Missoula County opposes HB 399: Revise certain reporting requirements related to child sexual abuse, up for second reading on the Senate floor this afternoon. Missoula County is supportive of collecting data that can be used to improve investigations, protect children and bring abusers to justice, but we believe this bill does none of those things. Rather, it creates inaccurate and inefficient bureaucracy that takes us away from those goals. This bill increases reporting requirements that are redundant with what the Department of Health and Human Services already collects, per MCA § 41-3-202(6), and would likely require additional staffing.
Also, the manner and timing of these reports results in inaccurate data regarding prosecutions. The County Attorney’s Office does not always have knowledge of law enforcement investigations when they receive a report of abuse. For example, if the County Attorney’s Office received a report of abuse on Dec. 20, 2022, they may not have the information at that time of a criminal investigation, so it would not be captured on the report sent to the Attorney General’s Office. However, later on a law enforcement agency could refer to this same report of abuse for prosecution, and that date wouldn’t be captured on the report already sent to the Attorney General’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office would have no ability or capacity to go back and update the report that was sent. This would skew data regarding prosecutions, making it appear that fewer cases are being prosecuted than actually are.
This bill would cause the County to spend a lot of time and money to put together data that already exists with DPHHS, and that ends up being skewed, and therefore unusable, due to the arbitrary date requirements that do not correspond with how prosecutions work.
Missoula County opposes HB 399: Revise certain reporting requirements related to child sexual abuse, up for hearing at 8 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 14, in the House Judiciary Committee. Missoula County is supportive of collecting data that can be used to improve investigations, protect children and bring abusers to justice, but we believe this bill does none of those things. Rather, it creates inaccurate and inefficient bureaucracy that takes us away from those goals. This bill increases reporting requirements that are redundant with what the Department of Health and Human Services already collects, per MCA § 41-3-202(6), and would likely require additional staffing.
Also, the manner and timing of these reports results in inaccurate data regarding prosecutions. The County Attorney’s Office does not always have knowledge of law enforcement investigations when they receive a report of abuse. For example, if the County Attorney’s Office received a report of abuse on Dec. 20, 2022, they may not have the information at that time of a criminal investigation, so it would not be captured on the report sent to the Attorney General’s Office. However, later on a law enforcement agency could refer to this same report of abuse for prosecution, and that date wouldn’t be captured on the report already sent to the Attorney General’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office would have no ability or capacity to go back and update the report that was sent. This would skew data regarding prosecutions, making it appear that fewer cases are being prosecuted than actually are.
This bill would cause the County to spend a lot of time and money to put together data that already exists with DPHHS, and that ends up being skewed, and therefore unusable, due to the arbitrary date requirements that do not correspond with how prosecutions work.
Senators,
ReplyDeleteMissoula County opposes HB 399: Revise certain reporting requirements related to child sexual abuse, up for second reading on the Senate floor this afternoon. Missoula County is supportive of collecting data that can be used to improve investigations, protect children and bring abusers to justice, but we believe this bill does none of those things. Rather, it creates inaccurate and inefficient bureaucracy that takes us away from those goals. This bill increases reporting requirements that are redundant with what the Department of Health and Human Services already collects, per MCA § 41-3-202(6), and would likely require additional staffing.
Also, the manner and timing of these reports results in inaccurate data regarding prosecutions. The County Attorney’s Office does not always have knowledge of law enforcement investigations when they receive a report of abuse. For example, if the County Attorney’s Office received a report of abuse on Dec. 20, 2022, they may not have the information at that time of a criminal investigation, so it would not be captured on the report sent to the Attorney General’s Office. However, later on a law enforcement agency could refer to this same report of abuse for prosecution, and that date wouldn’t be captured on the report already sent to the Attorney General’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office would have no ability or capacity to go back and update the report that was sent. This would skew data regarding prosecutions, making it appear that fewer cases are being prosecuted than actually are.
This bill would cause the County to spend a lot of time and money to put together data that already exists with DPHHS, and that ends up being skewed, and therefore unusable, due to the arbitrary date requirements that do not correspond with how prosecutions work.
Please oppose HB 399.
Sent on 2/13:
ReplyDeleteRepresentatives France, Howell and Zephyr,
Missoula County opposes HB 399: Revise certain reporting requirements related to child sexual abuse, up for hearing at 8 a.m. tomorrow, Feb. 14, in the House Judiciary Committee. Missoula County is supportive of collecting data that can be used to improve investigations, protect children and bring abusers to justice, but we believe this bill does none of those things. Rather, it creates inaccurate and inefficient bureaucracy that takes us away from those goals. This bill increases reporting requirements that are redundant with what the Department of Health and Human Services already collects, per MCA § 41-3-202(6), and would likely require additional staffing.
Also, the manner and timing of these reports results in inaccurate data regarding prosecutions. The County Attorney’s Office does not always have knowledge of law enforcement investigations when they receive a report of abuse. For example, if the County Attorney’s Office received a report of abuse on Dec. 20, 2022, they may not have the information at that time of a criminal investigation, so it would not be captured on the report sent to the Attorney General’s Office. However, later on a law enforcement agency could refer to this same report of abuse for prosecution, and that date wouldn’t be captured on the report already sent to the Attorney General’s Office, and the County Attorney’s Office would have no ability or capacity to go back and update the report that was sent. This would skew data regarding prosecutions, making it appear that fewer cases are being prosecuted than actually are.
This bill would cause the County to spend a lot of time and money to put together data that already exists with DPHHS, and that ends up being skewed, and therefore unusable, due to the arbitrary date requirements that do not correspond with how prosecutions work.
Please oppose HB 399.