SB 429 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise laws related to determination and restoration of fitness in criminal proceedings

SB 429 revises Montana laws regarding a defendant's mental fitness to proceed in criminal court cases. The bill updates procedures for evaluating a defendant's competency and outlines conditions for the involuntary administration of medication to restore fitness. It also clarifies when a state hospital's inability to admit a committed individual for evaluation is not considered contempt of court. Additionally, the legislation modifies provisions for the payment of commitment expenses and grants rulemaking authority for implementation.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
May 2025
House Passage
May 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Feb 24, 2025 Signed May 16, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0429_X(1).pdf SB0429_X(2).pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill text shows minor formatting adjustments, such as removing a redundant closing quotation mark and standardizing indentation levels in the list of contemptuous behaviors. No substantive policy changes, new definitions, or scope modifications were identified in the provided text.
TECHNICAL

Removed an extra closing quotation mark at the end of the bill title and adjusted whitespace indentation in the list of contempt examples.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 5, 2025 · House Apr 24, 2025

How they voted

480
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 50
Apr 5, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
30 Yea 2
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
56
Key actions
11
Committee
9
May 13, 2025
Signed into law
(S) Signed by Governor
upper
May 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
May 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Apr 24, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (80-20)
house
Apr 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 18, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Apr 16, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Apr 7, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Apr 5, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (48-0-2)
senate
Apr 3, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 25, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 24, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of John Esp
John Esp
RRepublican
MT
29