17-7-160. Montana highway patrol exempt from vacancy savings -- report to audit committee. (1) Vacancy savings may not be imposed on authorized positions in the Montana highway patrol.
     (2) For purposes of this section:
     (a) "authorized positions" means those positions included in the list of current authorized positions that the Montana highway patrol is required to maintain under 2-18-206; and
     (b) "vacancy savings" means the difference between the cost of fully funding authorized positions for an entire fiscal year and the actual cost of those authorized positions during that period.
     (3) Each fiscal year, the department of justice shall provide to the legislative audit committee a detailed report on all positions in the Montana highway patrol. At a minimum, the report must include the following information:
     (a) the number of positions that were filled during the year and the average salary paid at hire;
     (b) the total number of vacancies incurred during the year broken out by position title, the cause of each vacancy, and the length of time the position remained vacant;
     (c) the total number of hours spent on patrol during the year broken out by enforcement activity and position title.

     History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 421, L. 2005.