Katie Zolnikov

Voted for Senate Bill 319, which creates a state license for doulas. A doula is a trained helper, not a medical provider, who supports a pregnant woman before, during, and after birth. Starting January 1, 2027, no one may work as a doula without a license from the state labor department. To get one, a person must meet the department's training standards and have a clean record. Peer mentors, advocates, coaches, and tribal healers may keep doing similar work without a license, so long as they do not call themselves doulas. The law also lets the health department cover licensed doula services under Medicaid. The act takes effect January 1, 2026 and ends December 31, 2030. The Montana House backed the final compromise version 54-46, and it became law.

April 30, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 953, which adds direct primary care to the services Montana Medicaid may cover. In direct primary care a patient or their plan pays a doctor a set fee, instead of paying visit by visit. The coverage is optional, so the health department may add it by rule but does not have to. The law also bars the department from making an enrollee join a case management program if that person has a direct care agreement. It sets aside $5,000 to carry the change out. The Montana House passed it 73-24, and it became law.

April 8, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 535, which creates a licensed industry of experimental treatment centres in Montana. A centre must hold a state licence, costing $10,000 to apply and $5,000 a year. The act also widens what counts as an experimental treatment. A treatment must still have passed the first phase of a clinical trial. It used to also have to remain in a federally approved trial; it may now instead have a safety record shown by documented clinical evidence. Consent may be a recording rather than a signed form, and two warnings are deleted, including the one about unexpected or worse symptoms. Direct agreements between a centre and a patient are placed outside insurance law. The Montana House passed it 49-48, and it became law.

April 25, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 736, which is about nitrogen and phosphorus in Montana's rivers and lakes. A plant that holds a state discharge permit may now meet its limits by counting verified cuts made somewhere else in the same small drainage area, or one next to it. A cut at another pipe counts in full. A cut to runoff counts at 80 percent if it is upstream and 50 percent if it is downstream, so more must be cut than is added. The state checks the numbers and must publish standard ways to measure runoff cuts. No water quality standard changes, and the law has no end date. The Montana House passed it 69-30, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 703, which narrows what state environmental reviews must cover. Building code officials, state and local, no longer have to study greenhouse gases from covered appliances. That applies when they adopt or enforce a building code. The state also no longer has to study greenhouse gases given off outside Montana. That covers new motor vehicles, their engines, and new off-road engines. The Montana House backed the Senate's version 61-37, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 270, which limits what a court may do when a state environmental study is found to be flawed. A judge may now send the study back to the agency to fix. But a judge may not cancel, void or suspend a permit unless the challenger is more likely than not to win, will suffer harm that cannot be undone, and the order is in the public interest. The court must weigh the effect on the local and state economy, and must let the project go ahead as far as possible. The act applies to court cases already filed but not yet decided. The Montana House passed it 64-33, and it became law.

April 15, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 285, which rewrites the Montana Environmental Policy Act. That law sets how the state studies the environmental effects of projects it permits. The law repeals the act's broad statement of state environmental policy and the rule that other state laws be read in line with it. It also drops the duty to study long-range harm. A study is now meant to inform the public and lawmakers, and an agency may not deny a permit or add conditions to it because of what a study found. Lawsuits must be filed in the county where the project would happen. The Montana House backed the Senate's version 63-34, and it became law.

April 15, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 168, which sets a time limit for enforcing lakeshore rules. A city, county or the state has 3 years to sue a lakefront owner or their builder over a dock, boat house, retaining wall, road or similar structure. The clock runs from when building finished or the permit was issued, whichever is later. The limit does not apply if the structure causes documented harm to the shore, water quality or aquatic life, blocks boating or recreation, or is a documented public nuisance. Small upkeep and remodeling no longer need lakeshore review, unless the work involves major digging, dredging or fill, harms aquatic life, or gets in the way of boating or recreation. Small means under $10,000 of change over 5 years, not counting unpaid labor. The Montana House passed it 64-35, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 259, which changes how Montana manages gray wolves. The Fish and Wildlife Commission must now set different rules in different parts of the state, with the loosest harvest rules where wolves are most numerous. Before, it could do that but did not have to. The act also lets the commission allow infrared scopes and thermal imagery scopes for hunting wolves on private land at night. Artificial light and night vision scopes were already allowed. The rule that the wolf population stay at or above 15 breeding pairs does not change. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 262, which cuts environmental review out of part of subdivision approval. The state no longer follows the Montana Environmental Policy Act when it reviews water or sewer plans. Its exemption for subdivision applications, once limited to small projects far from high-quality waters, now covers every subdivision application. Local governments that review small water and sewer systems drop two steps. They no longer file environmental policy act papers or property takings papers. They must still decide whether water quality would get worse. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 154, which bans selling human bodies and widens the ban on selling body parts. Montana already barred buying or selling a part for transplant or treatment. The act extends that to parts sold for research, for teaching, and for training search and rescue dogs. It adds tissue from a dead embryo or foetus to what counts as a part, though established cell lines are excluded. Selling a whole body for any of those purposes is banned for the first time. Reasonable payment for removing, storing or transporting remains lawful. The Montana House passed it 56-42, and it became law.

April 10, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 221, which changes how Montana weighs greenhouse gases in environmental reviews. State law had barred agencies from studying greenhouse gases and their effect on the climate, and that ban is repealed. An agency may now do a greenhouse gas assessment when it decides one is needed. It must do one for a project that counts as a fossil fuel activity under state law. The environmental quality department must write public guidance on when an assessment is needed and how to do it, after public notice and comment. The law also drops a rule that had kept a greenhouse gas complaint from undoing or delaying a permit. The Montana House passed it 63-35, and it became law.

April 10, 2025Supports Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 587, which raises the bar for proving a coal mine has harmed water. The legal test is called material damage. Before, going over a state water quality limit counted as harm on its own, even if no one's water use suffered. Now the harm must be measured with confidence, and must block a use of water outside the mine's permit area that the state already lists. The act also names two new kinds of harm: damage to farming on the flat land along a stream, and sinking ground from mining below that hurts land or buildings. The change reaches back to permit fights and court cases that were still open when it was signed. The Montana House passed it 55-44, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 685, which changes the rule protecting Montana water that is cleaner than the law requires. To get permission to make such water dirtier, an applicant used to have to prove four things. One was that the project's benefits to people outweighed the cost to society of the added pollution. The law removes that test. The other three tests stay, and so do the public comment period and the right to appeal. The law also renames the permission a feasibility allowance. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 664, which repeals Montana's base numeric nutrient standards for water. Those standards, adopted in 2014 in a state circular called DEQ-12A, set numeric limits on nitrogen and phosphorus, which feed algae growth. The environmental quality department must repeal that circular and the variances that went with it. It must also strip references to them from 14 rules and from its guidance, testing methods, and pollution budgets. The law repeals the state's transition rules for nutrient standards and ends the advisory nutrient work group. The Montana House passed it 69-30, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 291, which limits how strict Montana's air pollution rules may be. The state may no longer set limits tighter than the federal Clean Air Act. Two exceptions remain. Limits already in place before this law still stand. So do limits needed in areas that fail federal air quality standards. The law also removes the path that let the state set a tighter rule after a public hearing and a written, science-backed finding. City and county air programs lose that path too, and may now only match state rules. The Montana House passed it 61-38, and it became law.

