SB 30 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Revise laws related to Judiciary and rule of necessity

SB 30 revises laws concerning judicial conflicts of interest and recusal for judicial officers in legal proceedings. The bill specifies that the legal doctrine of the rule of necessity cannot be used by a judicial officer to avoid recusal due to a conflict of interest if other judicial officers with less significant conflicts are available to serve as substitutes. This change aims to ensure that cases are heard by judges with minimal potential conflicts, building upon existing rules for recusal based on campaign contributions.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2024
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Dec 11, 2024 Signed May 8, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0030_1(7).pdf SB0030_X.pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
This bill amends Montana's judicial recusal law to explicitly forbid judges from using the 'rule of necessity' to hear cases when they have a conflict of interest but other judges with fewer conflicts are available. Previously, judges could sometimes override recusal requests to ensure a case was heard, even if a conflict existed; this change removes that exception to ensure impartiality.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of judicial recusal by adding a specific prohibition on the 'rule of necessity' for conflicts of interest, whereas the prior text did not explicitly address this legal doctrine in that context.
REQUIREMENT

Added a new sentence in subsection (4) stating that a judicial officer may not use the rule of necessity to avoid recusal when other judges with less immediate or significant conflicts are available to serve as substitutes.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 27, 2025 · House Apr 11, 2025

How they voted

3118
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 50
Jan 27, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Nay
100% Nay
R Republican32
31 Yea 1
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
37
Key actions
9
Committee
6
May 5, 2025
Signed into law
(S) Signed by Governor
upper
Apr 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Apr 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Apr 11, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (57-42-1)
house
Mar 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 27, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (31-18-1)
senate
Jan 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Dec 11, 2024
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Tom McGillvray
Tom McGillvray
RRepublican
MT
26