At a Legislative Audit Committee meeting Thursday, lawmakers had their first chance to address a scathing report that showed more than half of Montana’s game, fish and wildlife wardens fear retaliation and believe the culture in the department is bad, while state auditors found a dearth of required personnel records.
A proposed amendment to Montana’s constitution that would allow a certain percentage of voters in a county to convene a grand jury will – if it clears the hurdles to be put on the 2024 ballot – show that a majority of the members of a legislative interim committee felt the measure should not have been on the ballot in the first place.
After twice rejecting legislation this year that aimed to allow groups of Montanans to form their own grand juries, most lawmakers have not warmed to the idea in the seven months since those bills were tabled.
The Legislative Audit Committee ordered an additional audit of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks human resources, while new leadership too responsibility for the toxic culture outlined in a recent audit.