---
type: "Bill"
title: "Establish a contingent litigation fund for occupational licensing boards and programs"
description: "Establish a contingent litigation fund for occupational licensing boards and programs"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 227"
citation: "Montana HB 227 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Appropriations", "Labor and Employment", "Revenue", "State", "Rule Making"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jodee Etchart"]
version_count: 20
action_count: 41
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-09-27T14:15:59+00:00"
last_action: "2025-04-17T17:36:24+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/61e42531-a967-493c-8966-c6b59b6a0c13"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0421?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "4f424963bc1dfb4ec0cbc7f988da6daed855f73366e9193c1dec57081c5ec4c1"
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 227 (2025) — Establish a contingent litigation fund for occupational licensing boards and programs

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0227_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=272224)
2. **HB0227_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275312)
3. **HB0227_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276366)
4. **HB0227_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=278535)
5. **HB0227_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=282596)
6. **HB0227_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=282598)
7. **HB0227_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295424)
8. **HB0227_1(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=302816)
9. **HB0227_1(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=302817)
10. **HB0227_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=271876)
11. **HB0227_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316427)
12. **HB0227_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316428)
13. **HB0227_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316429)
14. **HB0227_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=317378)
15. **HB0227_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320840)
16. **HB0227_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324327)
17. **HB0227_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325768)
18. **HB0227_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327319)
19. **HB0227_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310678)
20. **LC0421.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=269817)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **35–15** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **35–15** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **96–3** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **94–5** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jodee Etchart — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-09-27T14:15:59+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-09-27T14:15:59+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2024-12-31T18:27:29+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-01-01T17:13:17+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-01-06T15:38:51+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-01-08T15:39:28+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-01-09T21:20:12+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-01-10T22:31:20+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-01-13T23:56:19+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-01-15T22:19:40+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2025-01-15T22:20:59+00:00** (H) Fiscal Note Requested
- **2025-01-16T18:34:40+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Business and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-16T20:07:18+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-20T20:51:40+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Business and Labor
- **2025-01-27T19:06:04+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-27T20:38:36+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-27T22:07:32+00:00** (H) Fiscal Note Received `receipt`
- **2025-01-27T22:07:51+00:00** (H) Fiscal Note Signed
- **2025-01-28T13:15:00+00:00** (H) Fiscal Note Printed
- **2025-01-28T20:25:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-31T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-31T21:13:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-02-03T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-02-03T21:40:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-03T22:43:46+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-02-04T20:18:43+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-18T18:56:44+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-25T20:22:16+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
- **2025-03-19T17:37:32+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
- **2025-03-20T21:45:00+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`
- **2025-03-31T20:35:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-01T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-01T21:21:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-01T21:21:42+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-03T05:12:05+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`
- **2025-04-16T13:16:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-17T17:36:24+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/61e42531-a967-493c-8966-c6b59b6a0c13`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).