HELENA, Mont. (March 1, 2021) – On Friday, a Montana House Committee passed a bill that would place limits on law enforcement use of facial recognition. The proposed law would not only help protect privacy in Montana; it could also hinder one aspect of the federal surveillance state.
Rep. Katie Sullivan (D-Missoula) introduced House Bill 577 (HB577) on Feb. 23. Under the proposed law, a local government agency could only use facial recognition technology for the investigation of a missing or endangered person, violent felonies, or for locating a person in the vicinity of a recent violent felony who may be connected to that crime. It would ban the use of facial recognition for ongoing surveillance, conducting real-time or near real-time identification, or starting persistent tracking without a warrant.
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A Montana House Committee has tabled a controversial bill that would have allowed non-tribal members to hunt on privately owned lands within Native American reservations.
The House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee voted 13 to five to table House Bill 241 in a bipartisan vote Thursday (Feb. 11) afternoon.
The House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee heard heated argument on the bill Tuesday night (Feb. 9).
Bill sponsor Republican Rep. Joe Read from Ronan said the bill was about private property ownership and was not intended to infringe on the rights of tribal nations. Other bill proponents from the Flathead area spoke about their desire to be allowed to legally hunt and manage wildlife on their own land.