Revise disqualification grounds of member or proposed member of medical legal panel
HB 766 revises the rules for disqualifying members of Montana's medical legal panel, which reviews medical malpractice cases. The bill adds specific grounds requiring disqualification, such as personal bias, financial interests in the case, or close relationships with involved parties (e.g., being a family member of a party or having a material witness role). It limits each party to three disqualification requests per panel member type (attorney or health care provider) and allows parties to waive disqualification after disclosure if they agree. This update clarifies when panel members must step aside to maintain impartiality in malpractice reviews.
Bill status
died
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 25, 2025
Last action May 22, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
LC3180.pdf
→
HB0766_1.pdf
·
3 edits
MINOR
The bill underwent a complete rebranding from a legislative committee draft (LC 3180) to a formal House Bill (HB 766), including updates to the header, page footers, and the bill's title page. The core policy text regarding disqualification grounds for bill members remains substantively unchanged, with the only functional addition being the formal introduction of the bill by Representative B. Close.
Scope change
None; the bill's scope and applicability remain identical to the original draft.
TECHNICAL
Added the bill number (HB 766) and sponsor name (B. Close) to the header and title page.
Updated page footers to reflect the new bill number and replaced the 'LC 3180' identifier with 'Authorized Print Version - HB 766'.
Removed the original committee draft identifier 'LC 3180' from headers and footers.
Floor votes · House Mar 7, 2025
How they voted
77–22
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 100
Mar 7, 2025
D
Democratic42
100% Yea
R
Republican58
60% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
27
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Apr 7, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 19, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Mar 7, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (77-22-1)
house
Mar 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 26, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Feb 25, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Brian Close
DDemocratic
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