SB 420 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Limit local government fees for children's use of parks

SB 420 limits fees local governments can charge for children's use of parks and sports fields (excluding pools/aquatic centers) to $25 per month or $10 for a 3-day period. It applies to all children under 18 and caps fees for children's sports teams based on individual participants. The bill defines "local government" to include counties, cities, and special districts, and exempts contracts in place before July 1, 2025. This legislation directly affects how municipalities charge for recreational access for minors, aiming to reduce costs for families using public park facilities.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 21, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB0420_1(4).pdf SB0420_2.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill text was reformatted to correct a line break error in the header and inserted a new exemption stating that contracts established before July 1, 2025, are not subject to the section's restrictions. The substantive list of prohibited powers for local governments remains unchanged.
Scope change
The bill's scope is effectively unchanged regarding its prohibitions, but a new timeline exemption was added for pre-existing contracts.
TIMELINE

Added an exemption stating that contracts established prior to July 1, 2025, are not subject to the bill's restrictions.

TECHNICAL

Corrected a formatting error in the document header where the year was split across lines.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2025

How they voted

482
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 6, 2025
D Democratic18
17 Yea 1 Nay
94% Yea
R Republican32
31 Yea 1 Nay
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
25
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Apr 9, 2025
Amended
(H) Tabled in Committee - (H) Local Government
lower
Mar 7, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Local Government
lower
Mar 6, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (48-2)
senate
Mar 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Local Government
upper
Mar 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Local Government
upper
Feb 24, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Local Government
upper
Feb 21, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Ellie Boldman
Ellie Boldman
DDemocratic
MT
47