HB 593 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise sexual abuse reporting laws

This bill revises laws concerning the reporting and tracking of child sexual abuse and exploitation cases. It requires county attorneys to gather all investigative materials, request assistance from the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) to identify alleged perpetrators when needed, and certify receipt of reports. County attorneys must also report detailed case statuses, including the number of reports not prosecuted, to the Attorney General twice yearly. The Attorney General is then mandated to aggregate this information and report it to specific legislative committees, while DPHHS must advise the Attorney General on uncharged cases it believes warrant prosecution.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 19, 2025 Last action May 22, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0593_1(5).pdf HB0593_2.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from HB 593.1 to HB 593.2, and the reporting requirements for alleged sexual abuse perpetrators were modified to require only their initials instead of their full names in certain reports.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding the privacy of defendant information was narrowed by limiting the amount of personal data collected in reports.
REQUIREMENT

Changed the reporting requirement to collect full names to collecting only initials for defendants identified as alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill number from HB 593.1 to HB 593.2 and adjusted associated page headers and formatting.

Floor votes · House Mar 7, 2025

How they voted

990
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 100
Mar 7, 2025
D Democratic42
42 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican58
57 Yea 1
98% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
35
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Apr 9, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 14, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 7, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (99-0-1)
house
Feb 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 26, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 19, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Bill Mercer
Bill Mercer
RRepublican
MT
52