HB 902 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise Montana SNAP program laws

This bill would allow Montana's SNAP program to request federal waivers to restrict purchases to healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and protein, and to limit EBT card use for household food purchases to individuals over 16. It also establishes a transitional benefits program that gradually reduces SNAP benefits as household income rises above 138% of the federal poverty level, with benefit amounts decreasing from 100% to 20% across five income tiers. The legislation includes reporting requirements for the department to track waiver status and spending patterns, updates legal terminology, and amends existing state laws related to SNAP funding and benefit administration.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Mar 27, 2025 Last action May 20, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC1226.pdf HB0902_1.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 1226 to HB 902 and formally introduced by a specific group of sponsors. The substantive content regarding the waiver for SNAP purchase limitations remains unchanged, though minor formatting adjustments were made to the list of eligible food items (fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy).
Scope change
The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; it continues to authorize the state department to seek a federal waiver allowing the purchase of specific nutritious foods with SNAP benefits.
TECHNICAL

The bill number was changed from LC 1226 to HB 902, and the sponsor list was added to identify the specific legislators introducing the bill.

Minor spacing adjustments were made to the indentation of the list of eligible food items (fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy) without altering the items themselves.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
23
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Apr 4, 2025
Amended
(H) Tabled in Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Human Services
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Sherry Essmann
Sherry Essmann
RRepublican
MT
49