HB 292 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Establish the uniform public expression protection act

HB 292 establishes the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, designed to protect individuals from civil lawsuits based on their communications in governmental proceedings or their exercise of free speech and assembly rights on matters of public concern. The bill allows a person facing such a lawsuit to file a "special motion for expedited relief" to dismiss the case quickly. Filing this motion generally pauses other legal proceedings, and if the court finds the lawsuit lacks a sufficient legal or factual basis, it must be dismissed. The act also provides for the award of court costs and attorney fees to the prevailing party on this special motion and allows for expedited appeals.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

May 2025

Introduced Jan 22, 2025 Signed May 5, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0292_X(3).pdf → HB0292_X(4).pdf · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill underwent minor formatting adjustments to align section numbering and remove a redundant date marker. The substantive scope of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act remains unchanged, continuing to protect communications in governmental proceedings and public speech rights while excluding claims against government entities acting officially.

Scope change

No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; only formatting corrections to section references and date markers.

TECHNICAL

Removed redundant 'DATE' text at the end of the title section and adjusted spacing in section headers.

Corrected subsection numbering in Section 4 from 'subsections (4) through (7) (8)' to 'subsections (4) through (8)' for consistency.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 2, 2025 · House Apr 15, 2025

How they voted

50–0

Passed

Total votes 50

Apr 2, 2025

D Democratic18

18 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican32

32 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 1, 2025

Signed into law

(H) Signed by Governor

lower

Apr 22, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Signed by President

upper

Apr 18, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Signed by Speaker

lower

Apr 15, 2025

House · Passed

House Vote: pass (96-1-3)

house

Apr 2, 2025

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (50-0)

senate

Apr 2, 2025

Introduced

(S) Returned to House with Amendments

upper

Mar 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary

upper

Mar 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary

upper

Feb 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary

lower

Feb 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary

lower

Jan 22, 2025

Introduced

(H) Introduced

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors