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House committee approves kratom consumer protection bill with wholesale change
Summary
The Montana House Business and Labor Committee voted to send House Bill 407, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, to the House floor after approving an amendment that changes a reference from "retail" to "wholesale."
The Montana House Business and Labor Committee on an executive-action voice vote approved House Bill 407, the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, sending the measure to the full House with one technical amendment.
The committee voted to adopt amendment 407.1.2, which changes a reference on page 4, line 25, from “retail” to “wholesale.” The amendment was described as friendly by bill sponsor Representative Neil Nickel. Representative Nickel said, "It's a friendly amendment, thank you." Jameson, a committee staff member, noted the bill's title currently says it provides an immediate effective date but the bill text sets an effective date of Jan. 1, 2026, and said he would correct the title in the amendment process to match the text.
Committee members expressed support. Representative Carter said he would back the amendment and thanked the bill’s sponsors and drafters, saying the bill had moved from a “conceptual nebulous thing” to a form he was comfortable voting for. After the amendment passed on a voice vote, the committee took a voice vote to pass the bill as amended. A small number of proxy votes and one recorded no vote were indicated during the transmittal sequence; Representative C. Fitzpatrick was recorded as voting no on the initial voice call, and several members cast proxy votes in favor before the committee chair declared the bill passed to the floor.
No legal citations or implementation details beyond the effective date were discussed during executive action. A member of the public, Miss Slough, was noted to be in the audience during the amendment discussion but did not speak during the recorded executive action. The committee's approval sends HB 407 as amended to the House floor for further consideration.
The committee heard the bill and amendment during its executive session; the record shows the motion to move HB 407 to pass at the start of the bill’s executive action and the committee’s final announcement that "House Bill 407 as amended has passed" as it moved the bill to the floor.
Votes at a glance: amendment 407.1.2 — adopted (voice vote); HB 407 as amended — passed the committee and placed on the House calendar.
