 2004

  • Assigned Studies
  • SJR 31: Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Justice System
    PDF or HTML

Agency Monitoring

The Law and Justice Interim Committee (LJIC) is statutorily responsible for monitoring the programs and activities of the following agencies:

The LJIC is also the Legislature's primary liaison with the Judicial Branch:

Legislation

The Law and Justice Interim Committee (LJIC) previews legislation being prepared by the following agencies for introduction in the next legislative session:

  • Department of Corrections
  • Department of Justice
  • Judicial Branch

The LJIC has requested the following bills as committee-sponsored legislation:

  • LC0214: Montana Public Defender Act (committee's working draft as of Sept. 8, 2004)
    • the draft at the link above has not yet been processed through formal legal review and editing so is subject to change.
    • click here to track the status of this bill during the session and get the most current official versions of the bill available
  • LC0215 providing driver's license renewal for overseas military dependents
    • click here to track the status of this bill during the session and to get the most current official versions of the bill

Rule Review

The Law and Justice Interim Committee (LJIC) is responsible for reviewing administrative rules proposed by the:

  • Department of Corrections
  • Department of Justice

The committee's staff attorney analyzes each proposed rule for compliance with the Montana Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA), which specifies the public process to be used when developing and adopting administrative rules. MAPA also provides that rules must be consistent with the intent of the state statute being implemented and that the agency may adopt a rule only if the agency has specific legislative authority to do so.

The LJIC will determine as a committee how best to fulfill its rule review responsibilities and will integrate this duty into the committee's regular work plan and meeting agendas. Any special activities specifically related to rule review issues being considered by the LJIC will be posted to this web page as appropriate.

The following documents provide more information about interim committee rule review functions:

  • Staff paper on the legal theory of legislative review of executive rules -- PDF file
  • Memorandum listing interim committee rule review powers -- PDF file

 

 

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