HB 24 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Clarify laws related to kindergarten

HB 24 clarifies Montana's kindergarten instructional hour requirements, directly affecting public school districts and kindergarten programs. It specifies that half-time kindergarten must provide 360 hours and full-time kindergarten 720 hours annually, aligning with existing sections of Montana law (20-1-301, 20-7-117). The bill amends related statutes to ensure these hour requirements are explicitly defined for funding and compliance purposes. Signed into law by the Governor on April 7, 2025, it establishes clear standards for kindergarten programming without altering funding formulas or creating new penalties.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2024
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Dec 6, 2024 Signed Apr 7, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0024_X(2).pdf HB0024_X(3).pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill text was updated to remove a redundant period at the end of the title and adjust the indentation of the first section. These changes appear to be technical formatting corrections rather than substantive policy updates.
TECHNICAL

Removed a trailing period from the end of the bill title to correct a punctuation error.

Adjusted the indentation of the text in Section 1, likely to align with standard formatting conventions.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 21, 2025 · House Jan 21, 2025

How they voted

491
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 21, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
31 Yea 1 Nay
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
42
Key actions
10
Committee
7
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 21, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (49-1)
senate
Mar 19, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Feb 18, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Jan 21, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (79-20-1)
house
Jan 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Education
lower
Jan 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Education
lower
Jan 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Education
lower
Dec 20, 2024
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Education
lower
Dec 6, 2024
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Melissa Romano
Melissa Romano
DDemocratic
MT
80