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Panel hears bill to curb 'wreck‑chasing' and add penalties for tow‑truck solicitation
Summary
Sen. Barry Usher said Senate Bill 455 would ban roadside solicitation by tow companies and add small, progressive penalties to enforce the statutory rotation system; towing-industry witnesses described wreck‑chasing, consumer harm and support for enforcement by Highway Patrol.
Sen. Barry Usher (Senate District 19) told the committee Senate Bill 455 is intended to preserve fairness in the state's rotation towing system by prohibiting roadside solicitation and creating penalties where current law lacks teeth. "There's been a dramatic increase in predatory towing issues where towing companies are patrolling the highways and stealing calls," he said, and he described bipartisan input from the Highway Patrol on enforceable penalties.
Scott Wolff, president of the Montana Tow Truck Association and owner of Iron Horse Towing, described multiple incidents where a tower monitoring a scanner arrived before the dispatched rotation truck and 'locked' the crash victim into accepting the wrong tow, costing the dispatched operator time and money and sometimes exposing motorists to higher fees at impound lots. "This is a consumer safety bill," Wolff said, and urged a do-pass.
Other proponents from small local businesses echoed those accounts. Online and in-person witnesses told the panel that non‑rotation towers sometimes race to scenes, create unsafe driving behavior, guide victims to a preferred tower, or in one case bully a female operator. Brad Longcake, representing the Montana Tow Truck Association, described the complaint resolution committee (a Department of Justice function) as an existing channel for disputes and said the bill adds enforcement options—small fines and progressive penalties—that local troopers can issue on scene to deter repeat offenders.
Committee members asked how dispatch works, whether callers receive a call-for-service (CFS) number, how a driver would carry proof on scene, and whether commercial tows outside law‑enforcement dispatches would fall under the bill. Witnesses said the rotation system dates back several decades, dispatch systems generate a CFS number that can be recorded, and the bill is targeted at law‑enforcement or public‑service‑initiated tows; commercial tows arranged directly by a customer are not intended to be swept into the rotation requirement. Witnesses also emphasized that customers retain the right to choose a tow company in many situations, and that law enforcement retains discretion in exigent circumstances.
The hearing closed after sponsor remarks. No committee vote was recorded in the transcript.
