HB 322 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Reduce the number of associate judges on the Supreme Court

HB 322 proposed to reduce the number of associate justices on the Montana Supreme Court from six to four. The bill aimed to eliminate two specific associate justice positions, seat numbers 5 and 6, whose terms conclude in January 2029. To achieve this reduction, there would be no elections held for these two seats in November 2028. The change in the number of justices would become effective on the first Monday of January 2029.

Bill status died 2 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House Failed

Feb 2025

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2025 Last action May 20, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0322_1(6).pdf → HB0322_2.pdf · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill updates the timeline for eliminating two associate justice positions, shifting the start of the affected terms from 2021 to 2023 and the end date from 2029 to 2031. Consequently, the final election for these seats is moved from November 2028 to November 2030, and the section's effective date is extended to January 2031. These changes delay the reduction in the number of associate justices by approximately two years.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the specific terms and election dates for the eliminated justice positions has been extended by two years.

TIMELINE

The start dates for the terms of the two eliminated associate justice positions were changed from January 2021 to January 2023.

The end dates for the terms of the two eliminated associate justice positions were changed from January 2029 to January 2031.

The date of the general election for these positions was moved from November 2028 to November 2030.

The effective date of Section 1 was extended from January 2029 to January 2031.

Floor votes · House Feb 22, 2025

How they voted

29–71

Failed

Total votes 100

Feb 22, 2025

D Democratic42

42 Nay

100% Nay

R Republican58

29 Yea 29 Nay

50% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 22, 2025

Vote failed

House Vote: fail (29-71)

house

Feb 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary

lower

Feb 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Committee

(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Introduced

(H) Introduced

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors