Committee: Law and Justice Interim Committee
Author: Rachel Weiss
Posted on September 12, 2017
The Law and Justice Interim Committee meets again on September 21 in Helena. The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. in room 102 of the State Capitol.
The committee will dedicate the majority of its meeting time to hearing from agency leaders and the Judicial Branch about their work to-date this interim. Specifically, the Judicial Branch, the Public Safety Officers Standards and Training Council (POST), the Office of the State Public Defender, and the Board of Pardons and Parole will all introduce key staff and provide initial information to the LJIC members about the agency and their work during the interim. The Department of Justice and the Department of Corrections, who provided updates in June, are scheduled to provide further information to the LJIC. Specifically, the LJIC will hear from the DOC’s new director, Reginald Michael, who started as the head of Corrections in early July.
The LJIC will also begin the SJ 25 study of the use of solitary confinement in Montana and the HJ 6 study of opioid abuse and methamphetamine use in the state. The Department of Justice will speak with the committee about its ongoing AID Montana project, which the committee chose to monitor. For the SJ 25 study, the committee will hear from a former Washington State corrections director. There will be time for public comment on each study.
In addition to its policy work, the LJIC will finalize its work and study plans for the interim. Those documents detail how the LJIC will allocate its meeting and staff time among various oversight duties and interim studies.
The agenda includes time for general public comment on topics related to the LJIC’s jurisdiction. Public comment guidelines are available at the LJIC’s website.
The meeting will be streamed live at www.leg.mt.gov and will be broadcast on Television Montana (TVMT). Please check your local channel listings to find TVMT in your area.
For more information about the meeting, including a full agenda and meeting materials, visit the committee’s website or contact committee staff.
Committee website: www.leg.mt.gov/ljic
Committee staff: rweiss@mt.gov or 406-444-5367
