The Montana House Business and Labor Committee heard several bills on Feb. 1, 2025, covering topics from appraisal liability to insurance incentives and alcohol licensing. Committee members held hearings, took technical amendments, and in executive action advanced some bills to the House floor.

What the committee heard (high‑level):
- House Bill 135 (appraiser statutes of repose): Representative Steve Fitzpatrick, sponsor, said the bill would add a statute of repose for real estate appraisers and related entities — limiting when claims may be brought. Multiple appraisers testified that uniform standards require a five‑year record retention and that uncertainty about later lawsuits after records are destroyed leaves appraisers vulnerable. Proponents urged the committee to provide a hard cap; no final committee vote on HB 135 was recorded in the transcript.

- House Bill 136 (insurance premium discounts for mitigation): Fitzpatrick said the bill clarifies that insurers may offer premium reductions or benefits for property‑level mitigation steps (wildfire hardening, defensible space, noncombustible materials, wind/hail protections) without those discounts qualifying as illegal “rebating.” The bill drew support from agents, insurers (State Farm, Progressive), Fire Safe Montana and the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance; proponents said the change would encourage mitigation and help the homeowners market. The department and insurers supported the bill with clarifying language; no committee final vote recorded in the transcript.

- House Bill 137 (securities registration fee technical fix): Fitzpatrick said this bill would remove a discounted registration fee for in‑state registrants to reduce potential liability arising from a pending lawsuit and avoid ongoing damages to the state. The Department of Securities and Insurance appeared as informational. The committee heard the sponsor’s explanation and no final committee vote appears in the transcript.

- House Bill 150 (alcohol and gaming ownership/leases): The bill, supported by Montana bankers and Montana Bankers Association counsel, seeks to clarify when real‑property owners are treated as license owners and to make alcohol license collateral rules more usable for lenders. The Department of Revenue reviewed technical edits; proponents and DOR were working on an agreed amendment. Testimony covered commercial financing scenarios for hotels and resorts and how landlord vetting can complicate loans. No committee passage recorded in the transcript.

- House Bill 123 (self‑service alcohol dispensing technology): Fitzpatrick said the bill allows certain electronically enabled self‑service dispensing if approved by DOR, while retaining licensee responsibility to prevent underage service and over‑service. Committee adopted an amendment that clarifies devices or prepaid payment methods used to activate dispensing are not treated as gift certificates under state law. In executive action the committee advanced HB 123 to the floor; the roll call recorded the committee vote as 19 in favor, 1 opposed.

Executive action and votes:
- House Bill 86: The committee adopted a technical amendment and then voted to advance the bill as amended. The transcript records that the measure “passed committee” and will move to the floor; no full roll‑call tally was read into the transcript for HB 86.

- House Bill 123: After amendment (which clarified that electronic dispensing payment methods are not “gift certificates”), the committee passed HB 123. The roll‑call recorded in committee was 19 yeas and 1 nay; proxies for several members were recorded in the transcript.

Items deferred or amended for further work:
- House Bill 128 (protecting employees who respond as volunteer emergency responders): the committee discussed Department of Administration technical edits and requested additional drafting, including clarifications on when an agency may require prior authorization before responding and how the protection applies to probationary employees; the vice chair rescinded a due‑pass motion to allow rework.

- House Bill 131 and HB 94 were noted as items the committee intended to take up later; HB 94 was removed from the executive list to allow final agreed language to be prepared.

Why it matters: the batch of bills touches litigation risk for professionals (HB 135), insurance market incentives for mitigation (HB 136), state fee and liability exposure (HB 137), and how alcohol licenses and related collateral and finance interactions are handled (HB 150, HB 123). The committee advanced two bills and asked for technical amendments or additional staff work on others.

Next steps: bills advanced by the committee will appear on the House floor calendar; sponsors and agency staff were asked to supply agreed language or supplemental materials for bills the committee deferred or planned to revisit.