February 18, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 197, which changes when an insurer may stop paying a hurt worker. Temporary total disability pay goes to a worker who cannot work at all while recovering. The insurer normally must give 14 days' written notice before stopping it. Under the act, if a doctor clears the worker to return to full duty, the insurer may end the pay from the day the worker went back to work, or after 14 days' notice, whichever comes first. That lets the pay stop from the earlier date rather than after the notice period. The Montana House passed it 59-39, and it became law.

March 20, 2025Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 804, which changes Montana's lobbying reports. A group that pays for lobbying must register and report once its yearly spending passes a set figure. The act sets that figure at $3,000 for 2025. That matches the figure already in force under the state's inflation updates, so the act does not change who must report. The figure keeps moving with inflation after each general election. Reports must now be filed electronically. The act also lowers the point at which a month's spending triggers a separate monthly report, from $5,000 down to $3,000, so more months of heavy spending must be reported. The Montana House passed it 56-42, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 759, which limits how business firms may give money to candidates. A candidate may take a gift from a limited liability company or a partnership in one case only. The firm must be taxed as a sole proprietorship or as a partnership. A firm taxed as a corporation may no longer give at all. Any such gift must be reported under the name of the member or partner who really gave it. That person's own yearly limit then applies. So it is now harder to give more than the personal limit by routing money through a firm. The Montana House backed the Senate's version 59-39, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 39, which sets rules for what a lawyer may charge the losing side. When a court orders one side to pay the other's legal costs, the act says the amount must be reasonable and lists what a request must show. Time must be billed in tenths of an hour, each task described specifically, and expenses itemised with receipts. Four things are assumed unreasonable unless argued otherwise, including sending more than one lawyer to a deposition and charging above the state average rate with under 10 years in practice. Where the state is paying, the court must weigh what the state's own lawyers charge. The rules apply to requests of $10,000 or more, and to cases already under way. The Montana House passed it 60-39, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 193, which moves the power to appoint the board that examines would-be lawyers. The attorneys' examining board decides who may practise law in Montana. Its members used to be appointed by the Montana Supreme Court acting as a body of seven justices. The act gives that power to the chief justice alone. The chief justice may also remove a member, set the board's duties, and make the rules that govern it. The board still may not exceed seven members. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 97, which moves lawsuits over new Montana laws out of the capital. If someone argues in court that a law passed or changed in the current two-year legislative period is unconstitutional, or seeks to block it, the case must be heard in a county inside the home district of the legislator who sponsored the bill. That period starts in January of each odd-numbered year and lasts two years. A judge must move a case filed elsewhere if a party asks, and the same applies when the bill's sponsor joins the case. Before the act, such a case was usually heard where the state government sits. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 38, which removes a way to recover legal costs from the state. When the legislature is not sitting, members may be polled on whether to override a governor's veto. Someone may go to court to force that poll to happen. Under the act, if the poll then fails to override the veto, the person who forced it does not count as having won, so they cannot be paid their legal costs. The act says this holds even where a court finds the state's defence was pointless or made in bad faith. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 30, which narrows an old rule that lets a conflicted judge stay on a case. The rule of necessity says a judge with a conflict of interest may still hear a case when there is no one else to hear it. The act says a judge may not lean on that rule to avoid stepping aside when other judges are available whose conflicts are smaller or less direct. Nothing else about when a judge must step aside changes. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 492, which narrows what elected state officials must disclose about their business interests. State officers, judges, department directors and candidates for statewide or district office file a business disclosure statement: sitting officials every two years, candidates within five days of filing for office. They used to have to list every business in which they held any interest at all. Now they list only those where they hold more than 10 percent, or more than 1 percent if the company is publicly traded. The same 10 percent floor now applies to land they must report, other than their own home. They must still list any employer that pays them benefits and any company where they serve as an officer or director. An official may not take or keep office until the statement is filed. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 457, which gives the legislature teeth when someone ignores a subpoena. A subpoena is an order to appear or to hand over records. If a person does not comply, the chamber that issued it may vote to hold them in contempt. When the legislature is not sitting, members may be polled by post instead. A person convicted of criminal contempt of the legislature faces a fine of up to $1,000, up to 12 months in county jail, or both. The Montana House passed it 55-44, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 48, which lets a person speak in public about a complaint they filed against a judge. Complaints to the Judicial Standards Commission are normally kept private, and that duty used to bind the person who complained. The act gives a citizen the right to make their own complaint public at any time. The commission may then confirm it is looking into the matter, explain the steps, note that the judge denies it, or say there is not enough proof. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 41, which changes how a replacement judge is chosen. When a district judge is removed from a case, disqualified, or steps aside, the next judge must now be picked at random. The state court administrator writes the procedure and had to send it to every district judge by October 15, 2025. The method must still keep the replacement judge reasonably close by, while staying random. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 891, which lets the state health department demand records without going to a judge. The department has an inspector general who looks into waste, fraud and abuse in health services and public assistance. That office may now order a person or company to hand over financial records, documents and data, including electronic data. The material must be relevant to such an investigation. Every order must be signed by both the department director and the inspector general. Unlike a court order, no judge reviews it first. The Montana House passed it 57-41, and it became law.

April 5, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 770, which tightens campaign finance reporting for candidates. A candidate must now file the required reports even when they took in no money and spent none. The act also states the consequence plainly: a candidate who does not meet these reporting duties will not have their name printed on the ballot for the election. The reporting deadlines themselves, which run quarterly and then monthly in an election year, are not changed. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 531, which bars courts from reviewing the rules the legislature writes for itself. The act states that the legislature alone may make, enforce, interpret, suspend, repeal or waive the rules for its own proceedings. A judge may not review or interpret one of those rules. The one exception is a rule that conflicts with the Montana constitution or the United States constitution. Before the act, a court could be asked whether the legislature had followed its own rules. The Montana House passed it 59-40, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 393, which makes small Montana towns record their public meetings. A town with more than 300 people must now make an audio recording of a public meeting. It must put the recording online within 14 business days, with a link on the town's website. A town with no website must keep a social media page and post the link there. If the recording fails for technical reasons, the town must post a notice saying why and what it is doing to fix it. Larger cities, counties and school boards already had similar duties. The Montana House passed it 69-30, and it became law.

