SB 159 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Establish subtrust within the coal trust to increase educational tax credits

SB 159 would create an "Educational Opportunity Fund" within Montana's coal severance tax trust. It increases the annual cap on educational tax credits from $2 million to $5 million starting in 2024, with automatic annual increases of 20% plus 50% of fund earnings. This bill directly affects taxpayers who donate to school districts for innovative programs or to scholarship organizations, allowing them to claim larger tax credits. It also removes the previous sunset provision, making the credit program permanent. The bill amends existing tax code sections to implement these changes to educational funding.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Feb 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 15, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0050.pdf SB0159_1.pdf · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 0050 to SB 159 and sponsored by Senator D. Emrich. A new provision was added allowing a tax credit of up to $200,000 for donations to student scholarship organizations, provided the donor does not direct the funds to a specific parent, guardian, or education provider.
Scope change
The bill's scope now explicitly includes a $200,000 tax credit cap for donations to student scholarship organizations, whereas the previous version did not contain this specific financial threshold or credit amount.
FISCAL

Established a tax credit limit of $200,000 for donations to student scholarship organizations.

ELIGIBILITY

Added a restriction preventing donors from directing scholarship funds to specific parents, guardians, or education providers.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill title from LC 0050 to SB 159 and added the sponsor's name.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 6, 2025

How they voted

3911
Passed
Total votes 50
Feb 6, 2025
D Democratic18
11 Yea 7 Nay
61% Yea
R Republican32
28 Yea 4 Nay
87% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
29
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Feb 12, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Finance and Claims
upper
Feb 6, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (39-11)
senate
Feb 6, 2025
Committee
(S) Rereferred to Committee - (S) Finance and Claims
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Jan 31, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Jan 17, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
upper
Jan 15, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Daniel Emrich
Daniel Emrich
RRepublican
MT
11