Revise Montana lakeshore laws
SB 304 revises Montana's Lakeshore Protection Act to strengthen oversight of development near lakes. It directly affects landowners, developers, and contractors working within 20 feet of a lake's mean high-water elevation. Key provisions include requiring stop-work orders for unauthorized construction, mandating financial guarantees (surety bonds) for permits, updating penalties for violations (up to $10,000 fines or 180-day work pauses for repeat offenses), and allowing local governments to place liens on property to cover cleanup costs and fines. The bill also clarifies definitions, such as requiring lakes to be at least 160 acres and navigable by small boats, to determine which water bodies are protected.
Bill status
died
1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 11, 2025
Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
LC1858.pdf
→
SB0304_1.pdf
·
1 edit
MINOR
The bill was renumbered from LC 1858 to SB 304, indicating it has moved from a committee or local filing stage to the Senate for broader legislative review. The substantive text of the bill regarding the Lakeshore Protection Act remains unchanged, with only the header and versioning information updated to reflect its new status.
TECHNICAL
The bill number was changed from LC 1858 to SB 304, and the document title was updated to indicate an 'Authorized Print Version'.
Floor votes
How they voted
No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
15
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Amendments
1
Mar 1, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Natural Resources
upper
Feb 12, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Natural Resources
upper
Feb 11, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Dave Fern
DDemocratic
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