Committee considers single‑payer plan to cover sexual‑assault forensic exams

The committee considered provisional draft LJIC‑PD2 to create a Sexual Assault Response Network (SARN) account to pay for forensic exam costs, evidence kits and a secure reimbursement system that would remove financial burden from law enforcement and victims.

Miss Shirley explained the draft would establish a single‑payer reimbursement system and asked the committee to decide whether to fund the account with general fund or a set percentage from the marijuana state special revenue account; legislative fiscal staff provided estimates and urged consideration of a multi‑year set‑aside.

Hope Stockwell, SARN program coordinator at the Montana Department of Justice, said the SARN committee supports the draft and recommended striking references to the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN), which has dissolved. Stockwell said the draft contemplates administrative rulemaking to set payment amounts and suggested a tiered rate structure (higher reimbursement where an evidence kit is collected) and proposed a 5% annual marijuana allocation as a projection to sustain the program over ten years.

Health‑care providers and advocacy groups — including Kelsen Young of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and Maddie Tyson of Billings Clinic Logan Health — supported the proposal, saying a state‑level single‑payer system would stabilize kits and exam reimbursement, remove reporting barriers for survivors and protect victim compensation funds currently used to cover exam costs.

County attorneys and law‑enforcement representatives (Celine Koepke and others) also testified in support. The committee asked staff to survey hospitals and providers about unrecovered costs and community‑benefit contributions and directed the SARN coordinator and associations to provide the committee with further funding and enrollment estimates prior to a final funding decision.

Next steps: staff will provide a summary of health‑care facility contributions and updated cost projections; the committee will consider whether to place funding in the general fund or use a marijuana special revenue set‑aside when drafting a committee bill for session.