SB 311 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Enhance legislative understanding of state-tribal relations

Senate Bill 311 aims to enhance state legislators' understanding of state-tribal relations. It requires the State Director of Indian Affairs, in collaboration with the legislative services division, to provide information and training to all legislators on Indian law, federal Indian policy history, and the legal rights of tribal members. This includes updated handbooks and access to existing educational resources. Additionally, the bill revises the annual deadline for the Governor's office to provide a report on state and tribal activities to tribal governments, moving it from September 15 to October 15.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Feb 13, 2025 Signed May 13, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0311_2(12).pdf SB0311_X.pdf · 5 edits
MODERATE
This bill updates Montana's state-tribal relations training and reporting requirements. It clarifies that the State Director of Indian Affairs, rather than the Legislative Services Division, leads training efforts for legislators. It also adds a new requirement for state agencies to submit annual reports on tribal-related activities by August 15, and requires the governor to provide a comprehensive tribal-state activities report to tribal governments by September 15. The bill simplifies the statutory language and removes a reference to Section 5-11-112 that was not needed.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on state-tribal relations, but the responsibility for training shifted from the Legislative Services Division to the State Director of Indian Affairs, and new reporting deadlines were established for state agencies.
REQUIREMENT

Training responsibility shifted from Legislative Services Division to State Director of Indian Affairs in collaboration with the state-tribal relations committee.

New requirement for state agencies to submit annual tribal-related activity reports to the governor by August 15.

New requirement for governor to provide annual tribal-state activities report to tribal governments by September 15.

TECHNICAL

Removed amendment to Section 5-11-112 regarding legislative services division functional organization.

Corrected formatting and removed redundant text from the bill title and introductory sections.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2025 · House Apr 11, 2025

How they voted

455
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 6, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
27 Yea 5 Nay
84% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
45
Key actions
11
Committee
9
May 9, 2025
Signed into law
(S) Signed by Governor
upper
Apr 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Apr 21, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Apr 11, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (86-13-1)
house
Apr 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Apr 9, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) State Administration
lower
Mar 28, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) State Administration
lower
Mar 7, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration
lower
Mar 6, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (45-5)
senate
Mar 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Legislative Administration
upper
Mar 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Legislative Administration
upper
Feb 14, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Legislative Administration
upper
Feb 13, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Shane Morigeau
Shane Morigeau
DDemocratic
MT
50