February 24, 2025Supports Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 365, which stops a court weighing how the legislature behaved when awarding legal costs. If someone sues the state over a law and wins, the court may order the state to pay their legal costs where the state fought the case in bad faith. The act says the conduct of the legislature in passing the law may not count in that judgement, and may not be put in evidence for it. It says this applies even where the court finds the state's defence was pointless or in bad faith. It reaches back to court cases already under way. The Montana House passed it 57-43, and it became law.

February 19, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 39, which lets political parties give money to candidates for judge. Montana law had banned party gifts to judicial candidates outright, and that ban is now repealed. Judges in Montana still run on a nonpartisan ballot, with no party label beside their names. The change also reaches justices of the peace, who had been covered by the same ban. The Montana House passed it 57-43, and it became law.

January 15, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 427, which makes a building department explain itself in writing. The rule applies when the state labor department or a local building department holds up a permit past the normal review time. It also applies when one of them stops work for breaking the building code. The applicant or builder may then ask in writing for the code sections being relied on. The department must give the text or the citation within 7 working days. If it misses that, it owes the person $50 for every day it is late. The person may also sue in district court, and the winning side may be paid its legal costs. The Montana House passed it 61-37, and it became law.

April 16, 2025Supports Government Efficiency

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted for House Bill 20, which changes how a local government asks voters to approve a property tax. The question must now name a fixed number of dollars, not a number of mills. A mill is a rate, so a levy set in mills brings in more money as property values rise. A levy set in dollars stays put, and the rate floats to hit it. Counties, cities, towns, and special districts may ask voters to let the amount grow by half of recent inflation. School districts may not. The Montana House backed the Senate's version 57-42, and it became law.

March 25, 2025Supports Cost of Living Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 91, which puts a citizenship mark on Montana driver's licenses and state identification cards. Starting January 1, 2026, a card issued to a United States citizen carries a picture of an eagle. Cards issued to people who are not citizens do not carry it. So the card itself shows whether the holder is a citizen. The rule applies only to cards issued on or after that date, so older cards keep their current look. The Montana House passed it 58-40, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 214, which is about people held for federal immigration reasons. Montana may now charge such a person with a state crime. The state may hand the person to federal officers, or keep them until the state case ends. A local prosecutor who is thinking of dropping a case like this must first tell the state attorney general. That gives the attorney general time to step in and bring the charge instead. The Montana House passed it 58-42, and it became law.

February 12, 2025Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 278, which is about traffic and street stops by police. An officer who has lawfully stopped someone may now try to check that person's immigration status. The officer does this when there is reason to suspect a problem and when it is practical, and may skip it if it would get in the way of a case. If the officer finds the person is not lawfully in the country, the officer must report it to a federal immigration agency. The Montana House passed it 60-40, and it became law.

February 12, 2025Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 534, which frees new internet and mobile phone kit from property tax. Fibre optic cable, coaxial cable and wireless kit first put to use on or after the day the act starts pays no property tax for 5 years. In return the owner must spend the tax saving on new cable or wireless kit in Montana. It has 2 years from the date it first claims the break to do so. Owners must keep records proving it. The act also changes the existing tax cuts for phone and internet property. The Montana House passed it 65-35, and it became law.

April 24, 2025Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 333, which keeps a tax break for coal companies going for two more years. Montana lets a coal producer reduce the severance tax it owes on coal that has been washed. Washing removes rock and other waste before the coal is sold. That break was written to end on 1 July 2025. The act moves the end date to 1 July 2027. Nothing about how the break is worked out changes. The Secretary of State must send a copy of the act to every federally recognised tribal government in Montana. The Montana House passed it 58-42, and it became law.

April 24, 2025Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 411, which stops farm and forest land paying open space levies. A local government may levy a property tax to buy or protect open space. Farm land, forest land, the farm buildings on that land and farm machinery were already exempt from the property taxes that repay open space bonds. The act widens that exemption to cover all open space levies, not only bond repayments. It applies to levies and bonds voters have already approved, and starts with the 2026 property tax year. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

March 26, 2025Opposes Government Spending Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 586, which changes when a child must ride in a car seat or booster seat. The rule now turns on the child's age rather than the older test alone. The act sets out what counts as a child safety restraint system and what counts as a booster seat. It also lists the vehicles and situations that do not have to comply. A driver carrying a child who is not properly restrained is breaking the law. The Montana House passed it 73-26, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 344, which creates a new drugged driving offense. A driver breaks the law if a blood test shows a set amount of certain drugs and the driver has no valid prescription. The act lists nine substances with ten blood limits, measured in nanograms per milliliter. They include amphetamine, cocaine, heroin, morphine, LSD, methamphetamine, phencyclidine and fentanyl. Reaching the limit is the offense by itself, so a prosecutor need not also prove the driver was impaired. The offense covers both ordinary and commercial drivers. The Montana House passed it 68-29, and it became law.

April 15, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 508, which sets a zero tolerance rule for THC in drivers under 21. THC is the main active substance in marijuana. An adult driver breaks the law at 5 nanograms per millilitre of blood. For a driver under 21, the act makes any amount at all the offence. The test excludes inactive breakdown products, which can linger long after any effect has passed. This matches how Montana already treats alcohol for that age group, where the limit is far below the adult one. The Montana House passed it 62-37, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 521, which bars someone convicted of a crime from suing over injuries they got committing it. The bar applies only where the injury was caused by a victim, and only where that victim used no force at all or used force the law treats as justified. If the victim used force that was not justified, the person may still sue. The rule also turns on there being a conviction, so a person who is charged but not convicted is not covered. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 396, which changes Montana's bail rules in three ways. A person brought back to Montana from another state on a warrant may not be released on bail right away. They must first come before the judge who issued the warrant, or another judge nearby if that judge is away. When an agreement between states applies, that agreement and federal law control. Judges must also weigh whether a person has fled or skipped court before, and what it cost the state to bring them back. That applies both to release and to the amount of bail. The Montana House passed it 60-39, and it became law.

March 4, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 467, which adds oral fluid testing to Montana's drunk and drugged driving rules. Oral fluid is saliva, taken with a mouth swab. A driver on Montana roads already agrees in advance to a blood or breath test when an officer has good reason to suspect impaired driving. The act adds saliva to that list, for ordinary drivers and for commercial drivers. An officer may choose which test to give, and results are treated the same way as blood or breath results. The Montana House passed it 64-36, and it became law.

February 25, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 337, which lets a builder pause property tax while building a new subdivision. The builder applies to the revenue department. It must pay up front five times the property tax and charges owed for the most recent year, plus a 5% fee. The county treasurer shares that money out to the same funds as normal property tax. Once approved, the land pays no property tax from the start of the next tax year, for up to five years. The break ends sooner on any lot once a home is built on it, and for the whole subdivision once 95% of the lots have homes. The Montana House passed it 60-40, and it became law.

April 24, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 532, which requires Montana counties with zoning to allow small second homes on house plots. These are called accessory dwelling units, and at least one must be allowed as of right on a plot that already holds a single-family house. It may be attached, detached, or built inside the house. A county may not require it to match the main house's look, roof pitch or materials. It may not require an owner to live in either home, or require the occupants to be related. It may not charge impact fees on one, and it may not demand street improvements except to repair damage from the building work. The Montana House passed it 75-24, and it became law.

April 23, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 492, which limits how much parking a Montana city may force a builder to include. A city may no longer ask for more than one space per home. For homes under 1,200 square feet the limit is half a space, and in the larger cities under the state land use planning law, none at all. A city may ask for no parking at all for child care facilities, assisted living homes, deed-restricted affordable housing, or an old building being put to a new use. Spaces required by federal disability law still apply, and a builder may still add as much parking as they wish. The change starts October 1, 2026. The Montana House passed it 73-26, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 311, which makes a property manager give back a rental application fee. It covers managers of four or more units. The fee must be refunded within a reasonable time if the applicant does not end up with a rental agreement. The manager may keep only real out-of-pocket costs, such as a credit check, and only if the applicant got written notice of each cost when the fee was paid. The manager may not keep money for a service it never carried out, and may not charge for its own time. An applicant who is not paid back may sue for the amount held. The Montana House passed it 68-29, and it became law.

April 15, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 133, which limits the impact fees a local government may charge on new building. An impact fee is a one-off charge meant to cover the cost of new roads, water lines or similar services. The act removes the extra charge of up to 5 percent that a local government could add to cover the cost of running the fee scheme. It also caps how fast an impact fee may rise, tying any increase to the producer price index for all commodities. Fees for plan review and inspection are unaffected. The Montana House passed it 54-45, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 213, which lets some apartment buildings be built with only one staircase. The state building code must now allow a single stairway to serve as the exit for every flat in a building, but only where four conditions are met. The building may be no more than six storeys above ground. There may be no more than four flats on any floor. The building must have an automatic sprinkler system. And every flat must have a window or another way out in an emergency. Building with one staircase instead of two costs less. The Montana House passed it 67-32, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 214, which tips close zoning arguments toward the landowner. Some land is used in a way that was legal when it started but no longer fits the zoning rules. Where the rules are unclear about whether that use is allowed, the act says the doubt must be read in favour of the use. The same applies to whether it was allowed when it began. The act also takes away the power of historic preservation boards to review requests for zoning permits and for exceptions to the rules. The Montana House passed it 50-48, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 931, which is about state trust land. That is public land the state rents out to raise money for schools and other public uses. A business lease of this land may now cover building single-family or apartment housing, run through one master tenant who manages the project. The law names one example: such a lease can be signed with a nonprofit group to build attainable workforce housing, meaning homes priced for people who work in the area. The Montana House passed it 55-43, and it became law.

April 5, 2025Supports Housing Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 194, which moves appeals over public assistance to the department that made the decision. Someone refused food assistance, cash help or Medicaid could appeal to the Board of Public Assistance, a separate body that decided such cases. The act abolishes that board and sends appeals to the health department instead. The board keeps running until it finishes the appeals already filed with it. The act applies to appeals filed from the day it took effect. The Montana House passed it 56-43, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 249, which lets carers speak in every child abuse and neglect case. When a court decides whether a child has been abused or neglected, it hears evidence about who has been caring for the child. That duty used to apply only where the state alleged the parents had abandoned the child. The act extends it to every such case. The court must hear from people such as foster parents and relatives about how far they have cared for, raised or supported the child, and about the circumstances in which the child came to be with them. The Montana House passed it 61-38, and it became law.

March 28, 2025Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 197, which changes when an insurer may stop paying a hurt worker. Temporary total disability pay goes to a worker who cannot work at all while recovering. The insurer normally must give 14 days' written notice before stopping it. Under the act, if a doctor clears the worker to return to full duty, the insurer may end the pay from the day the worker went back to work, or after 14 days' notice, whichever comes first. That lets the pay stop from the earlier date rather than after the notice period. The Montana House passed it 59-39, and it became law.

March 20, 2025Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 625, which docks a county's state money if it does not report child abuse cases. County attorneys must report certain information about child abuse and neglect cases to the attorney general. If a county attorney misses a reporting deadline, the attorney general must notify the county within 10 days, and the county attorney then has 30 days to send the missing information. If the county still has not complied, the attorney general names it in a yearly report to the revenue department, which must then cut the county's entitlement share payment by 2 percent. The entitlement share is the yearly payment counties receive from the state. The Montana House passed it 63-36, and it became law.

March 6, 2025Supports Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 687, which changes a rule for adults on the state's expanded Medicaid. To keep their health coverage, they must spend 80 hours a month working, training, studying, or volunteering. The rule had covered people aged 19 through 55, and it now reaches people up to age 62. People who are pregnant, disabled, very sick, homeless, or caring for someone who cannot care for themselves are still excused. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 4, 2025Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 253, which makes charities that hand out private school scholarships get state approval. These bodies collect donations that earn a tax credit and pay out scholarships. They used to only give notice that they intended to operate. Now they must apply to the revenue department for certification, which lasts at most 2 tax years. The department must decide within 60 days and must refuse an organisation that has not followed the rules, with 30 days to put things right and no appeal from a final refusal. Each organisation must publish where its money went and may not steer scholarships to a single school. The Montana House passed it 57-43, and it became law.

