HB 34 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Revise law to establish permanent disaster resilience fund

House Bill 34 creates a permanent Disaster Resiliency Fund within the state special revenue fund, managed by the Department of Military Affairs. This fund is intended to support state and local mitigation projects, provide matching funds for hazardous material equipment and training, and develop emergency management resources. Annually, $4 million from the general fund is transferred into this account, which has a maximum balance of $12 million. Any funds exceeding this cap are returned to the general fund. The money in the account is statutorily appropriated, allowing for ongoing use without further biennial legislative approval, directly affecting state and local disaster preparedness efforts.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2024

Committee Review

Jan 2025

House Passage

Jan 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Dec 7, 2024 Last action May 20, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0282.pdf → HB0034_1.pdf · 7 edits

MODERATE

HB 34 significantly rewrites the Disaster Resiliency Fund by removing the $4 million annual statutory appropriation and the $12 million balance cap, replacing them with a one-time $50 million transfer from the general fund. The bill also eliminates the 2027 termination date for the fund and expands eligible uses to include contracted resources and administrative costs, while updating the list of statutes containing statutory appropriations.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include 'contracted resources' and 'administrative resources' as eligible uses for fund money, and the fund's existence was extended indefinitely by removing the previous termination date.

FISCAL

Removed the annual statutory appropriation of $4 million from the general fund to the Disaster Resiliency Fund.

Added a one-time transfer of $50 million from the general fund to the Disaster Resiliency Fund by June 30, 2025.

Added a second transfer of $50 million from the general fund to the fund during the biennium ending June 30, 2027.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the requirement that the fund balance cannot exceed $12 million.

TIMELINE

Removed the termination date of June 30, 2027, allowing the fund to continue indefinitely.

ELIGIBILITY

Expanded eligible uses to include 'contracted resources' and 'administrative resources' in addition to personnel.

DEFINITION

Updated the list of statutes containing statutory appropriations to remove references to the old fund section and add Section 24 of Chapter 722, Laws of 2023.

Floor votes · House Jan 29, 2025

How they voted

23–0

Passed

Total votes 23

Jan 29, 2025

D Democratic10

10 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican13

13 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jan 29, 2025

House · Passed

House Vote: pass (23-0)

house

Jan 29, 2025

Amended

(H) Tabled in Committee - (H) Appropriations

lower

Jan 17, 2025

Committee

(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations

lower

Jan 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Report - (H) Local Government

lower

Jan 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Local Government

lower

Jan 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Local Government

lower

Dec 20, 2024

Committee

(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Local Government

lower

Dec 7, 2024

Introduced

(H) Introduced

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors