Revise supreme court public records laws by opening deliberations and files to the public

Explicitly mandates that all meetings of the Montana Supreme Court must be open to the public, with specific exceptions for privacy and litigation strategy.

Requires all closed Supreme Court meetings to be recorded electronically, with the recording serving as the official record.

Refined the exception for closing meetings to discuss litigation strategy, prohibiting closure when only public bodies are involved as parties.

Establishes a rule that closed judicial deliberation records must be made available for public inspection after the case becomes final.

Updated the definition of 'confidential information' to include judicial deliberations in adversarial proceedings of courts other than the Supreme Court.

The bill number was changed from SB0040.3 to SB0040.4, indicating a revision in the legislative drafting process.

A specific reference to section 2-6-1002 was added to define the term 'public disclosure,' providing a clear legal standard for the Supreme Court when determining what information must be redacted to protect privacy.

The bill identifier was changed from SB0040.2 to SB0040.3, indicating a revision version.

The bill number was updated from SB 40.1 to SB 40.2, and the header date format was adjusted.

Minor formatting changes were made to the line numbers and spacing throughout the document.

A new 'Whereas' clause was added to the preamble, explicitly stating that the right to know does not override the people's right to use initiative or referendum to change laws.

A second 'Whereas' clause was added to the preamble, clarifying that the legislative power granted to the state legislature is subject to the people's rights of initiative and referendum.

Added specific authority for the Supreme Court to close meetings for judicial deliberations in adversarial proceedings.

Mandated that all closed Supreme Court meetings be recorded electronically, with the recording serving as the official record.

Updated the definition of 'confidential information' to include judicial deliberations in adversarial proceedings until a case becomes final.

Clarified when a case is considered 'final' for the purpose of making judicial deliberations public.

Removed 'Whereas' clauses and preamble text, replacing them with standard legislative enactment language.

Corrected a grammatical error in the definition of 'confidential information' by removing the word 'Subject' from the text.

Added a preamble stating that the Legislature retains the authority to protect individual rights, including privacy, despite the constitutional right to know.

Expanded the definition of 'confidential information' to explicitly include judicial deliberations in the Supreme Court until a case becomes final.

Corrected formatting errors in the bill header and line numbering.

Added a new definition for 'Confidential information' that specifically includes information related to judicial deliberations in the supreme court until the case becomes final.

Added a requirement that all closed meetings of the supreme court must be recorded electronically, with the recording serving as the official record and available for public inspection after the case is final.

Added a requirement that minutes from closed portions of meetings must be kept even if the meeting was closed under privacy exceptions, though these specific minutes remain inaccessible to the public unless a court orders otherwise.

Changed the preamble to state that the bill is based on the 'right to know' clause in the Montana Constitution, replacing previous language about legislative power and individual rights.

The opening 'Whereas' clause was rewritten to explicitly declare that the Montana Constitution's 'right to know' clause contains no judicial exceptions.

The definition of when a case becomes 'final' was expanded to include situations where the Supreme Court remands a case to a lower court, and the case only becomes final after that lower court's review is complete.

Text indicating that closed meeting records must be released after a case becomes final was updated to reflect the new, broader definition of 'final'.

Added a preamble stating the bill is based on the Montana Constitution's right to know clause and the Legislature's authority to protect individual rights.

Expanded the definition of 'confidential information' to explicitly include judicial deliberations in the Supreme Court until the case becomes final.

Clarified the specific conditions under which a Supreme Court case is considered 'final' to determine when closed meeting records must be made public.

Reformatted the bill text to include a preamble and adjusted line numbers and headers.

The bill identifier was changed from LC 614 to SB 40.1, reflecting its introduction in the Senate.

The definition of 'constitutional officer' was expanded to explicitly include the secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, and auditor.