Taxes
Signed into law
HB 337 – Income tax cuts.
The bill cuts the top marginal income tax rate by about .5% and raises the income ceiling for a lower rate bracket. It also doubles the earned income tax credit for low-income earners.
Property tax changes.
Roughly 250,000 homeowners and small businesses are projected to see a break on rising property taxes under two bills Gov. Greg Gianforte signed.
Failed in the Legislature
HB 220 - Provide for a child tax credit.
A bill to create $1,200 income tax credits for families with children younger than six years old and making $50,000 a year or less.
SB 322 - Increase business equipment tax exemption.
The bill raises the cap for businesses to qualify for the tax exemption from $1 million worth of equipment to $3 million.
Health Care
Signed into law
HB 245 – Renew Medicaid Expansion.
This bill maintains Montana’s current Medicaid expansion program and removed a sunset date. Medicaid expansion provides health coverage to roughly 77,000 low income Montanans who make too much money for traditional Medicaid. Lawmakers last renewed the program in 2019 but included a sunset day for mid-2025.
HB 687 – Increase age limit for Medicaid expansion work requirements.
Montana’s Medicaid expansion program’s work requirements applied to people 19 to 55 years old. This bill increases the age limit to 62.
The state’s work requirements aren’t in place. It had requested permission to implement them during the first Trump administration, but the federal government didn’t approve the state’s request. State health officials plan to make another request to the Trump Administration.
Mental Health
Became law without the governor's signature
HB 403 – Lawmakers now have legal access to visit the state hospital.
The Montana State Hospital lost federal certification after four patient deaths. Loss of federal certification also meant federal oversight — which produced public reports on abuse, neglect, patient injuries and deaths, — was gone.
This bill states that lawmakers need unimpeded access to the state hospital to effectively pass reforms for the facility.
Vaccines
Failed in the Legislature
HB 364 – Restart state health department data collection on vaccination rates in public schools.
HB 475 – Ban aluminum in vaccines.
Prior Authorization
Prior authorization is a process used by health insurance companies to control costs. Insurers require medical providers to justify certain medications, treatments and other care before they will agree to pay. Medical providers have long said the practice is overused and creates barriers to necessary care.
Signed into law
SB 317 – Prohibit prior authorization for psychiatric drugs in shortage.
HB 398 – Changes to prior authorization rules pertaining to chronic conditions.
HB 399 – Prohibitions on insurers using prior authorization for generic oral and inhaled drugs, insulin and inhalers for asthma and other breathing conditions.
Education
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Montana have praised a “collaborative” session that produced dozens of bills seeking to shore up support for public schools struggling under the weight of inflation, teacher shortages and aging infrastructure. Here are some highlights.
School Funding
Signed into law
HB 15 – Boosts school funding for inflation.
The law bumps funding for K-12 schools by about $52 million. That’s about a 3% increase over previous years — the traditional amount by which the Legislature allows state funding for schools to increase. Democrats noted that inflation has been higher than 3% in some recent years.
HB 252 – Incentivizes schools to raise new teacher pay.
Known as the “STARS Act,” the law offers schools a cut of about $50 million annually if they raise their base teacher salary past about $41,000. This will mean a sizable pay bump for many early-career teachers, especially in Montana’s small, rural schools — if schools have enough money to clear the STARS Act’s hurdles.
Also offers schools bonus money if they graduate students with college credits or career training.
HB 266 – Establishes an “inflation reconciliation” process.
The law creates a process for lawmakers to more fully consider how the rate of inflation is impacting school budgets. Lawmakers have traditionally limited school budget growth to 3% or the average rate of inflation — whichever is less. That’s caused state support for schools to fall as much as $90 million behind rising costs in recent years.
Quality Education
Signed into law
HB 338 – Allows schools to create “early numeracy programs”.
This law will add math instruction to a state-funded program started in 2023. It allows schools to identify young students who may need additional instruction in literacy and math, and provide early intervention classes.
HB 357 – Funds career and technical education in middle school.
This law gives the Superintendent of Public Instruction a $240,000 pot of money to distribute to schools that have an accredited career and technical education program, often referred to as “CTE.”
Rural Policy
As Montana’s legislative session comes to a close, policies with major impacts to rural communities have made their way to the governor or failed.
