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Co-commissioner cleanup bill returns to committee as technical codification tool
Summary
House Bill 112, the annual co‑commissioner bill, seeks to correct codification errors and make technical changes to statutes; the co‑commissioner told the committee the bill is intended as a non-substantive cleanup of errors and references discovered during codification.
Representative Steve Fitzpatrick opened the hearing on House Bill 112, describing it as the annual Code Commissioner (co‑commissioner) bill presented each session to allow technical corrections to statutes.
Todd Everts, identified as the co‑commissioner and chief legal counsel, told the committee the bill is a cleanup measure used to correct inconsistencies found in the codification process. Everts described codification as the process the co‑commissioner’s office performs after the session to assemble the official Montana code, saying last session the legislature introduced "over 1,700 bills and resolutions," 806 of which passed, and noting the high volume increases the chance of drafting and reference errors the codification process must correct.
Everts said the bill should contain no substantive changes but instead correct erroneous references, grammatical issues and inconsistencies and incorporate name changes. He noted the current co‑commissioner bill runs 51 pages this session and that co‑commissioner bills in prior sessions have been substantially longer.
No opponents or informational witnesses participated and no committee action was taken at the hearing. The committee will consider the bill for executive action on its schedule.
The hearing record contains procedural explanation and technical detail; no policy or substantive statutory changes were described on the record beyond codification corrections.
