HB 515 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise laws relating to school facilities consolidating two existing state special revenue accounts

HB 515 revises state laws concerning funding for school facilities and technology, directly affecting school districts across the state. The bill consolidates two existing state special revenue accounts and increases the amount and multiplier in the state's major maintenance aid formula. These changes are intended to provide more funding to school districts for significant upkeep projects without impacting property taxpayers. Additionally, it revises statutes related to state school technology payments and allows natural resource development payments to support state major maintenance aid and debt service assistance.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
May 2025
Senate Passage
May 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Feb 14, 2025 Signed May 19, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 6 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0515_X(2).pdf HB0515_X(3).pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill title was shortened to remove the word 'STATE' from the description of the school aid formula, likely to improve readability or align with updated statutory language. Additionally, the description of how natural resource payments can be used was updated to remove the specific mention of 'STATE' before 'SCHOOL MAJOR MAINTENANCE AID', clarifying that the funds support the aid program generally rather than a state-specific iteration of it.
TECHNICAL

The word 'STATE' was removed from the title and the main description of the bill to streamline the text.

FISCAL

The text specifying that natural resource payments can support school maintenance aid was edited to remove the word 'STATE', broadening the phrasing to apply to the aid program itself.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 22, 2025 · House Apr 25, 2025

How they voted

2921
Passed
Total votes 50
Apr 22, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
11 Yea 21 Nay
65% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
51
Key actions
7
Committee
5
Amendments
2
May 13, 2025
Signed into law
(H) Signed by Governor
lower
May 6, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
May 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Apr 25, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (80-20)
house
Apr 23, 2025
Introduced
(S) Returned to House with Amendments
upper
Apr 22, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (29-21)
senate
Apr 16, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Apr 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Mar 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Mar 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Mar 26, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Feb 17, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Education
lower
Feb 14, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Linda Reksten
Linda Reksten
RRepublican
MT
13