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Legislators Consider Nixing Jail Time for 8 Misdemeanors

Bill reborn after it failed during the last legislative session

By Alison Noon, Associated Press

HELENA — A bill to eliminate jail time for eight misdemeanor crimes in Montana was reborn Friday after having failed in last session’s legislature with the same political makeup.

Sen. Nels Swandal introduced Senate Bill 90 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Republican from Wilsall said the proposed changes could cut state costs by about $1 million annually by relieving public defenders. Defendants are not entitled to public defenders in Montana if jail time is not a potential punishment.

“Typically, lower court judges don’t give you jail time for first-time offenses anyway,” Swandal said.

Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert, who spoke against the measure, said the low rate of incarceration for first offenses is exactly why it is extraneous to eliminate the possibility of jail time.

“We can trust the judiciary of this state,” Lambert said of sentencing decisions. “That’s what they do. That’s their office.”

Mark Murphy of the Montana County Attorneys Association reminded the committee that Senate Bill 53, which the newest bill expands upon, failed unanimously in the House Judiciary Committee in 2013. The loss of bond revenue because of eliminating jail time for misdemeanors would hurt state budgets down the road, Murphy said.

Senate Bill 90 would exclude jail time for convictions of public nuisance; issuing bad checks totaling less than $1,500 and not part of a common scheme; first-offense theft of labor; and first-offense theft of property valued at less than $1,500.

The bill would also disqualify jail time as punishment for driving without insurance or a valid driver’s license, unless the offender’s license was revoked for a prior conviction of driving under the influence or refusing to take a drug test.

Additionally, the bill would require the maximum jail time for most first-offense disorderly conduct to be no more than one day, down from 10.