HB 286 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Revise election laws to provide for verification of an elector’s citizenship.

House Bill 286 aims to revise election laws by requiring the Secretary of State to verify the United States citizenship status of both registered electors and new voter applicants. The bill mandates the Secretary of State to determine the citizenship status of current electors, categorize them as U.S. citizen, undetermined, or non-U.S. citizen, and alert those with undetermined status to provide proof of citizenship. It requires the removal of individuals determined to have non-U.S. citizenship from the voter list. New voter applicants would also be required to provide documentary proof of United States citizenship as part of their registration process.

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 22, 2025 Last action May 20, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC1203.pdf → HB0286_1.pdf · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from LC 1203 to HB 286.1 and its title was significantly revised to clarify that the Secretary of State must record citizenship status rather than actively determine it. The core policy changes involve updating the rulemaking authority to ensure the Secretary of State establishes procedures for verifying new applicants' citizenship and notifying them of their application status, while also refining the specific identification documents required for voter registration.

Scope change

The bill's scope shifted from a focus on actively determining citizenship for all registered voters to a process focused on recording status and establishing verification procedures specifically for new applicants in the event of a contingency.

REQUIREMENT

The Secretary of State's duty changed from 'determining' citizenship status to 'recording' the status of registered electors.

New requirements mandate that the Secretary of State establish specific procedures to determine the citizenship status of new applicants if a contingency occurs.

The bill now explicitly requires the Secretary of State to establish procedures to notify electors about the status of their applications and registration.

The list of acceptable identification documents for voter registration was updated to include specific alternative forms such as tribal photo IDs and military identification cards.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 11, 2025

Amended

(H) Tabled in Committee - (H) State Administration

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

(H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Introduced

(H) Introduced

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors