Revising workers' compensation insurance laws to remove the limitation on benefits to the state's weekly average wage
SB 308 would remove Montana's current limit on workers' compensation benefits that capped payments at the state's average weekly wage. Instead, it would establish a fixed maximum benefit of $2,885 per week for all eligible injured workers. This change would directly affect higher-earning workers who previously received reduced benefits due to the wage-based cap. The bill amends specific sections of Montana's workers' compensation code to implement this fixed maximum payment structure.
Bill status
died
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 12, 2025
Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
SB0308_1(5).pdf
→
SB0308_2.pdf
·
2 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to replace the vague cap on workers' compensation benefits with a specific dollar limit of $2,885 per week. Additionally, the bill title was updated to explicitly include 'volunteer' and 'volunteer firefighter' in the list of covered individuals, clarifying that these groups are now explicitly included in the definition of 'employee' or 'worker' for compensation purposes.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded by explicitly adding 'volunteer' and 'volunteer firefighter' to the statutory definition of covered workers, whereas the previous version relied on general language.
DEFINITION
The definition of 'employee' or 'worker' was updated to explicitly list 'volunteer' and 'volunteer firefighter' as covered categories.
REQUIREMENT
The maximum weekly compensation benefit limit was changed from a reference to the 'state's average weekly wage' to a fixed cap of $2,885.
Floor votes · Senate Mar 4, 2025
How they voted
26–24
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 4, 2025
D
Democratic18
100% Yea
R
Republican32
75% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
30
Key actions
4
Committee
5
Amendments
1
Mar 20, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Finance and Claims
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Finance and Claims
upper
Mar 4, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (26-24)
senate
Mar 4, 2025
Committee
(S) Rereferred to Committee - (S) Finance and Claims
upper
Mar 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Mar 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Feb 13, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Feb 12, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Derek Harvey
DDemocratic
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