Senate panel hears cleanup bill for Montana Land Use Planning Act; sponsor calls it clarification, cities and counties seek fixes

Sen. Forrest Mandeville, sponsor of Senate Bill 121, told the Senate Local Government Committee on Wednesday that the bill is a technical cleanup to the recently enacted Montana Land Use Planning Act. "This is a cleanup bill," Mandeville said, adding the measure adds a definition for "development application," clarifies public notice requirements, and sets out how extraterritorial zoning operates between cities and counties.

Mandeville said the bill mainly clarifies existing practice: under the draft language, if a city has zoning outside its limits and a county asserts authority over the same area, the county's regulation would prevail. "So if the city has zoning outside of its jurisdiction and the county says, no, we're gonna zone it, then the city zoning goes away," Mandeville said.

The changes also cross‑reference municipal facility review and the subdivision rules so cities that rely on local water, sewer or stormwater capacity reviews need not duplicate DEQ sanitation review, preserve existing joint city–county planning boards as valid planning commissions under the act, and clarify that appeals include a public hearing. "Page 11, section 9. This is effective on passage and approval because this is clarification and cleanup," Mandeville said.

Kelly Lynch, executive director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, testified in support and said the bill does not change the substance of the Land Use Planning Act but fixes implementation gaps. Lynch told the committee the state won a $7,000,000 HUD grant to help the listed communities complete planning work; "$5,000,000 will be going to the 10 Lupa communities, plus the 1 community that opted into Lupa, which was Lewistown," she said. Lynch also described the municipal facilities exclusion as a way to avoid duplicative DEQ review when cities can confirm capacity.

Supporters from housing advocacy and business groups echoed that SB 121 is cleanup: Jake Brown of Shelter White Fish said the bill "just makes it a little better," and Dan Brooks of the Billings Chamber urged a due pass to implement the main act. Mandy Rambo, deputy director at the Montana Department of Commerce, identified her staff online and confirmed the HUD award and that Commerce will use $2 million to create a housing‑planning toolkit for communities statewide.

During committee questions, Sen. Terry Ellsworth raised concerns from constituents about how recent family‑transfer exemptions (Senate Bill 158) interact with the Land Use Planning Act and whether SB 121 resolves those conflicts in counties that have denied family transfers. Mandeville and Lynch said Malupa (the Land Use Planning Act) applies only to the cities that opted in (the 10 listed cities plus Lewistown) and that no counties have opted in so far; they offered to work with Ellsworth to identify language if a separate fix is required. Karen Alley, associate general counsel for the Montana Association of Counties, identified codification references to the subdivision statutes during the discussion.

Committee discussion ended with the sponsor saying he would work with colleagues to address remaining county concerns, and the hearing was closed without a committee vote.

Why it matters: SB 121 would alter statutory cross references and definitions that local governments, developers and planners use when implementing the Land Use Planning Act. Supporters said the bill is procedural and intended to prevent duplicate reviews and to make intergovernmental authority clearer; some senators asked for follow‑up to ensure the recent family‑transfer law is not inadvertently blocked in counties.

What comes next: No formal action took place at the hearing; the sponsor said he will meet with colleagues to address outstanding county questions and that he is open to working on any needed language before executive action.