Key bill progress
Major budget bills • Governor's budget • Other budget bills • Abortion • Energy • Wildlife • Court administration • Health systems • Child health and welfare • LGBTQ rights • Education • Election administration
Major legislation identified by MTFP reporters. Where ambiguous, official bill titles are annotated with plain language summaries.
How bills move through the Legislature
Major budget bills
| 📋 HB 2: General Appropriations Act Main state budget bill. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 13: State Employee Pay Plan and revising laws governing state employees Provides raises for state workers. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Governor's budget
Bills that implement key provisions of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s 2023-2025 budget proposal.
| 📋 SB 121: Reduce top marginal income tax rate and increase EITC Cuts Montana income taxes and expands the state Earned Income Tax Credit on a long-term basis. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️Senate ⚪️House ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 212: Increase business equipment tax exemption Raises threshold for tax-exempt business property from $300,000 to $1 million. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅House ✴️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 222: Provide rebates of property taxes paid on a principal residence Would use a portion of the state budget surplus for short-term property tax rebates. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅House ✴️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 225: Establish adoption tax credit | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 251: Provide budget stability through investment and liability reduction “Debt-free in ‘23” bill that funds the pay down of some state bonds. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅House ✴️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 268: Establish a child tax credit through the individual income tax | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Other budget bills
Budget bills brought as alternatives to the governor’s proposal.
| 📋 HB 192: Use surplus revenue for income tax and property tax refunds and payment of bonds Would put a portion of the state budget surplus to income tax rebates. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅House ✴️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 280: Providing for circuit breaker income tax credit for property taxes paid Would create an income tax credit for property tax relief. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 307: Provide for tax rebate Larger $1.275 billion property and income tax rebate bill advanced by hardline Republicans. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Court administration
Changes to laws governing the Montana court system.
| 📋 SB 191: Revise preliminary injunction laws Raises the bar for courts to issue preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders in legal proceedings. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅Senate ✴️House ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 326: Revise laws relating to the appointment of the judicial standards commission Gives the attorney general and speaker of the House appointment power for the body that reviews judicial misconduct complaints. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Health systems
| 📋 HB 17: Provide for implementation of certified community behavioral health clinic model Advances new funding model for mental health and addiction treatment providers. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 29: Revise laws related to involuntary commitment of people with dementia or TBI Limits the types of patients who can be committed to the Montana State Hospital. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Child health and welfare
| 📋 HB 37: Generally revise child abuse and neglect laws Adds legal requirements in child removal cases. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 SB 115: Revise definition of psychological abuse or neglect in CPS cases Requires health care providers identify psychological abuse or neglect. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅Senate ✴️House ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 317: Provide for the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act Codifies federal protections for Native American children, families and tribal nations in state law. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Abortion
| 📋 SB 154: Define the right to privacy to clarify no right to abortion Redefines a constitutional provision that currently protects abortion rights. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅Senate ✴️House ⚪️Gov. |
LGBTQ rights
Bills at the intersection of religious liberty, free speech and human rights.
| 📋 SB 99: Provide for a youth health protection act Prohibits gender-affirming medical and surgical care for transgender minors. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️Senate ⚪️House ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 303: Implement Medical Ethics and Diversity Act Allows medical providers to withhold services based on ethical, moral, or religious beliefs. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 359: Prohibit minors from attending drag shows Bars drag performances in publicly funded schools and libraries. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Education
| 📋 HB 234: Revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws Alters Montana obscenity laws so criminal penalties could apply to public school employees. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 332: Generally revise laws related to school employee health benefits Invests $60 million in establishing a statewide school health insurance trust. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 352: Provide targeted interventions to support 3rd grade reading proficiency Lets some Montana kids enter kindergarten programs before age 5 to promote literacy. | ✴️1st Cmte. ⚪️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Election administration
| 📋 HB 172: Revise laws related to post-election audits Lets counties add a local race to their routine post-election audit of statewide races to verify voting machine accuracy. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅House ✴️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
| 📋 HB 196: Revise election laws related to the counting of votes Requires counties to conduct Election Day ballot counts without taking a break. | ✅1st Cmte. ✴️House ⚪️Senate ⚪️Gov. |
Energy
Wildlife
| 📋 SB 85: Require management of delisted grizzly bears at sustainable levels Articulates a broad management framework for grizzlies if they are taken off the endangered species list. | ✅1st Cmte. ✅Senate ✴️House ⚪️Gov. |
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About the 2023 Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker
This guide is an effort to make the quantifiable aspects of the Montana Legislature more accessible to the public by compiling information about lawmakers, proposed bills and the legislative process. This is a project of Montana Free Press, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom that aims to provide Montanans with in-depth, nonpartisan news coverage.
The information presented here is collected from a variety of sources including the Montana Legislature’s public roster and its official bill-tracking system, the Legislative Automated Workflow System, or LAWS. Reporting and web design was done primarily by MTFP Deputy Editor Eric Dietrich. Please contact him at edietrich@montanafreepress.org with bug reports, questions or suggestions.
Think there's a potential news story to be done about a bill or lawmaker you see here? Tell us at tips@montanafreepress.org.