Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
Downtown resource officers officers Matt Lennick, left, and Tony Nichols were photographed last summer arresting a woman for disorderly conduct after she violently objected to being cited for an open-container violation.
The Downtown Billings Alliance is hoping to round up supporters of a bill that would allow cities to pass laws prohibiting public intoxication.
Passage of Senate Bill 360, introduced by Sen. Doug Kary, R-Billings, is seen as an important component of larger plans to deal with ever-escalating complaints about the safety and appearance of downtown streets and sidewalks.
The bill will be given its first hearing Tuesday, when the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take it up at 8 a.m. in Room 303 of the state Capitol.
Bruce McIntyre, co-chair of a legislative committee that grew out of a two-day Community Innovations Summit in October, said Kary’s bill is on a “really, really tight timeline.”
Because it was introduced relatively late in the legislative session, it will have to receive a favorable vote in the Judiciary Committee and then survive two floor votes in the Senate—all before the transmittal deadline of Thursday, when bills will be sent to the House.
Doug Kary
That’s one reason the Downtown Billings Alliance has been sending out email alerts this week, urging supporters to attend next week’s hearing or contact members of the Judiciary Committee to voice their support.
The alliance is also offering transportation to and from Helena. The group will leave Billings at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday and head back to Billings immediately after the hearing. Donations will be accepted to help with expenses, but they are not required.
To join the group, write to Greg Krueger, development director for the downtown alliance, at gregk@downtownbillings.com.
Kary’s bill is relatively simple. All it would do is make a few deletions and additions to an already short law, giving local governments authority to enforce public intoxication ordinances. It would also allow law enforcement authorities to take people who are intoxicated to the county jail.
McIntyre, who is also the director of business advocacy and government affairs for the Billings Chamber of Commerce, said the lack of such a law was probably the main topic of discussion during the second day of the summit on homelessness and transience in October.
Current state law says that Montana recognizes alcoholism as an illness and that alcoholics “may not be subjected to prosecution” because of their illness, “but rather should be afforded a continuum of treatment in order that they may lead normal lives as productive members of society.”
People who are now publicly intoxicated and considered a danger to themselves can be taken to their homes or a health care facility by law enforcement. In Billings, that usually means they are taken to the Crisis Center, from which they are allowed to leave when they like.
Under Kary’s bill, such people could be taken to the jail and held until they are sober enough to be safely released. During the October summit, a ban on public intoxication—and the prospect of going to jail, however briefly—was talked about as one way of encouraging alcoholics to accept treatment for their illness.
“Sobering them up isn’t enough,” said Ed Bartlett, the city of Billings’ lobbyist in Helena. “We need to get them, hopefully, directed to treatment.”
Bartlett said the Montana League of Cities and Towns plans to support Kary’s bill, and he expects to receive support from some other cities in the state that are facing problems with public intoxication.
McIntyre said legislation to expand Medicaid coverage in Montana would go hand in hand with the public intoxication bill. Many alcoholics who live on the street are not eligible for Medicaid under current rules, he said, presenting an obstacle to getting them into treatment.
The broadest expansion, being proposed by Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, would have the state accept $700 million in federal money over the next two years, extending Medicaid to an estimated 70,000 Montanans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. That translates into $16,200 for a single person.
Republicans are proposing a much narrow expansion. House Bill 455, introduced by Rep. Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton, would extend Medicaid coverage to about 10,000 additional people.
McIntyre said his legislative committee favors full expansion, but any expansion would be of some use in encouraging alcoholics to seek help.
“There is still optimism that there will be some measure of expansion,” Bartlett said.
