---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise judicial recusal laws when parties made campaign contributions"
description: "Revise judicial recusal laws when parties made campaign contributions"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 201"
citation: "Montana SB 201 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections (see also: Ballot Issues)", "Judges and Justices (see also: Courts)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Greg Hertz"]
version_count: 15
action_count: 51
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2022-09-14T16:39:44+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-04T18:37:11+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b8d1ac1-3793-4889-977e-3044415b2924"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/bill/20231/LC0308"
source_hash: "eb0cc0fd24fbf0c8e292b09de81cc9a18d6b67b983b05354ffbb843cdf6bf2e7"
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 201 (2023) — Revise judicial recusal laws when parties made campaign contributions

## Version chain

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

1. **SB0201.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5074)
2. **SB0201.001.002_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5075)
3. **SB0201.001.003.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=10388)
4. **SB0201.001.004.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=10387)
5. **SB0201.001.004_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5077)
6. **SB0201.002.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-condensed.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5078)
7. **SB0201.002.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5076)
8. **SB0201001CWS15239.slc.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5051)
9. **SB0201001CWS16398.slc.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5054)
10. **SB0201001SCS16398.slc.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5052)
11. **SB0201002SCS15239.slc.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5053)
12. **SB0201_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5007)
13. **SB0201_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5005)
14. **SB0201_3.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5006)
15. **SB0201_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5008)

## Votes

- (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed — **7–4** (pass) · upper
- (S) 2nd Reading Passed as Amended — **35–15** (pass) · upper
- (S) 2nd Reading House Amendments Concurred — **33–17** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Concurred — **68–32** (pass) · lower
- (S) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by House — **31–18** (pass) · upper
- (S) 3rd Reading Passed — **33–14** (pass) · upper
- (S) 2nd Reading Motion to Amend Carried — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- (H) 3rd Reading Concurred — **65–31** (pass) · lower
- (S) 2nd Reading Motion to Amend Failed — **16–34** (fail) · upper
- (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended — **13–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Greg Hertz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-04T18:37:11+00:00** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`
- **2023-05-04T16:12:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-01T16:50:00+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-04-29T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-04-27T15:00:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-04-24T19:33:21+00:00** (C) Printed - Enrolled Version Available `enrolled`
- **2023-04-24T19:33:20+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2023-04-20T13:01:09+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2023-04-19T21:38:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by House `passage, passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-04-19T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-19T00:39:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading House Amendments Concurred `amendment-amendment, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-18T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-04-06T00:13:23+00:00** (H) Returned to Senate with Amendments
- **2023-04-05T21:43:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-05T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-04T21:05:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-04T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-03-31T20:06:54+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-03-31T19:54:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-03-31T14:00:00+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-03-17T14:00:00+00:00** (H) Hearing
- **2023-03-10T20:19:33+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-03-10T19:06:16+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-13T22:18:11+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2023-02-10T21:56:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-08T22:17:00+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-02-08T20:47:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed as Amended `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-02-08T20:46:01+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Motion to Amend Carried `reading-2`
- **2023-02-08T20:45:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Motion to Amend Failed `amendment-failure, failure, reading-2`
- **2023-02-06T20:07:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-03T21:34:00+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-01T16:53:39+00:00** (C) Amendments Available
- **2023-01-26T16:00:57+00:00** (S) Hearing
- **2023-01-23T17:46:02+00:00** (C) Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-23T17:30:12+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-20T20:20:00+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-01-20T00:42:41+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2023-01-19T22:43:42+00:00** (C) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2023-01-11T23:53:23+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2023-01-11T22:27:14+00:00** (C) Executive Director Final Review
- **2023-01-11T22:27:07+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2023-01-11T19:08:51+00:00** (C) Draft in Assembly
- **2023-01-11T00:30:51+00:00** (C) Executive Director Review
- **2023-01-10T18:57:16+00:00** (C) Bill Draft Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-10T18:57:15+00:00** (C) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2023-01-10T14:31:34+00:00** (C) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2023-01-10T02:26:04+00:00** (C) Draft to Drafter - Edit Review
- **2023-01-09T17:10:50+00:00** (C) Draft in Edit
- **2023-01-07T14:28:26+00:00** (C) Draft in Legal Review
- **2022-12-31T20:14:38+00:00** (C) Draft to Requester for Review
- **2022-09-14T16:39:44+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/0b8d1ac1-3793-4889-977e-3044415b2924`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).