Montana Constitution

(1) The state shall establish and support institutions and facilities as the public good may require, including homes which may be necessary and desirable for the care of veterans.
(2) Persons committed to any such institutions shall retain all rights except for those necessarily suspended as a condition of commitment. Suspended rights are restored upon termination of the state's responsibility.
(3) The legislature may provide such economic assistance and social and rehabilitative services for those who, by reason of age, infirmities, or misfortune are determined by the legislature to be in need.
(4) The legislature may set eligibility criteria for programs and services, as well as for the duration and level of benefits and services.

History

Sources

1889 Montana Constitution

Article X - State Institutions and Public Buildings.

Section 1. Educational, reformatory and penal institutions, and those for the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf, and mute, soldiers' home, and such other institutions as the public good may require, shall be established and supported by the State in such a manner as may be prescribed by law.

Section 5. The several counties of the State shall provide as may be prescribed by law for those inhabitants, who, by reason of age, infirmity or misfortune, may have claims upon the sympathy and aid of society.

Drafting

Delegate Proposal 23. All funds to support public welfare in the state of Montana shall be appropriated by the Legislature. No real or personal property taxes may be used to finance public welfare. (Virginia H. Blend)Montana Constitutional Convention Proceedings, 1971-1972 Vol. I, 114.

Delegate Proposal 139. No state institution, agency, or office [may be] moved from the city or town in which the institution, agency or office is located at the time of the adoption of this Constitution. (Mike McKeon)Montana Constitutional Convention Proceedings, 1971-1972 Vol. I, 237.

Delegate Proposal 153. No person will be charged a fee when he or she is an inmate of a state institution nor shall his or her family be charged a fee. (David L. Holland, Mike McKeon)Montana Constitutional Convention Proceedings, 1971-1972 Vol. I, 297.

Delegate Proposal 163. Rights of Committed. The State, recognizing its obligation, shall establish and maintain a system of fair and humane facilities whose aim shall include care, custody and treatment with the ultimate goal of rehabilitation where feasible. Persons committed to such facilities shall retain all rights except those necessarily suspended as a condition of commitment. All rights necessarily suspended shall be restored upon termination of the state’s responsibility. (Veronica Sullivan, Thomas F. Joyce, George H. James, Chet Baylock, Carman Shari, Grace Bates, Wade J. Dahood, Marian S. Erdmann, Paul K. Harlow, Lyle R. Monroe)Montana Constitutional Convention Proceedings, 1971-1972 Vol. I, 310.

Committee Report. Delegate Sullivan advocated for the rights on Montana's mentally ill citizens. She noted that there was a legal inconsistency where "patients committed to Warm Springs State Hospital on standard commitments lose all their civil rights while in the hospital and until such time as the released patient goes through the involved and costly process of petitioning the courts to restore his or her rights, then why isn't this policy applied to all mentally ill throughout our state? Why is it that individuals who can afford private psychiatric care and treatment or those who are handled by our community mental health clinics on an outpatient basis are not deprived of their rights? Why this double standard?"6 Verbatim Transcript 2304 (Mar. 15, 1972). "These people cannot function as effective members of society unless they have all the same, full rights...Let us, in Montana, be in the forefront in providing our mentally ill the opportunities for complete rehabilitation."6 Verbatim Transcript 2305 (Mar. 15, 1972) Delegate Dahood agreed, "What happens to the mentally ill, who are ill through no fault of their own whatsoever; one of the tragic consequences of human personality? If an individual becomes mentally ill and has to be committed, he must, by the courts, be judged an incompetent person. When his treatment is completed and he is released, he must hire a lawyer. He must go to court. He must present his petition, evidence in support of it, and ask the court to enter an order restoring him to competency.6 Verbatim Transcript 2305 (Mar. 15, 1972) Delegate Heliker proposed an amendment to clarify that mental institutions were the only institutions being addressed, and not other institutions such as those that are educational.6 Verbatim Transcript 2306 (Mar. 15, 1972). Delegate Dahood resisted the amendment finding no ambiguity in the language.Id.

Ratification

Constitutional Amendment No. 18 changed the language of (3), replacing the directive "The Legislature shall provide such economic assistance..." to the permissive "The Legislature may..."Mont. Const. art XII, § 3(3).