---
type: "Bill"
title: "Enact the \"Free to Speak Act\""
description: "Enact the \"Free to Speak Act\""
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 400"
citation: "Montana HB 400 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Communications", "Discrimination", "Education - K-12"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Braxton Mitchell"]
version_count: 37
action_count: 35
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-11-16T22:01:29+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-05T15:17:34+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7f03b2c3-901f-4e8d-ad8a-06b38b1bf2cd"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1522?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "633ccb9864f6a1239b2150c4552694ef4830614858f9d118da36f71e3a7f0ccd"
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 400 (2025) — Enact the "Free to Speak Act"

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0400.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283006)
2. **HB0400_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=279639)
3. **HB0400_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283292)
4. **HB0400_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283293)
5. **HB0400_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283294)
6. **HB0400_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283295)
7. **HB0400_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=279343)
8. **HB0400_2(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283297)
9. **HB0400_2(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309836)
10. **HB0400_2(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309837)
11. **HB0400_2(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283298)
12. **HB0400_2(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283299)
13. **HB0400_2(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283327)
14. **HB0400_2(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283328)
15. **HB0400_2(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283330)
16. **HB0400_2(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283331)
17. **HB0400_2(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=285765)
18. **HB0400_2(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=303869)
19. **HB0400_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283296)
20. **HB0400_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309845)
21. **HB0400_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320547)
22. **HB0400_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321450)
23. **HB0400_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321451)
24. **HB0400_X(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321452)
25. **HB0400_X(14).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324648)
26. **HB0400_X(15).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326250)
27. **HB0400_X(16).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327546)
28. **HB0400_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309846)
29. **HB0400_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310228)
30. **HB0400_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310230)
31. **HB0400_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310231)
32. **HB0400_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310321)
33. **HB0400_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310322)
34. **HB0400_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311082)
35. **HB0400_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316976)
36. **HB0400_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309838)
37. **LC1522.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=277690)

## Votes

- do_pass_as_amended — **12–8** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **58–42** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **28–20** (pass) · upper
- be_concurred_in — **5–3** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **56–42** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **28–22** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Braxton Mitchell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-16T22:01:29+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2025-01-31T16:41:34+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-01-31T17:11:34+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-01-31T17:33:19+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-01-31T17:50:23+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-01-31T18:05:19+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-02-04T13:10:41+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-04T19:53:11+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-05T22:05:32+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2025-02-06T17:55:39+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-06T20:22:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-11T16:22:32+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-02-17T18:33:55+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended - (H) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-17T20:29:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended - (H) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-20T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-02-20T21:06:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-02-21T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-02-21T22:10:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-21T22:30:33+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-02-24T20:27:17+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-03T18:11:35+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-28T19:31:44+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-04-03T17:57:51+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-04-03T20:26:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-04-10T14:30:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T15:57:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T16:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T21:29:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T21:30:13+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-15T06:41:33+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-23T22:30:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-25T13:30:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-25T17:55:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-01T21:14:29+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-05T15:17:34+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/7f03b2c3-901f-4e8d-ad8a-06b38b1bf2cd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).