Signed into law
Several bills focusing on bolstering tribal communities were approved by legislators including:
SB 224 – Indigenous Peoples Day.
After six legislative sessions in a row attempting to designate an Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Montana, a bill has been approved by lawmakers. The State legislation would dedicate the second Monday of October to both Christopher Columbus and Indigenous people.
HB 83 – Establishing the MMIP Task Force Special Revenue Account.
The bill supports efforts to help reduce the number of missing or murdered indigenous people, who experience higher rates of violence and unsolved cases.
SB107 – Education on Human Trafficking.
The bill would mandate OPI offer a curriculum to public schools on human trafficking education and prevention. Indigenous communities experience higher rates of missing persons.
SB 181 — Revising the Indian Education for All Act
The bill requires all state agencies that distribute money to tribal programs to officially report the financial assistance they gave. Windy Boy says this will improve transparency around federal funds intended for tribes.
Failed in the Legislature
Some key bills for agricultural producers did not cross the finish line.
HB 390 – Right to Repair
The bill sought to allow Montana producers to more easily fix their own equipment. When machinery breaks down, Montana farmers can face costly wait times for repairs.
HB 440 and SB 371 - MT Food First tax incentive.
Efforts to incentivize grocery stores to offer Montana-produced foods in support of local businesses failed to advance.
Housing
Lawmakers in the 2025 Legislature advanced a number of housing reform bills largely aimed at increasing affordable housing stock.
Signed into law
HB 311 – Require the refund of rental application fees.
Mandates landlords with more than four properties refund rental application fees for people who don’t get an apartment.
SB 172 – Revise resort tax eligibility and allow use for workforce housing.
Allows communities with a resort tax to use the money for workforce housing projects.
Failed in the Legislature
HB 21 – Establish a Montana workforce housing tax credit.
Bill would have created a state tax credit for affordable housing projects. Was tabled by the House appropriations committee.
HB 154 – Establish a housing fairness tax credit.
An income tax credit that would give Montanans earning less than $150,000 a year a tax break based on the amount of rent or property tax paid. Tabled in the Senate Taxation committee.
Marijuana
Lawmakers passed a slate of cleanup bills that seek to fine tune regulation of the state’s cannabis industry.
Sent to the governor for his signature
SB 27 – Generally revise marijuana licensing laws.
Freezes the footprint of cannabis dispensaries in Montana. Allows for sale of existing licenses, but blocks state regulators from issuing any new licenses until 2027.
SJ 48 – Interim study of the public health and safety impacts of marijuana legalization.
Assigns legislative interim committees to study public health impacts of Montana’s marijuana legalization. Lawmakers would collect data on emergency room visits, youth marijuana use, and more.
Environment
Energy and Climate Change
Signed into law
HB 285 – Redefining Montana’s Environmental Policy Act Passed.
Redefines MEPA’s intent as - for the purpose of informing the legislature, and not to be used to stop permitting of development projects. Removes language saying MEPA prevents harm, and implements Montanan’s constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
SB 221 – Changes MEPA’s environmental analyses.
Defines what is a fossil fuel activity that warrants greenhouse gas emissions analyses under MEPA and what can/cannot be included in that analysis.
Directs Montana Department of Environmental Quality to create plan rules for determining when a greenhouse gas analysis is necessary.
HB 270 – Removes parts of MEPA code found to be unconstitutional by Supreme Court in Held v. Montana Case.
HB 291 – Bars Montana from having stricter greenhouse gas emissions regulations than the federal government.
SB 262 – Exempts subdivisions from environmental review under MEPA.
Water
Signed into law
HB 664 – Repeal numeric nutrient standards.
Changes how the state measures nutrient pollution in waterways. Specifically, nitrogen and phosphorus, can cause toxic algal blooms in high amounts.
Montana previously used numeric standards that set limits on the amounts of nutrient pollution in the water. This bill would instead require narrative standards, like visual observations or using the health of fish or insects in a river as an indication of water quality.
Failed in the Legislature
All bills related to exempt wells.
Wildlife
Signed into law
HB 259 – Allow for use of infrared scopes and thermal imagery scopes in wolf hunting and trapping.
HB 855 – Establish FWP wildlife highway crossings and accommodation account.
Creates account to fund construction of wildlife crossings, funding for account to come from sale of license plates.
Failed in the Legislature
Bills to reduce state’s wolf population by half.
