Montana legislation · 2025 Regular Session
Montana HB102: Revise laws related to public defenders for clarity
Status: Signed into law, May 5, 2025
What the bill says
An act generally revising laws related to the office of state public defender; creating a distinction between conflict and nonconflict regional offices; revising the duties of the director, the conflict defender division administrator, the appellate defender division administrator, and the central services division administrator; removing the requirement for the director to establish standards specific to child abuse and neglect matters; revising the responsibilities of the central services division to include requirements for managing contracted services and agency training efforts…
From the engrossed text:
AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING LAWS RELATED TO THE OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER; CREATING A DISTINCTION BETWEEN CONFLICT AND NONCONFLICT REGIONAL OFFICES; REVISING THE DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR, THE CONFLICT DEFENDER DIVISION ADMINISTRATOR, THE APPELLATE DEFENDER DIVISION ADMINISTRATOR, AND THE CENTRAL SERVICES DIVISION ADMINISTRATOR; REMOVING THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DIRECTOR TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS SPECIFIC TO CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT MATTERS; REVISING THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CENTRAL SERVICES DIVISION TO INCLUDE REQUIREMENTS FOR MANAGING CONTRACTED SERVICES AND AGENCY TRAINING EFFORTS; PROVIDING REPORTING REQUIREMENTS; REVISING TITLES OF DIVISION PERSONNEL TO INCLUDE REGIONAL PUBLIC DEFENDERS AND MANAGING PUBLIC DEFENDERS; AMENDING SECTIONS 18-4-132, 47-1-104, 47-1-105, 47-1-119, 47-1-125, 47-1-201, 47-1-202, 47-1-215, 47-1-301, AND 47-1-401, MCA; AND REPEALING SECTIONS 47-1-120 AND 47-1-121, MCA. Section 1. Conflict defender division administrator -- duties. (1) In addition to the duties provided for in 47-1-401 and subject to approval by the director, the conflict defender division administrator (b) ensure that administrative management procedures for conflict regional offices are consistent with the policies and procedures provided by the central services division established in 47-1-119; (c) establish procedures for managing caseloads and assigning cases in a manner that ensures that conflict public defenders are assigned cases according to experience, training, and manageable caseloads and taking into account case complexity, the severity of charges and potential punishments, and the legal skills required to …