---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revising the practice of optometry to include certain laser procedures and in-office surgical procedures"
description: "Revising the practice of optometry to include certain laser procedures and in-office surgical procedures"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 218"
citation: "Montana HB 218 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health Care Services", "Professions and Occupations Generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ed Buttrey"]
version_count: 17
action_count: 39
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-11-22T17:39:43+00:00"
last_action: "2025-04-17T17:40:12+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4d9b17fb-462f-499b-b841-d6c4e53ede25"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1814?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "11eff7b25ccad73cb4434e9aa25236c00350af674f06112ab23c62c49586bf7a"
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 HB 218 (2025) — Revising the practice of optometry to include certain laser procedures and in-office surgical procedures

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0218_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=272153)
2. **HB0218_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275291)
3. **HB0218_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276347)
4. **HB0218_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=277150)
5. **HB0218_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298125)
6. **HB0218_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=302749)
7. **HB0218_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=302752)
8. **HB0218_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=271811)
9. **HB0218_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316433)
10. **HB0218_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316434)
11. **HB0218_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316435)
12. **HB0218_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=317379)
13. **HB0218_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320841)
14. **HB0218_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324328)
15. **HB0218_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326361)
16. **HB0218_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310677)
17. **LC1814.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=270860)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **40–10** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **76–24** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **10–2** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **18–2** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **38–12** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **76–24** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ed Buttrey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-22T17:39:43+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-12-20T15:45:47+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2025-01-02T19:31:40+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-01-02T19:32:30+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-01-08T22:58:59+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-01-08T23:04:17+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-01-10T23:49:36+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-01-13T16:35:52+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-01-13T22:30:19+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-01-13T23:33:22+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-01-14T21:25:35+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-01-15T21:10:32+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2025-01-16T18:37:44+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Business and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-16T20:07:16+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-20T20:51:07+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Business and Labor
- **2025-01-22T18:28:40+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-22T20:15:01+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-27T22:29:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Pass Consideration `reading-2`
- **2025-01-28T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-28T20:35:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-29T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-29T21:45:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-29T22:19:42+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-01-30T21:49:27+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-17T20:13:59+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-19T00:40:26+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
- **2025-03-25T17:28:20+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
- **2025-03-25T19:19:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
- **2025-03-31T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-31T20:24:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-01T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-01T21:16:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-01T21:16:23+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-03T05:08:21+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-07T18:00:24+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-09T17:30:28+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-09T19:50:28+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-16T13:15:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-17T17:40:12+00:00** 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/4d9b17fb-462f-499b-b841-d6c4e53ede25`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).