--- type: "Bill" title: "Revise civil liability laws to provide a statutory duty of care for certain actions" description: "Revise civil liability laws to provide a statutory duty of care for certain actions" jurisdiction: "us/states/mt" legislature: "Montana Legislature" session: "2025" identifier: "HB 342" citation: "Montana HB 342 (2025)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Liability", "Revenue", "State"] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Bill Mercer"] version_count: 14 action_count: 45 vote_count: 6 first_action: "2024-09-09T20:48:15+00:00" last_action: "2025-05-05T14:35:38+00:00" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9c3fd402-6829-4130-b869-7ded1d37b826" source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0210?open_tab=sum" source_hash: "211d75937597b63ee3004860ac8490b90985a675da6489c76a7dd2981f31cab5" 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 342 (2025) — Revise civil liability laws to provide a statutory duty of care for certain actions ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **HB0342_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=277398) 2. **HB0342_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=279531) 3. **HB0342_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=282479) 4. **HB0342_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298832) 5. **HB0342_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=307819) 6. **HB0342_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=307820) 7. **HB0342_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276968) 8. **HB0342_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316838) 9. **HB0342_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320414) 10. **HB0342_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324636) 11. **HB0342_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325658) 12. **HB0342_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327269) 13. **HB0342_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310899) 14. **LC0210.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=271573) ## Votes - Do Pass — **58–42** (pass) · lower - Do Concur — **30–20** (pass) · upper - be_concurred_in — **12–0** (pass) · upper - do_pass — **11–8** (pass) · lower - Do Concur — **32–17** (pass) · upper - Do Pass — **57–42** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - Bill Mercer — primary (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2024-09-09T20:48:15+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned - **2025-01-09T23:04:15+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review - **2025-01-11T16:20:23+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit - **2025-01-14T22:36:15+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing - **2025-01-15T19:09:52+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review - **2025-01-16T19:05:30+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly - **2025-01-16T21:17:01+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery - **2025-01-20T22:05:42+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned - **2025-01-24T15:58:49+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review - **2025-01-24T20:47:38+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit - **2025-01-24T22:29:34+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing - **2025-01-27T14:58:46+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review - **2025-01-27T23:11:59+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly - **2025-01-28T15:51:31+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery - **2025-01-29T15:35:56+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester - **2025-01-29T18:56:48+00:00** (H) Introduced - **2025-01-30T17:17:57+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Business and Labor `referral-committee` - **2025-01-30T19:59:51+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1` - **2025-02-04T20:09:57+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Business and Labor - **2025-02-06T17:03:17+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage` - **2025-02-06T17:12:23+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage` - **2025-02-06T20:33:43+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) Business and Labor `committee-passage` - **2025-02-12T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2` - **2025-02-12T21:14:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2` - **2025-02-13T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3` - **2025-02-13T21:23:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3` - **2025-02-14T18:45:47+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate - **2025-02-14T18:51:09+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs `referral-committee` - **2025-02-27T21:20:50+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-03-02T18:24:04+00:00** (S) Hearing Canceled - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-03-07T23:19:27+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-03-15T16:32:10+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-03-26T17:24:08+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-03-26T20:56:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs - **2025-04-08T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2` - **2025-04-08T20:15:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2` - **2025-04-09T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3` - **2025-04-09T19:28:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3` - **2025-04-09T19:30:30+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling - **2025-04-11T17:16:37+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling - **2025-04-18T21:00:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage` - **2025-04-22T13:30:24+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage` - **2025-04-22T18:10:24+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt` - **2025-05-01T21:14:29+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature` - **2025-05-05T14:35:38+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/9c3fd402-6829-4130-b869-7ded1d37b826`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).