HB 679 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revised use of public equipment

HB 679 revises the rules governing the use of state-owned vehicles by state agency employees. The bill generally prohibits using these vehicles for commuting between an employee's residence and their worksite. It creates a new exemption for certain employees of the Division of Criminal Investigation within the Department of Justice, specifically the fire marshal and agents in narcotics or major crimes. These DCI employees are now exempt from commuting restrictions if they are subject to call-outs during non-scheduled hours for the protection of life or property. Other existing exceptions for emergency responders and specific officials remain in place.
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 24, 2025 Signed May 8, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0679_X(2).pdf HB0679_X(3).pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill text shows minor formatting adjustments rather than substantive policy changes. The title and section descriptions were slightly restructured to remove inconsistent quotation marks and spacing, but the actual legislative content regarding employee commuting restrictions and effective dates remains unchanged.
TECHNICAL

Removed inconsistent quotation marks and extra blank lines from the bill title and effective date section for formatting consistency.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 16, 2025 · House Mar 5, 2025

How they voted

500
Passed
Total votes 50
Apr 16, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
32 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
42
Key actions
9
Committee
6
May 5, 2025
Signed into law
(H) Signed by Governor
lower
Apr 25, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Apr 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Apr 16, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (50-0)
senate
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) State Administration
upper
Mar 26, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) State Administration
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Mar 5, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (71-27-2)
house
Feb 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) State Administration
lower
Feb 27, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) State Administration
lower
Feb 24, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration
lower
Feb 24, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Morgan Thiel
Morgan Thiel
RRepublican
MT
30