HB 503 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise traffic laws regarding evading or fleeing a peace officer

HB 503 revises existing traffic laws concerning fleeing from or eluding a peace officer. It categorizes this offense into a misdemeanor, an aggravated felony, and a felony if serious bodily injury or death occurs. The bill defines aggravated fleeing to include factors such as previous convictions, reckless driving behavior, causing over $5,000 in property damage, or leaving the state. It establishes specific penalties, including varying terms of imprisonment and fines, for individuals convicted of each level of the offense.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Feb 13, 2025 Signed May 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0503_1(6).pdf HB0503_X.pdf · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was reorganized to align with standard legislative formatting and updated to reflect its final passage as an enrolled bill. The substantive policy content regarding penalties for fleeing a peace officer remains consistent between the two versions, with the primary differences being structural reformatting and the addition of official certification signatures.
TECHNICAL

The document structure was updated from a draft House Bill to a final Enrolled Bill, adding certification signatures for the House and Senate and removing draft-specific headers.

Text was reorganized and reformatted to conform to standard legislative patterns, including the removal of redundant introductory text and the consolidation of penalty subsections.

Page headers and footers were updated to reflect the bill's final status, changing references from 'Authorized Print Version' to 'Enrolled Bill'.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 10, 2025 · House Feb 25, 2025

How they voted

417
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 50
Apr 10, 2025
D Democratic18
14 Yea 4 Nay
77% Yea
R Republican32
27 Yea 3 Nay 2
84% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
41
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 10, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (41-7-2)
senate
Apr 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Apr 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 19, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Feb 25, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (85-15)
house
Feb 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 14, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 13, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Denise Baum
Denise Baum
DDemocratic
MT
45