HB 325 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Revise covenant laws

HB 325 revises laws concerning real property covenants, conditions, and restrictions. It clarifies that property owners, parties to agreements, and homeowners' associations can initiate legal action to enforce these covenants. The bill allows a property owner to assert that a covenant has been abandoned if no enforcement action has been taken for a prescribed period, and once confirmed, this abandonment can be recorded to prevent future enforcement against similarly situated owners. Additionally, it prohibits homeowners' associations that have not met for 15 years from enforcing covenants, except for critical reasons such as legal compliance, infrastructure maintenance, or nuisance abatement.
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 28, 2025 Signed May 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0325_1(6).pdf HB0325_X.pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill text was updated from a draft version to the final enrolled version, including the addition of official signatures and certification lines required for passage. The substantive legal content regarding covenant enforcement and abandonment remains unchanged, though some minor formatting and phrasing adjustments were made within the text itself.
TECHNICAL

The bill text was restructured to include official certification lines, signatures for the Chief Clerk, Speaker of the House, and President of the Senate, and a header change from 'Authorized Print Version' to 'ENROLLED BILL', indicating the bill has been passed and signed into law.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 8, 2025 · House Feb 19, 2025

How they voted

471
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 50
Apr 8, 2025
D Democratic18
17 Yea 1
94% Yea
R Republican32
30 Yea 1 Nay 1
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
37
Key actions
9
Committee
6
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 8, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (47-1-2)
senate
Mar 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 1, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 19, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (98-2)
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

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Steve Fitzpatrick
Steve Fitzpatrick
RRepublican
MT
24