House approves dozens of bills on third reading; one bill fails

The Montana House of Representatives on March 4, 2025, approved a series of bills on third reading, voting to pass measures on hunting policy, education loan forgiveness, criminal procedure, scooters, manufactured homes, state equipment use, liability for agricultural vehicles, school background checks and behavioral health clinic implementation among others; House Bill 500 failed final passage.

The votes were taken across the House's third-reading calendar. The clerk announced vote tallies after each roll call; several bills passed with wide margins while some were closer. The session recorded multiple unanimous or near-unanimous approvals and one failure on the day’s third-reading docket.

Major bills and outcomes (selected): House Bill 568 (Sprunger), “Provide for the Montana Hunters First Act” — passed; clerk: 97 aye, 1 no. House Bill 509 (Powers), “Revise the Quality Educator Loan Forgiveness Program to Expand Eligibility” — passed; 67 aye, 31 no. House Bill 535 (Overstreet), “Revise the Uniform Criminal Expedition Act” — passed; 62 aye, 36 no. House Bill 588 (Durham), “Defining and regulating motorized scooters” — passed; 56 aye, 42 no. House Bill 785 (Falk), “Revised laws related to manufactured homes” — passed; 98 aye, 0 no. House Bill 679 (Veil), “Generally revised use of public equipment” — passed; 71 aye, 27 no. House Bill 343 — (title not specified in transcript) — passed; 96 aye, 2 no. House Bill 212 (Byrne), “Limit liability of agricultural vehicles” — passed; 51 aye, 47 no. House Bill 594 (Seekins Crow), “Clarify prohibition on power of local government to require additional licensing or permitting” — passed; 58 aye, 40 no. House Bill 745 (Tillman), “Require background checks for certain school employees and volunteers” — passed; 98 aye, 0 no. House Bill 547 (Demoras), “Revised firefighting laws for consolidated city-county governments” — passed; 72 aye, 26 no. House Bill 490 (Regare), “Revise civil liability laws” — passed; 98 aye, 0 no. House Bill 500 (Oblender), “Generally revised laws related to chiropractic practitioners” — failed; 48 aye, 50 no. House Bill 93 (Seekins Crow), “Establish Compensation for Wrongful Conviction” — passed; 96 aye, 2 no. House Bill 607 — passed; 69 aye, 29 no. House Bill 643 (Sharp), “Revise reimbursement cost to detention centers holding inmates in state custody” — passed; 94 aye, 4 no. House Bill 574 (Gillette), “Authorizing implementation of the certified community behavioral health clinic act model” — passed; 98 aye, 0 no. House Bill 702 (Seacons Crow), “Generally revised laws related to criminal acts” — passed; 62 aye, 36 no. House Bill 628 (early literacy targeted intervention laws) — passed; 77 aye, 21 no.

The clerk and presiding officer handled roll calls; where only vote totals were announced, individual member votes were not listed in the provided transcript. No further action or amendments for these bills were recorded in the excerpt provided.

The House also received messages from the governor that day indicating signed bills and from the senate reporting bills passed there and sent to the House. Business then moved to second-reading consideration in a Committee of the Whole for other bills later in the day.