HB 191 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Revise crime of endangering welfare of child

HB 191 amends Montana law to create a new offense for knowingly committing domestic violence (defined as assaults under sections 45-5-202, 45-5-206, 45-5-213, or 45-5-215 against a partner or family member) while a child under 18 is present. This directly affects individuals who commit domestic violence near children, adding a separate misdemeanor charge for the child-witnessing aspect. The law specifies that "in the presence of a child" means the child is physically present or the perpetrator knows the child may see/hear the violence. A conviction carries a fine of $100-$1,000 and/or up to 1 year in jail. This amendment does not change existing domestic violence penalties but creates an additional charge specifically for incidents involving children.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 14, 2025 Signed Apr 7, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0191_X(2).pdf HB0191_X(3).pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The only change in this bill version is a minor formatting adjustment where a period was removed from the end of the text describing the bill's purpose. This does not alter any laws, penalties, or procedures.
TECHNICAL

Removed a period at the end of the sentence describing the bill's purpose.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 20, 2025 · House Feb 7, 2025

How they voted

464
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 20, 2025
D Democratic18
15 Yea 3 Nay
83% Yea
R Republican32
31 Yea 1 Nay
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
50
Key actions
11
Committee
9
Apr 7, 2025
Signed into law
(H) Signed by Governor
lower
Apr 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Mar 20, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (46-4)
senate
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 7, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (99-0-1)
house
Feb 6, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 23, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 14, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 14, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Curtis Schomer
Curtis Schomer
RRepublican
MT
48