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Committee advances bill to clarify parental consent rule for school event recordings
Summary
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to concur with House Bill 32, a measure to correct a 2023 parental‑permission provision that unintentionally restricted filming of school sporting events and performances without obtaining consent from every parent.
The Montana Senate Judiciary Committee voted to concur with House Bill 32, a measure intended to correct language in a 2023 parental‑rights law that had limited routine recordings at school events.
House Bill 32 would amend the section of last session’s bill that prohibited videoing students without parental permission so that routine recordings—such as game films, band concerts and theater productions—are not effectively banned when it would be impractical to obtain permission from every parent. Representative Amy Regier was named as the House sponsor when the committee took action to concur.
The committee record shows the sponsor described the change as a correction of an unintended consequence of House Bill 676 (2023) and said the amendment on page 2, lines 13–14 makes the needed fix. No proponents, opponents or informational witnesses were listed in the hearing on the bill.
Senator Ricky moved concurrence on HB 32 in executive action; the committee adopted the motion and the measure passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The record shows the committee used a roll call and voice vote during executive action; an explicit tally was not recorded in the transcript.
By advancing HB 32, the committee acted on a narrowly focused technical fix to restore the ability of schools, families and journalists to record common school events without the burden of collecting written consent from every parent.
The bill will now proceed to the Senate floor for further consideration and any additional amendments.
