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Article II, Section 20 of the Montana Constitution is amended as follows

Section 20. Initiation of proceedings. (1) Criminal offenses within the jurisdiction of any court inferior to the district court shall be prosecuted by complaint. All criminal actions in district court, except those on appeal, shall be prosecuted either by information, after examination and commitment by a magistrate or after leave granted by the court, or by indictment without such examination, commitment or leave.

(2) A grand jury shall consist of eleven persons, of whom eight must concur to find an indictment. A grand jury shall be drawn and summoned only at the discretion and order of the district judge or as follows:

Whenever one-half of one percent of the registered electors of a county have signed a petition to summon a grand jury and have submitted the petition signatures to the county elections officer, a grand jury shall be summoned and empanelled by the first judge of the district court for the county to receive the petition.  A grand jury so summoned and empanelled must first consider any cause advanced by those who have brought and signed the petition, but in any case, the grand jury only may be the sole judge of its duration and of the breadth and depth of its inquiry.  A grand jury so summoned must be accessible by the public.  An indictment or true bill brought by such grand jury must be prosecuted by the county attorney for the county in which an alleged offense has occurred, regardless of prosecutorial discretion.  A county attorney who fails to prosecute an indictment or true bill brought by a grand jury, within ninety days of the indictment or true bill being handed down by the grand jury, may himself be indicted for obstruction of justice and official misconduct.  If a grand jury summoned under this section is unable to obtain the prosecution of an indictment or true bill by the county attorney of the county wherein the alleged offense occurred, the grand jury may compel prosecutorial assistance from the attorney general or the grand jury may retain a private prosecutor, whose fees shall be a lawful claim against the county where the alleged offense occurred.  A grand jury summoned under this section, in addition to indictments, may seek court orders of mandate and prohibition to remedy situations under their investigation, and may hire counsel independent of the county attorney's office.
 
NEW SECTION.  Effective date.  This Act is effective upon passage and approval.