Revising grounds for impeachment
SB 15 (Montana Senate Bill 15) would amend Montana law to expand the grounds for impeaching state officials. It adds "misdemeanors" and "malfeasance in corruption" to the existing list of impeachable offenses, which previously covered only felonies and some other misconduct like negligence or willful neglect. This change directly affects Montana's governor, executive officers, department heads, and judicial officers, making specific misdemeanors and corruption-related actions grounds for impeachment. The bill did not pass, failing its third reading in the House on March 28, 2025.
Bill status
died
4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2024
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Jan 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Governor
Introduced Dec 6, 2024
Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 6 comparisons
What changed between versions
SB0015_1(7).pdf
→
SB0015_2(7).pdf
·
3 edits
MINOR
The bill underwent minor formatting and numbering adjustments, including a change in the bill number from SB 15 to SB0015.2 and a reorganization of the header information. The most substantive change involves the reordering of impeachment grounds in Section 5-5-401, where 'AND MISDEMEANORS' was moved to a new line for emphasis, and the phrase 'corruption, incompetence, negligence...' was restructured to list 'misdemeanors or malfeasance' before 'corruption, incompetence, negligence'. These changes appear to be primarily technical and organizational rather than substantive policy shifts.
TECHNICAL
Bill number changed from SB 15 to SB0015.2 with updated legislature formatting.
Section 5-5-401 text was restructured to reorder the list of impeachment grounds, placing 'misdemeanors or malfeasance' before 'corruption, incompetence, negligence' for clarity.
Added emphasis to 'AND MISDEMEANORS' in the impeachment section through line breaks and capitalization.
Floor votes · Senate Jan 29, 2025 · House Mar 27, 2025
How they voted
31–17
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 50
Jan 29, 2025
D
Democratic18
94% Nay
R
Republican32
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
33
Key actions
6
Committee
6
Mar 27, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (57-43)
house
Mar 25, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Judiciary
lower
Mar 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 30, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary
lower
Jan 29, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (31-17-2)
senate
Jan 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Judiciary
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary
upper
Dec 6, 2024
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Tom McGillvray
RRepublican
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