HB 240 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise laws related to digital mapping of and hunting from navigable rivers and islands

HB 240 requires all digital map providers to update their electronic maps by August 1, 2025, to show current navigable river locations and mark historical river areas as "Private land surface owned by adjacent landowner. Permission required." It clarifies that public recreational use of rivers does not permit big game hunting from watercraft or across rivers, and hunting on islands (except for waterfowl using bows/crossbows) requires landowner permission. The bill also directs the state library to annually update its statewide map using data from the Department of Natural Resources to ensure accurate river mapping.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 16, 2025 Last action Jan 24, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC2873.pdf HB0240_1.pdf · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 2873 to HB 240.1 and updated with an official 'Authorized Print Version' header. Substantive policy changes include renumbering a list of commission rules and adding a new requirement for the commission to update its statewide GIS map to reflect current river locations.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on navigable waters and recreational use, but a new technical requirement was added regarding the maintenance of geographic information systems.
TECHNICAL

The bill number was changed from LC 2873 to HB 240.1, and the document header was updated to indicate it is an authorized print version.

REQUIREMENT

A list of rules governing recreational use was renumbered, changing the sequence from (7) to (5)(7) and (8) to (6)(8).

A new requirement was added mandating that the commission update its statewide geographic information system map to show the current locations of navigable rivers.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
15
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Jan 17, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Fish, Wildlife and Parks
lower
Jan 16, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Jodee Etchart
Jodee Etchart
RRepublican
MT
51