SB 259 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise laws related to child safety

SB 259 revises Montana's child safety laws by defining "imminent danger" as a situation where a child faces a high probability of death or serious injury, clarifying that factors like a parent's disability or a positive drug test alone do not meet this standard. The bill requires child protection agencies to provide parents with detailed notifications within 24 hours of a child's removal, including the reason for removal, legal rights, and information about court hearings. It also mandates that agencies make reasonable efforts to protect children without removing them from a parent who is a victim of domestic violence (such as assault or strangulation), while providing referrals to domestic violence programs. Additionally, the bill prohibits placing children in jail and requires law enforcement to share body camera footage with the court at the first hearing if involved in a child's removal.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC1651.pdf SB0259_1.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 1651 to SB 259 and the sponsor was identified as J. Trebas. These are administrative updates that do not alter the bill's legal content or policy impact.
TECHNICAL

Removed the original bill number LC 1651.1 from the header and page footers.

Added the new bill number SB 259.1 and identified the sponsor as J. Trebas.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
16
Key actions
1
Committee
2
Amendments
1
Feb 14, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Feb 14, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Feb 5, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
upper
Feb 3, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Jeremy Trebas
Jeremy Trebas
RRepublican
MT
10