SB 17 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Revise laws related to hearings after the emergency removal and protective placement of a child

SB 17 changes specific timeframes for child protective services hearings in Montana after a child is emergency-removed. It shortens the deadline for an initial emergency hearing from 5 days to 5 working days and extends the show cause hearing deadline from 20 days to 21 days. This directly affects parents/guardians of children in emergency removal situations, child protection specialists, county attorneys, and the state public defender's office. The bill amends Montana Code Annotated sections 41-3-301, 41-3-307, and 41-3-432 to adjust these procedural deadlines, without altering the underlying child protection process.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2024
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Dec 7, 2024 Signed Apr 4, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0017_X(2).pdf SB0017_X(3).pdf · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill amends the emergency protective services statute to clarify notification requirements for parents when a child is removed from their custody. The primary change involves formatting adjustments to the list of required notifications, ensuring consistent spacing and indentation while maintaining the core legal obligations regarding the reason for removal, hearing details, and contact information.
TECHNICAL

Adjusted whitespace and indentation in the notification requirements list to improve document formatting and readability.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 30, 2025 · House Mar 18, 2025

How they voted

490
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 50
Jan 30, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
31 Yea 1
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
39
Key actions
10
Committee
7
Apr 3, 2025
Signed into law
(S) Signed by Governor
upper
Mar 26, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Mar 24, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Mar 18, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (98-0-2)
house
Feb 12, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Human Services
lower
Feb 12, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Human Services
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Human Services
lower
Jan 31, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services
lower
Jan 30, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (49-0-1)
senate
Jan 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Jan 25, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Jan 7, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Dec 7, 2024
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Dennis Lenz
Dennis Lenz
RRepublican
MT
25