---
type: "Bill"
title: "Amend laws related to the retrocession of jurisdiction over federal lands"
description: "Amend laws related to the retrocession of jurisdiction over federal lands"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 496"
citation: "Montana HB 496 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Federal Government", "State Government"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ed Buttrey"]
version_count: 20
action_count: 35
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-12-09T17:05:09+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-05T16:35:33+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8bcdab7a-76d0-45d8-b447-2727fd682aed"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC2581?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "10a78e61ef2da6b4dc2d293cd35bc378d31144476e2e9be7ce3eb9c4486fa0a7"
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 496 (2025) — Amend laws related to the retrocession of jurisdiction over federal lands

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0496_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=282527)
2. **HB0496_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=291815)
3. **HB0496_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299124)
4. **HB0496_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309706)
5. **HB0496_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309708)
6. **HB0496_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=282018)
7. **HB0496_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309710)
8. **HB0496_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321555)
9. **HB0496_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324681)
10. **HB0496_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326642)
11. **HB0496_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309711)
12. **HB0496_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311008)
13. **HB0496_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311523)
14. **HB0496_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311524)
15. **HB0496_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=317037)
16. **HB0496_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320604)
17. **HB0496_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321553)
18. **HB0496_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321554)
19. **HB0496_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309709)
20. **LC2581.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=280380)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **46–2** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **95–2** (pass) · lower
- do_pass — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **95–5** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **47–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ed Buttrey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-12-09T17:05:09+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2025-02-07T17:19:19+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-02-07T17:31:24+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-02-10T15:30:04+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-02-10T16:26:17+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-02-10T20:11:39+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-02-11T16:42:18+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-13T14:42:28+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-13T20:16:23+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2025-02-14T16:42:29+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-14T19:50:59+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-18T16:48:06+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) State Administration
- **2025-02-24T16:47:01+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-24T22:02:52+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-01T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-01T20:55:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-03T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-03T22:04:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-03T23:19:17+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-03-04T20:28:25+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-05T00:54:22+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-12T14:45:54+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) State Administration
- **2025-03-26T20:42:57+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) State Administration
- **2025-03-27T19:26:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) State Administration
- **2025-04-10T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T23:12:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T16:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T22:14:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T22:22:36+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-16T13:16:33+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-23T22:30:32+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-24T17:45:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-24T21:45:28+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-01T21:14:29+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-05T16:35:33+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/8bcdab7a-76d0-45d8-b447-2727fd682aed`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).