---
type: "Bill"
title: "Generally revise laws relating legislative exempt personal staff"
description: "Generally revise laws relating legislative exempt personal staff"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 128"
citation: "Montana SB 128 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Legislature"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jason Ellsworth"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 47
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2022-12-04T19:12:23+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-02T15:36:48+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/40887440-f192-44e7-bd4d-be45b5e4412b"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/bill/20231/LC2976"
source_hash: "a8b68d2ddf4893b99c8705edf965dff00384f48d9114b5330c479743f16f1bf5"
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 128 (2023) — Generally revise laws relating legislative exempt personal staff

## Version chain

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

1. **SB0128_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=3064)
2. **SB0128_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=3065)

## Votes

- (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- (S) 3rd Reading Passed — **47–2** (pass) · upper
- (S) 2nd Reading Passed — **47–2** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Concurred — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- (H) 3rd Reading Concurred — **92–0** (pass) · lower
- (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred — **16–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Jason Ellsworth — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-02T15:36:48+00:00** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`
- **2023-05-01T19:15:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-04-24T16:50:00+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-22T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-04-19T16:00:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-04-13T20:50:44+00:00** (C) Printed - Enrolled Version Available `enrolled`
- **2023-04-13T20:50:43+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2023-04-07T21:14:31+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2023-04-06T23:17:49+00:00** (H) Returned to Senate
- **2023-04-06T22:08:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-06T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-05T20:18:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-05T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-03-24T19:30:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred
- **2023-03-24T18:00:00+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred
- **2023-03-17T18:00:00+00:00** (H) Hearing
- **2023-02-21T21:38:29+00:00** (H) Hearing Canceled
- **2023-02-07T20:29:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-02-07T20:23:25+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-26T22:27:31+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2023-01-25T21:54:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-01-25T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-01-24T20:33:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-01-24T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-01-23T20:21:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Pass Consideration `reading-2`
- **2023-01-23T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-01-19T20:03:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-18T22:00:16+00:00** (S) Hearing
- **2023-01-18T19:01:20+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-05T21:40:43+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-05T20:04:06+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-01-05T12:30:00+00:00** (C) Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-05T12:29:00+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2023-01-04T15:35:59+00:00** (C) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2023-01-02T20:42:57+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2023-01-02T17:33:46+00:00** (C) Executive Director Final Review
- **2023-01-02T17:33:39+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2022-12-31T17:06:49+00:00** (C) Draft in Assembly
- **2022-12-31T17:05:48+00:00** (C) Executive Director Review
- **2022-12-30T19:43:59+00:00** (C) Bill Draft Text Available Electronically
- **2022-12-30T19:43:58+00:00** (C) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2022-12-30T15:53:15+00:00** (C) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2022-12-30T15:47:19+00:00** (C) Draft to Drafter - Edit Review
- **2022-12-30T15:30:29+00:00** (C) Draft in Edit
- **2022-12-30T01:05:14+00:00** (C) Draft in Legal Review
- **2022-12-28T14:35:22+00:00** (C) Draft to Requester for Review
- **2022-12-04T19:12:23+00:00** (C) Draft Request Received `receipt`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/40887440-f192-44e7-bd4d-be45b5e4412b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).