---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise change of attorney laws for public defenders"
description: "Revise change of attorney laws for public defenders"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 46"
citation: "Montana HB 46 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Procedure", "Local Government", "State Government"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James Reavis"]
version_count: 25
action_count: 38
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-09-13T14:29:17+00:00"
last_action: "2025-04-07T20:54:13+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/eaeaa4da-fff2-42b1-ba5f-a2bad3beefb5"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0250?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "51c3d0ca791a198ba87ad0cd3f7761dde6b67b55dd6ab5c34a674af6eae0da62"
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 46 (2025) — Revise change of attorney laws for public defenders

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0046_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267414)
2. **HB0046_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=273230)
3. **HB0046_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=273323)
4. **HB0046_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=273324)
5. **HB0046_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275430)
6. **HB0046_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276478)
7. **HB0046_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=284190)
8. **HB0046_1(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297475)
9. **HB0046_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267251)
10. **HB0046_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297474)
11. **HB0046_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297477)
12. **HB0046_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320357)
13. **HB0046_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322553)
14. **HB0046_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324913)
15. **HB0046_X(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325698)
16. **HB0046_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297826)
17. **HB0046_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297827)
18. **HB0046_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297930)
19. **HB0046_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=308218)
20. **HB0046_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=308219)
21. **HB0046_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=308220)
22. **HB0046_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310841)
23. **HB0046_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316779)
24. **HB0046_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297476)
25. **LC0250.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=265378)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **77–22** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **48–1** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **49–1** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **90–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- James Reavis — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-09-13T14:29:17+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-10-16T17:47:19+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2024-11-06T21:50:46+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2024-11-07T17:48:52+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-11-11T18:16:59+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-11-13T19:30:38+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-11-14T17:31:00+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-11-17T16:27:43+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-11-18T20:20:09+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2024-12-10T16:20:10+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2024-12-10T16:21:00+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2024-12-20T22:11:57+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-06T17:48:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-07T00:48:00+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-01-16T18:03:22+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-16T18:59:16+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-16T20:21:36+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-20T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-20T20:45:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-21T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-21T21:24:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-21T21:48:55+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-01-22T20:37:47+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-12T00:40:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-13T21:22:07+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-02-19T17:32:53+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-03-19T14:25:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-03-20T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-20T20:33:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-21T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-21T20:19:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-21T20:20:17+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-03-25T12:30:21+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-03-28T23:30:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-01T17:00:47+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-01T18:35:47+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-07T19:56:30+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-07T20:54:13+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/eaeaa4da-fff2-42b1-ba5f-a2bad3beefb5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).