SB 44 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise laws regarding the separation of powers doctrine

This bill would clarify Montana's separation of powers by explicitly defining the specific authorities of each government branch. It would state that legislators cannot exercise executive or judicial powers, the governor cannot make laws, and courts cannot alter enforcement of laws or change effective dates. The bill would codify existing constitutional limits into statute, affecting all state government operations by defining legislative, executive, and judicial boundaries. However, the bill failed its third reading in January 2025 and died in the legislative process before becoming law.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2024
Committee Review
Jan 2025
Senate Passage
Jan 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 12, 2024 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 6 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0044_2(24).pdf SB0044_1(7).pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted to remove redundant words and fix grammatical errors, such as changing 'THE THE' to 'THE' and removing unnecessary capitalization. These are technical corrections intended to improve readability and professionalism without altering the bill's legal meaning or policy scope.
TECHNICAL

Removed redundant words and fixed capitalization errors throughout the document, such as changing 'THE THE' to 'THE' and standardizing the formatting of branch names.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 29, 2025

How they voted

2920
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 50
Jan 29, 2025
D Democratic18
17 Yea 1
94% Yea
R Republican32
12 Yea 20 Nay
62% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
22
Key actions
3
Committee
3
Jan 29, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (29-20-1)
senate
Jan 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Dec 12, 2024
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