April 24, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 278, which creates a school job for guiding pupils toward college and work. The job is called an advanced opportunity facilitator. That person links a pupil and their family with colleges, employers, trade bodies and local groups. A school gets state money to help pupils take up these chances. It may now use what is left of that money, after paying pupils' own costs, to pay the new post. The school also draws the state teacher payment for the person, as it would for a teacher. The Montana House passed it 75-24, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 801, the Montana Firearms Liability Clarification Act. The act limits lawsuits over the way guns and ammunition are sold and advertised. A person may no longer sue a maker or seller over its ads unless four tests are all met. The ads must have aimed at people who by law may not own guns, and must have urged illegal use. They must be a direct cause of the harm, and must break a law written just about gun sales or gun ads. General consumer laws and nuisance laws no longer count. A person who sues anyway can be told to pay the firm's legal costs, and the firm may then sue that person. The Montana House passed it 59-40, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 809, which is about what are often called red flag orders. A red flag order is a court order that takes away a person's guns, or bars them from having guns, to lower the risk of a shooting. City and county governments in Montana may no longer adopt or enforce one, or take grant money to help run one. A local government that tries to enforce one can be fined up to $10,000 each time. Restraining orders in domestic violence cases are not affected. The Montana House passed it 55-44, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for House Bill 723, which makes medical facilities report on infants born alive after an abortion or an attempted abortion. A report is due by February 28 each year, even when the number is zero. It must give the rough stage of pregnancy, what was done to save the infant's life, the outcome, and any health problems. A facility that files late may be fined up to $500. Another $500 may be added for each further 30 days. The state health department must publish a yearly total, with no way to identify anyone. The Montana House backed the Senate's version 58-41, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Opposes Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 388, which protects pregnancy centers. These are private nonprofit groups that promote childbirth and other choices besides abortion. State and local government may not make such a center offer abortion, abortion drugs, or birth control, or send people elsewhere for them. Government also may not stop a center from giving its services, or make it hire someone who does not share its anti-abortion mission. A center that wins a lawsuit under the law gets at least $50,000 plus legal fees, and a court may triple that if the government acted with malice. The Montana House passed it 57-41, and it became law.

February 21, 2025Opposes Women's Reproductive Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for House Bill 818, which is about money in ballot measure campaigns. Foreign nationals may no longer give to or spend on a campaign about a statewide ballot measure. No one may take or pass on money they know came from a foreign national for that purpose. The term covers foreign governments and parties, most people who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and firms based abroad. It also covers a U.S. firm mostly owned by foreign nationals. Such a firm is exempt if it employs people who pay Montana income tax and it also pays Montana property tax, or if it keeps both the money and the choices American. A ballot measure committee must also get each donor to state in writing that they are not a foreign national. The Montana House backed the final compromise version 56-44, and it became law.

April 30, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for House Bill 207, which changes how people get on the ballot in Montana. A candidate for a local or state office must now file before the primary election. A candidate who loses a primary may not then seek the same nomination as a write-in at the general election. The act also lowers the number of signatures an independent or minor party candidate needs. For statewide and federal offices it falls from 5 percent to 4 percent of the vote the winner got last time. Filing deadlines for local offices move as well. The Montana House passed it 63-36, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 276, which changes what a voter must show at the polls. The card must now be current, valid and easy to read. A student photo card from the Montana university system, or from a school in one named national sports association, now counts on its own. The back-up option stays: a document showing the voter's name and address, paired with any photo card showing the voter's name. The law simply stops listing school and college cards as examples of that photo card. The act also ends the route that let a voter who could not meet the rules sign a note giving the reason and cast a provisional ballot. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 440, which adds a public counting report to Montana elections. The secretary of state must design one standard form that checks ballot counts against each other. Every county must fill it in after the ballots are counted and before the county board meets to make the count official. The county must post the form online and send it to the secretary of state. One statewide report must then be published at least 7 days before results are made final. The Montana House backed the Senate bill 58-41, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 201, which is about people paid to collect signatures for ballot petitions. A paid gatherer must now say out loud that they are paid, give their first name, and name the state where they legally live. They must say this to everyone they approach about signing. They must also wear a badge showing the same details, with their full first name and last initial. The law took effect at once. The Montana House adopted the final compromise version 57-42, and it became law.

April 1, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 711, which is about who may chair the commission that redraws Montana's district lines. Four commissioners are named by legislative leaders, and those four pick a fifth member to preside. If they cannot agree in time, the Supreme Court picks the fifth member instead. The court may no longer choose anyone who has given money in the past ten years to a major party candidate for state or federal office. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 719, which adds date of birth to Montana's voting paperwork. A person registering to vote must give a date of birth as well as an identification number. Someone voting by absentee or mail ballot must write it on the signature envelope. Election staff must check that date against the record before counting the ballot as a regular one. If it is missing or does not match, the voter is notified and has until 8 p.m. on election day to fix it. A ballot not fixed in time is treated as provisional. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 413, which tightens the test for where a person counts as living for voting. A person does not gain residence in a county or in Montana by relocating there for a temporary purpose. The law names temporary work, training, and an educational program as examples. The test is whether the person means to make the place their permanent home once that work or program ends. The other residence rules are unchanged. The Montana House passed it 56-42, and it became law.

February 27, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 179, which changes one rule about Montana's inactive voter list. A county moves a voter to that list when mail sent to them comes back. Such a voter goes back on the active list by voting, by giving the county a current address in writing, or by filing a form. The bill says that signing a petition for a statewide ballot issue is not one of those steps. So a name on such a petition leaves the voter's inactive status as it was. The Montana House passed it 58-42, and it became law.

February 4, 2025Supports Election Integrity

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 337, which cuts the state income tax in two steps. In 2026 the top rate drops from 5.9% to 5.65%. A single filer also pays the lower 4.7% rate on the first $47,500 of taxable income, up from the first $20,500. Taxable income is what is left after deductions. In 2027 the top rate falls again to 5.4%, and that bracket grows to $65,000 for a single filer. The law also doubles the state earned income tax credit, a refund for lower-paid workers, from 10% to 20% of the federal credit. The Montana House passed it 55-40, and it became law.

April 2, 2025Supports Personal Income Tax Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for House Bill 599, which changes who decides about school data on a child. A school may still collect information that does not name the child unless a parent opts out. But any collection that does name the child now needs the parent to say yes first. A child's own education record and a demographic survey used to check a college admission test are outside the rule. Schools must also tell parents they may opt out of physical and mental health checks and surveys, and must tell them about any concern such a check turns up. The Montana House passed it 74-25, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Supports Data Privacy

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted for House Bill 682, which is about gender transition treatment. It gives people who had that treatment as children much longer to sue over harm from it. They may sue until age 25, or two years after they learn of the harm and its cause, with a final cutoff at age 30. Montana's usual deadline for suing a doctor is much shorter. The law also says a health plan that covers gender transition treatment must cover treatment to reverse it, on the same terms. A plan can escape that duty by dropping gender transition coverage for everyone, but it must still cover reversal treatment for people who were enrolled and had used the earlier coverage. The law starts October 1, 2026. The Montana House adopted the final compromise version 57-43, and it became law.

April 30, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 446, which creates a new offence of indecent exposure based on birth sex. A person commits it by knowingly exposing their genitals or intimate parts, in a public place, to people of the opposite sex at birth, where they know it is likely to cause alarm. Public place is defined to include restrooms, changing rooms and showers set aside for one sex, as well as schools, parks and shops. A child with a parent, and a person with developmental disabilities with a carer, are excepted. A first conviction carries up to $500 or 6 months in jail, and a conviction requires the person to register as a sexual offender. The Montana House passed it 50-49, and it became law.

April 29, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 218, which lets someone sue a clinician over gender dysphoria treatment they had as a child. The treatments covered are listed surgeries, hormones and puberty blockers. The person must show the clinician fell below the accepted medical standard of care, proved by expert evidence. The claim may be brought within 2 years of discovering the harm, and the clock does not even start until the person turns 23. It is paused further where the clinician concealed things or applied pressure. Treatment for a child born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development is excluded. The Montana House passed it 55-44, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 149, which makes it harder to prove the need for an emotional support animal. A landlord may ask a tenant for backing information. What that information must hold is now set by law, not left open. The health worker who confirms the need must hold a Montana licence. That worker must also have decided themselves that the animal gives the support. On a mobile home lot, handing over the papers does not force the landlord to let the animal in, so long as other laws are met. Service animals are not affected. The Montana House passed it 62-35, and it became law.

April 9, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 819, which limits which flags may be flown on public property in Montana. It covers buildings, grounds, vehicles and uniforms of the state, counties, towns, schools and colleges. Only flags on a set list may be shown. That list holds the United States flag, Montana's flag, other state flags, tribal flags, other countries' flags, military flags, some old flags, school mascot flags and police flags. A flag that stands for a political view is barred. The act names party, race, sexual orientation, gender and belief. Staff clothing and jewellery are not covered unless a dress code applies. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 694, which discourages placing a Montana child with a family abroad. When the state places a child in foster care or for adoption, it follows an order of preference. Extended family, including close family friends, comes first, then people from the child's own community. The act adds that placing a child outside the United States is disfavoured. Children covered by the federal or Montana Indian Child Welfare Act are not subject to that rule. The act also rewrites the policy statement at the head of the child abuse and neglect law. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 655, which protects adoption and foster care providers who act on religious belief. The state may not act against a provider because it gave, or refused to give, a service in line with its sincerely held religious belief, or because of policies it keeps on that basis. The state also may not act against a foster or adoptive parent because of how their religious belief shapes the way they raise a child. The state may still take religion into account to place a child with a family of the same faith. A person may sue the state, or raise the act as a defence. The Montana House passed it 59-40, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 690, which changes what counts as child abuse or neglect in Montana. The act adds the same wording in five places. It says that raising a child in a way that matches the child's biological sex is not abuse or neglect. That covers related mental health and medical choices. So that conduct alone can no longer support a finding against a parent. The act also limits what lawmakers may pass on when they read child protection files. The department must mark and list privileged papers, and a lawmaker may not hand that material to a parent. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 638, which bars state and local agencies from asking for a diversity statement. That means a paper meant to promote different treatment based on a person's traits. The law lists race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, and gender identity. An agency may not ask for one, or press a person to give one. It may not give any edge to a person who hands one in. If federal law requires a diversity statement, the agency may accept one, but only as far as federal law requires. The rule covers state offices, colleges, counties, cities, towns, and school districts. The Montana House passed it 57-41, and it became law.

March 7, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 471, which changes the rules for school lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity. The law calls these lessons identity instruction. A school may not let a child attend them unless a parent agrees in writing first. Before, a parent could pull a child out but did not have to give permission. Parents must also get notice five to fourteen school days ahead, instead of the old 48 hours. If school trustees find that someone broke these rules on purpose or again and again, they must report it to the Board of Public Education. The Montana House passed it 56-42, and it became law.

March 6, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 575, which lets a court give a parent a public defender in a case to end their parental rights against their wishes. A public defender is a lawyer paid for by the state. The parent must first be found unable to afford a lawyer of their own. The case covered is one brought to terminate parental rights under Montana's adoption law. Courts already had to appoint a lawyer in these cases under a 2014 Montana Supreme Court ruling; the act writes that duty into the public defender law. The Montana House passed it 68-29, and it became law.

March 1, 2025Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 416, which limits when a homeowners' association may walk onto a member's land. An association must now get the owner's permission before one of its agents enters. When asking, it must try to agree a date and time that suits the owner, and must say which part of the land it wants to reach. The owner may insist on being there, or on sending someone in their place. The act does not change the ordinary right any member of the public has to use a sidewalk, front path or front door. It also does not apply to condominiums whose shared areas can only be reached through a unit and whose rules already cover that access, or to recorded easements that benefit the association. The Montana House passed it 56-44, and it became law.

February 26, 2025Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 400, the Free to Speak Act, which is about names and pronouns in public schools and state offices. A student may not be punished for refusing to say what pronouns they use. A student also may not be punished for refusing to call someone by a name or pronoun that does not match that person's sex. School staff and anyone dealing with a state or local agency get the same protection. A person punished anyway may sue for money, legal fees, and a court order, within two years. The Montana House passed it 56-42, and it became law.

February 21, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 215, which ends the duty to seek balanced membership on state boards. People who fill seats on state boards and councils used to be told by law to work toward two goals. One was an even split between men and women. The other was to seat minority residents in step with their share of the state. The act deletes both goals. It also deletes the governor's duty to report to the legislature on how it was going. All that is left is the monthly list of new appointments and coming vacancies. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

February 6, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 300, which adds two rules to Montana's ban on discrimination in education. A school breaks the law if it lets a person whose sex is male take part in a sports program set aside for females. A school also breaks the law if it fails to give a person a restroom, locker room, shower, or sleeping area. Such a space must be closed to people of the opposite sex while it is in use. There are exceptions for cleaning, medical help, and emergencies. A school may still set up single-occupancy or family rooms, and may change which sex a room is set aside for. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

February 6, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for House Bill 184, which updates how Montana law describes people who cannot hear well, and widens two rights. The phrase hearing impaired is replaced with deaf or hard of hearing throughout. The legal meaning of a deaf person also changes. It used to cover only someone whose hearing was gone or nearly gone. It now covers a difference in how the ear processes sound, which decides who may have a qualified interpreter in court. The state school for the deaf and blind also widens who it serves, from children who cannot be taught in ordinary schools to those needing specialist support. The Montana House passed it 78-22, and it became law.

January 30, 2025Supports Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 121, which sets rules for shared restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping areas. Public buildings, public schools, prisons, youth lockups, and domestic violence shelters must set each one aside for one sex only. People may not use the one set aside for the other sex, except to clean, to give medical or police help, or in an emergency. The law defines male and female by biology, and says a person's own sense of gender does not count. Someone who meets a person of the other sex in one of these rooms may sue the operator. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

January 16, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 553, which stops airline travel credits expiring. A travel credit is money an airline gives you toward a future flight. Under the act it stays valid until it is used and never runs out. Its value belongs to whoever holds it, not the airline, and it survives the airline going bust. No fee may reduce it, including a charge for leaving it unused. If a credit was worth more than $5 and less than $5 is left, the holder may ask for the rest in cash. This reaches back to credits issued from January 2025. The Montana House passed it 62-38, and it became law.

