---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise laws on the selection of municipal court judges"
description: "Revise laws on the selection of municipal court judges"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 127"
citation: "Montana SB 127 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities and Towns (see also: Local Government)", "Courts (see also: Judges and Justices; Juries and Jurors)", "Judges and Justices (see also: Courts)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chris Friedel"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 45
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-12-13"
last_action: "2021-04-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/31bc6418-6293-4989-8c9b-733a5372e9df"
source_url: "http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/LAW0210W$BSIV.ActionQuery?P_BILL_NO1=127&P_BLTP_BILL_TYP_CD=SB&Z_ACTION=Find&P_SESS=20211"
source_hash: "df40eb612082b7c578ca5d4926e8aa1e4d4d337203d2d49a881ae9583469da77"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-mt"]
---

# Montana SB 127 (2021) — Revise laws on the selection of municipal court judges

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB0127_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/SB0199//SB0127_1.pdf)
2. **SB0127_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/SB0199//SB0127_2.pdf)
3. **SB0127_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/SB0199//SB0127_X.pdf)
4. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/billpdf/SB0127.pdf)

## Votes

- BE CONCURRED IN — **14–5** (pass) · lower
- DO PASS AS AMENDED — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **74–24** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **78–22** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chris Friedel — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-12-13** Draft Request Received
- **2020-12-29** Draft to Requester for Review
- **2021-01-06** Draft in Legal Review
- **2021-01-07** Draft in Edit
- **2021-01-11** Draft to Drafter - Edit Review
- **2021-01-11** Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2021-01-12** Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2021-01-12** Bill Draft Text Available Electronically
- **2021-01-12** Executive Director Review
- **2021-01-12** Draft in Assembly
- **2021-01-12** Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2021-01-12** Executive Director Final Review
- **2021-01-12** Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2021-01-19** Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2021-01-20** Introduced `introduction`
- **2021-01-20** Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically
- **2021-01-21** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-01-21** Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-26** Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2021-01-28** Amendments Available
- **2021-01-29** Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2021-01-29** Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2021-02-02** Scheduled for 2nd Reading
- **2021-02-02** 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2`
- **2021-02-03** Scheduled for 3rd Reading
- **2021-02-03** 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-02-03** Transmitted to House
- **2021-02-05** Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-05** First Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-02-11** Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2021-03-10** Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2021-03-11** Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2021-03-15** Scheduled for 2nd Reading
- **2021-03-15** 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2`
- **2021-03-16** Scheduled for 3rd Reading
- **2021-03-16** 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-16** Returned to Senate
- **2021-03-17** Sent to Enrolling
- **2021-03-23** Returned from Enrolling
- **2021-03-23** Printed - Enrolled Version Available
- **2021-03-30** Signed by President
- **2021-03-31** Signed by Speaker
- **2021-03-31** Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-10** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-12** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/31bc6418-6293-4989-8c9b-733a5372e9df`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).