Committee hears bill to cap liability for agricultural vehicles on Montana roads

The House Transportation Committee opened a hearing on House Bill 212, introduced by Representative Edward Byrne, that would limit civil liability for operators of agricultural vehicles on roads and widen the law's definition of agricultural operations to include employees and third-party contractors.

The bill, Byrne said, "is a 1 page bill with, 1 line on the other side. The rest of the 20 pages is all the amendment for, the definition." He told the committee the measure would adopt liability limits already used for some state highway operations — $750,000 per claim and $1.5 million per occurrence — and would apply across roads and highways in Montana.

Supporters included the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and farmers who described recent collisions with slow-moving implements that generated lawsuits despite using required lights and slow-moving-vehicle markings. Nicole Rolfe of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation told the committee, "Liability is something that's very concerning to farmers and ranchers," and said members frequently carry insurance but sometimes suits exceed coverage. Creston resident Carrie Passmore described two recent collisions involving family farm equipment and said her family faced threats of suit despite the machines having lights and signals.

Opponents included a trial attorney who argued the proposal would infringe the constitutional guarantee of access to courts. Al Smith, speaking for plaintiffs' counsel, referenced Article II, Section 16 of the Montana Constitution and said the limits would "artificially limit how much somebody can recover" and urged the committee to defeat the bill absent justification for the dollar caps.

Committee members questioned witnesses about insurance availability, the meaning of negligence under Montana law, and whether the bill would protect owners only when a jury found no negligence. Larry Flynn, deputy director of the Montana Department of Transportation, appeared as an informational witness and offered to provide crash statistics statewide on collisions between passenger vehicles and agricultural equipment.

Representative Byrne said the dollar limits were taken from existing limited-liability language used for certain Department of Transportation operations and that the bill's definition of agricultural operations would reach anyone performing farm-related work "from preparation to sale and transportation." He said placement of the new language in the Montana Code Annotated would be determined by legislative staff during bill drafting.

No committee vote was taken during the hearing. Committee leadership said executive action on bills heard this day — including House Bill 212 — was scheduled for the next committee meeting on Wednesday at 3 p.m., and the committee requested a formal legal review of Article II, Section 16 for use in deliberations.

The hearing record contains testimony from proponents and opponents, repeated committee requests for data and clarification about insurance and negligence standards, and discussion of whether section 2 of the bill would affect insurers' exposure to bad-faith claims following settlement offers.

The committee closed the hearing on House Bill 212 without action and will consider the bill at the scheduled executive session.