April 25, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 59, which tightens the rules for licensed water well contractors. The bond a contractor must post rises from $4,000 to $25,000, and the blanket bond for a firm rises from $10,000 to $25,000. A bond is money set aside to pay a customer if the work goes wrong. Abandoning or decommissioning a well now needs a license too. The act also drops the rule that let a contractor answer a complaint and fix the problem before the board could start discipline. The board may now begin discipline once the contractor has answered. The Montana House passed it 57-43, and it became law.

April 25, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 560, which asks what a nonprofit hospital gives back for the property tax it does not pay. A nonprofit hospital pays no property tax. Starting January 1, 2027, each one must report to the state health department what it spends on free care and other help to the community. It uses the figures it already sends to the federal tax office each year. That yearly total must be more than the property tax it would have owed. The revenue department works out that tax figure. A hospital that falls short pays a fee, and that money goes to a new fund for small rural hospitals. Those small rural hospitals, called critical access hospitals, must report from 2027 but face the spending test and fee only from January 1, 2031. The Montana House passed it 72-28, and it became law.

April 24, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 55, which changes how Montana reviews a power company's long-range plan for meeting future demand. The company must now hold four public meetings before filing instead of two, and must summarize the comments it gets and answer the substantive ones in the plan. The Public Service Commission must finish its review within 120 days. When a company runs a bidding round to buy or build new power, the commission now picks the outside expert who oversees that bidding, instead of the company picking one. That expert's closing report goes into the public record and into later rate cases. The act gives the commission $200,000 for the work. The Montana House passed it 63-35, and it became law.

April 22, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for House Bill 791, which rewrites Montana's law on public nuisance and puts products beyond it. A public nuisance used to cover anything harmful to a whole community. It now covers only conditions arising from the use of land, plus blocking a public road or waterway. A closed list of things can never be a public nuisance. That list includes the design, manufacture, sale or marketing of any product, and names firearms, firearm parts and ammunition. A government suing may no longer recover damages of any kind, only limited clean-up costs. A private person must prove an injury different in kind from the public's, and group claims are barred. The state's opioid case is protected for four years. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 740, which tightens rules on pharmacy benefit managers. These are the companies that run drug benefits for health plans. They may not stop a pharmacist from telling a patient about a cheaper option. They may not punish a pharmacist who does. They may not make a pharmacy collect a copay larger than the amount it billed. The law limits what a pharmacy audit can take back. It requires drug price lists to be updated at least every 10 days and shared with pharmacies. It also sets a pay floor for independent pharmacies. They get the drug's national average cost, plus a fee of at least $15 for filling it, and that fee rises each year. The Montana House had passed an earlier version 98-1, then backed the Senate's version 63-35, and it became law.

April 18, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 511, which opens up who pays for lawsuits and shuts out money from hostile foreign governments. Sometimes an outside investor pays a person's legal costs and takes a share of any winnings. The act adds rules on what such a funder may do. It bars a government named as an enemy of the United States, and anyone based in or tied to one, from paying for a lawsuit in Montana, directly or through another funder. Other foreign funders may still take part, but the funder must give the Secretary of State their name and a copy of the deal. A party to a case may not pass private business information to any foreign person. The Montana House passed it 77-22, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 520, which changes how Montana leases state land for mining. That land earns money for schools and other public uses. A mining lease must now run at least 10 years, and keeps running as long as the mine sells minerals at a profit. Leases for sand, gravel and like minerals used to be capped at 10 years. If a court order or an added agency review holds up a lease or permit, the lease term stretches by that same amount of time. The state must also keep a company's private geology data out of public view for at least 5 years after the lease ends, instead of deciding case by case. The Montana House backed the Senate bill 61-38, and it became law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 143, which shortens the time you have to sue. A statute of limitations is the deadline for bringing a case to court. The deadline for suing on a written contract falls from 8 years to 6 years. The deadline for suing over faulty building work or land surveying falls from 10 years to 6 years. If the injury happens in the last year of that period, you still get one year from the injury to sue. That last year is now the sixth year after the work finished rather than the tenth. The act applies to cases filed on or after 1 October 2025. The Montana House passed it 58-41, and it became law.

March 28, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 113, which changes what a tow firm may hold from a towed vehicle until its bill is paid. Before the act, the firm could hold everything in any towed vehicle except a protected list of items. The act ends that hold where the owner is insured, a claim was filed and cover for towing and storage can be checked. Where the owner is uninsured or underinsured, or no claim was filed or cover cannot be checked, the hold remains and the protected list shrinks. Only original licences, identity papers and records are covered, so copies are not. Food and perishables are protected only as consumer goods not for resale. Bags and other containers holding those papers lose their protection, leaving only a wallet or purse. The Montana House passed it 76-21, and it became law.

March 21, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 443, which scraps the state-set county license for door-to-door and pop-up sellers. Eight sections are repealed. They set the county license and its fee, the application, the bond a seller had to post, the duty to display the license, and what happened if a seller did not comply. One of the repealed sections gave a buyer a right to claim against that bond. In their place, county commissioners may regulate and license these sellers as they see fit, within limits set by other law. A city's own rules for these sellers are not touched. The Montana House passed it 63-35, and it became law.

March 3, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 342, which limits what a patient must prove in a medical malpractice case. Montana holds a medical provider to a reasonable standard of care. Under the act, the fact that a risk was foreseeable, even a specific risk, does not raise that standard. So a patient cannot argue that a known risk required extra care beyond what is reasonable. The act applies to malpractice cases filed on or after the day it took effect, and says it is meant to override any court ruling to the contrary. The Montana House passed it 57-42, and it became law.

February 13, 2025Opposes Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted for House Bill 650, which lets the state borrow money to pay for broadband in places that lack it. Montana runs a bonding programme that raises money for building projects. The act adds broadband to the list of things that count as a project, but only where service is poor or missing: areas the state classes as unserved or underserved, and places where the only internet on offer comes by satellite. Broadband is the high-speed internet connection that many rural Montana homes and businesses still lack. Nothing else about how the bonding programme works is changed. The act takes effect on 1 January 2028. The Montana House passed it 61-38, and it became law.

April 17, 2025Supports Public Infrastructure

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 231, one of two property tax bills that passed on the same day. Because Senate Bill 542 also passed, House Bill 231 said that most of its own text would fall away. What was left rewrote three parts of Senate Bill 542. It set the 2025 tax rate on a home at 0.76% of the first $400,000 of value, 1.1% up to $1.5 million, and 2.2% above that. It set business property at 1.4% on the first $400,000 and 1.89% above. It also gave the revenue department $4 million to carry the new law out. The Montana House adopted the final version 60-39, and it became law.

