HB 438 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Establishing a board of physical, rehabilitative, and developmental healthcare professionals

HB 438 establishes a new "Board of Physical, Rehabilitative, and Developmental Health Care Professionals." This bill consolidates the licensing and regulatory authority for several healthcare professions, including athletic trainers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists, under this single new board. The board, composed of 12 members from these fields and one public member, will be responsible for setting licensure criteria, adopting fees, and issuing or renewing licenses. This change aims to streamline the oversight of these professionals, impacting those who practice in these fields and the citizens who receive their services.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

May 2025

Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Signed May 5, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0438_X.pdf → HB0438_X(1).pdf · 1 edit

MINOR

The bill text was simplified by removing the specific list of related statutes (MCA sections) from the title or summary line. This change appears to be a formatting or drafting adjustment rather than a substantive policy shift, as the core legal provisions of the bill remain intact.

TECHNICAL

A specific list of related Montana Code Annotated sections (37-24-202, 37-24-203, 37-24-310, 37-36-102, and 37-36-202) was deleted from the text.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 11, 2025 · House Feb 20, 2025

How they voted

45–3

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 50

Apr 11, 2025

D Democratic18

17 Yea 1

94% Yea

R Republican32

28 Yea 3 Nay 1

87% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 1, 2025

Signed into law

(H) Signed by Governor

lower

Apr 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Signed by President

upper

Apr 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Signed by Speaker

lower

Apr 11, 2025

Senate · Passed

Senate Vote: pass (45-3-2)

senate

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Committee Report - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs

upper

Mar 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs

upper

Mar 1, 2025

Committee

(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs

upper

Feb 20, 2025

House · Passed

House Vote: pass (99-0-1)

house

Feb 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Report - (H) Business and Labor

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Business and Labor

lower

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Business and Labor

lower

Feb 7, 2025

Introduced

(H) Introduced

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors