Revise crime of endangering welfare of child
HB 191 amends Montana law to create a new offense for knowingly committing domestic violence (defined as assaults under sections 45-5-202, 45-5-206, 45-5-213, or 45-5-215 against a partner or family member) while a child under 18 is present. This directly affects individuals who commit domestic violence near children, adding a separate misdemeanor charge for the child-witnessing aspect. The law specifies that "in the presence of a child" means the child is physically present or the perpetrator knows the child may see/hear the violence. A conviction carries a fine of $100-$1,000 and/or up to 1 year in jail. This amendment does not change existing domestic violence penalties but creates an additional charge specifically for incidents involving children.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 14, 2025
Signed Apr 7, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons
What changed between versions
HB0191_X(2).pdf
→
HB0191_X(3).pdf
·
1 edit
MINOR
The only change in this bill version is a minor formatting adjustment where a period was removed from the end of the text describing the bill's purpose. This does not alter any laws, penalties, or procedures.
TECHNICAL
Removed a period at the end of the sentence describing the bill's purpose.
Floor votes · Senate Mar 20, 2025 · House Feb 7, 2025
How they voted
46–4
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 20, 2025
D
Democratic18
83% Yea
R
Republican32
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
50
Key actions
11
Committee
9
Apr 7, 2025
Signed into law
(H) Signed by Governor
lower
Apr 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Mar 20, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (46-4)
senate
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 7, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (99-0-1)
house
Feb 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 14, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 14, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Curtis Schomer
RRepublican
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