April 30, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 326, which extends and widens Montana's film tax credits. The credits pay part of the cost of making a film or television programme in the state. They were due to run out, and the act extends them through 2045. It widens which productions and which post-production work can claim. It also pays a bigger credit for hiring veterans and enrolled tribal members. The credit is allocated to certain bodies, and any part they do not use may be claimed by others for a fee. The Montana House passed it 62-38, and it became law.

April 25, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 515, which puts more state money into school buildings and technology. The multiplier in the school major maintenance aid formula rises from 187 percent to 355 percent. The set amount for a district rises from $15,000 to $40,000, plus $115 for each student instead of $110. Two state accounts for school buildings and school technology are merged into one. The order of spending is set: technology first, then major upkeep, then help with school debt. The act also sets aside $1 million a year for school technology grants. It moves general fund money to bring the school buildings fund to $275 million. The Montana House passed it 80-20, and it became law.

April 25, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 4, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 74, which cuts the tax on discounted marijuana and changes how sellers are licensed. Montana taxes marijuana on its retail price. The act changes that price from the one set before any discount to the one after the discount, so tax is charged on what the customer actually pays. It also charges a maker's licence fee on a company's total output rather than on each of its facilities. Complaints to the state marijuana hotline may now be made anonymously, but those complaints become confidential and are not released to the public. The Montana House passed it 70-28, and it became law.

April 17, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 390, which brings vaping under Montana's indoor smoking ban. The Clean Indoor Air Act bars smoking in enclosed public places such as restaurants, shops, offices and health care buildings. The act adds a meaning for an electronic smoking device, covering an e-cigarette, a dab rig or a vape pen. It then rewrites the meaning of smoking to include inhaling and exhaling from such a device. So vaping is now treated the same as lighting a cigarette everywhere that law reaches. The Montana House passed it 64-35, and it became law.

April 11, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 181, which strengthens Montana's Indian Education for All programme. Schools must consult tribes, and the act sets out the role of Indian language and cultural specialists. The Office of Public Instruction must report each year to two legislative committees on how the money is used. A school district that does not file its yearly report loses the full Indian Education for All payment until it does. A district that files a report failing to show the money went to the right purposes has its funding cut for the next year. The Montana House passed it 69-28, and it became law.

April 9, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 869, which prepares Montana schools for a young athlete's heart stopping during sport. The schools superintendent must produce guidance on cardiac arrest. Coaches must be trained on it and must hold information meetings. A coach, trainer or official may take a young athlete out of play if they show warning signs, and that athlete may not return until a medical professional clears them. The act confirms that buying a defibrillator counts as school safety spending, and creates a grant scheme that pays schools back for the cost. The Montana House passed it 75-23, and it became law.

April 5, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 499, which widens Montana's grow your own grant programme, which helps people train as teachers in their own communities. Programme grants now go to colleges and universities that partner with at least one eligible school district, instead of to the school districts themselves. The rule about earning college credits while still at high school is relaxed. The higher education commissioner no longer has to turn a grant into a loan when a recipient does not meet the conditions. The programme was due to end, and the act pushes that date back. The Montana House passed it 62-36, and it became law.

April 5, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 168, which lets state school money follow preschool children with disabilities. Montana schools must already teach children with disabilities from age 3. But the state's student count, which sets school funding, left out children under 5, so districts got no state money for them. The act adds 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds with disabilities to that count, scaled by how many hours of teaching they get. It also lets a school board formally admit such a child as a pupil. Preschool programs a district runs by choice stay outside the count. The Montana House passed it 64-34, and it became law.

April 5, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 3, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 105, which widens Montana's ban on campaigning near voters. The ban used to apply on election day at polling places. It now applies at any place where a person may get or cast a ballot, for all the hours that place is open. That covers the whole stretch when absentee ballots are available. The 100-foot boundary is unchanged, and so is the rule barring candidates and their campaigns from handing out food, drink, or anything of value to voters inside it. The Montana House passed it 77-21, and it became law.

March 31, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted against House Bill 808, which sets up a state programme to clean up contaminated land. A brownfield is land that is hard to reuse because pollution is present or suspected. The act creates the Montana Brownfields Revitalization Act and a fund to pay for the work. It sets rules for deciding which sites qualify and whether cleaning them up makes sense. It replaces the older law, which covered only petroleum pollution, so the programme now reaches contamination of other kinds. Money is transferred from the general fund and the spending is authorised in the act itself. The Montana House passed it 60-39, and it became law.

March 28, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 170, which removes the end date from Montana's community health aide program. These aides are trained local workers who provide basic health services. They are used mainly in tribal and rural areas. The program had been set to expire, and it is now permanent. The health department is told to seek the federal approval Medicaid needs to pay for their work. The Montana House passed it 57-40, and it became law.

March 21, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 2, 2026

Voted against House Bill 476, which pays for newborn safety devices. These are safe places where a parent may legally leave a newborn baby they cannot care for. The state health department must run a grant competition open to fire departments, hospitals and law enforcement agencies. The money covers putting a device in and keeping it working. No applicant may receive more than $20,000. The act sets aside $160,000 from the general fund for the two years starting July 2025. The department must report on the results by September 2027, and the program ends in June 2027. The Montana House passed it 74-24, and it became law.

March 18, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 509, which widens the state's help with teacher student loans. The help had gone only to teachers hired at schools the state lists as short of staff. It now goes to every newly hired teacher in a public school, though the listed schools still come first for the money. The state pays up to $3,000 after a first full year, $4,000 after a second, and $5,000 after a third. If the money runs short, the state school chief must trim the payments and fund the listed schools first. The Montana House passed it 67-31, and it became law.

March 5, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 31, 2026

Voted against House Bill 245, which keeps Montana's HELP Act going and changes its job side. The HELP Act provides health coverage to lower-income adults. It was written to end on a set date, and the act repeals those end dates, so the program has no expiry. The act also changes the job help that comes with it. The state no longer has to hire outside groups to run training aimed at in-demand jobs such as health care and entry-level cybersecurity. Instead the state contacts each person subject to the work rules and helps them finish a work assessment. The Montana House passed it 63-37, and it became law.

February 10, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026

Voted against House Bill 74, which tightens the rules for private fish ponds. A pond owner used to be able to apply for a license. Now an owner must have one. The application fee rises from $10 to $600, and the renewal fee rises from $10 to $250. A license lasts 10 years, but an owner who sells fish must renew it every year. An owner who sells fish, eggs or fry must post a bond of $2,500 instead of $500. A bond is money set aside to cover harm if something goes wrong. Owners must also keep records, and the state may inspect a pond and test the fish for disease. The Montana House passed it 78-22, and it became law.

January 30, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 5, 2026