SB 367 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Revise citizen review boards in DN proceedings

SB 367 would have revised Montana's child welfare system by strengthening citizen review boards for neglect (DN) cases. It required courts to notify families of their right to a review board if a child isn't returned home after a show-cause hearing, mandated at least one board per county, and required boards to meet quarterly. The bill also required the court administrator to establish minimum board staffing and added a process where courts must hold hearings if the Department of Public Health and Human Services ignores board recommendations. This bill died in committee in May 2025 and did not become law.

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 19, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0927.pdf → SB0367_1.pdf · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was officially renumbered from LC 0927 to SB 367.1 and updated with the primary sponsor's name, D. Lenz. A new provision was added to explicitly include juvenile probation officers as authorized personnel who can access specific child welfare records, expanding the list of eligible staff members.

Scope change

The bill's scope of applicability was expanded to include juvenile probation officers in the category of personnel authorized to access certain child welfare records.

TECHNICAL

The bill number was changed from LC 0927 to SB 367.1, and the primary sponsor was identified as D. Lenz.

ELIGIBILITY

Juvenile probation officers working officially with a child were added to the list of individuals authorized to access specific records.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 1, 2025

Amended

(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety

upper

Feb 20, 2025

Committee

(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Introduced

(S) Introduced

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors