SB 272 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Create rules of conduct for child protection specialists

SB 272 proposes rules for child protection specialists in Montana, directly affecting these professionals and the parents, foster parents, and guardians they interact with. The bill prohibits specialists from threatening people with criminal charges to stop them from contesting child abuse cases or blocking foster placements/guardianship based on protected actions like offering legal advice or testifying. It also requires specialists to use unbiased professionals when coordinating services and creates a complaint process through the Child and Family Ombudsman for alleged violations. The bill further restricts public access to certain complaint investigation documents and hearings. (Note: The bill died in committee and did not become law.)
Bill status died 4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Governor
Introduced Feb 5, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0272_2(4).pdf SB0272_2(5).pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted to use lowercase for section titles and subsection labels, and the page numbering sequence was corrected to ensure consistent pagination. These are technical and formatting adjustments that do not alter the substantive legal requirements or policy of the bill.
TECHNICAL

Section titles and subsection labels were changed from uppercase to lowercase (e.g., 'SECTION 1' became 'Section 1', '(A)' became '(a)').

Page numbering and footer formatting were adjusted to correct the sequence and layout of the document.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 25, 2025 · House Mar 25, 2025

How they voted

3019
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 50
Feb 25, 2025
D Democratic18
17 Nay 1
94% Nay
R Republican32
30 Yea 2 Nay
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
32
Key actions
4
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Mar 25, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (21-0)
house
Mar 25, 2025
Amended
(H) Tabled in Committee - (H) Human Services
lower
Feb 26, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services
lower
Feb 25, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (30-19-1)
senate
Feb 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 5, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Daniel Emrich
Daniel Emrich
RRepublican
MT
11