---
type: "Bill"
title: "Generally revise laws related to child abuse and neglect investigations by the department of public health and human services"
description: "Generally revise laws related to child abuse and neglect investigations by the department of public health and human services"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 77"
citation: "Montana HB 77 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Family Law", "Minors"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["SJ Howell"]
version_count: 28
action_count: 36
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-11-01T20:43:40+00:00"
last_action: "2025-04-07T14:23:26+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e27ed196-58af-4fcb-8616-5f2c8757f95f"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0729?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "47ad7bac843f782c7faedc145a7c7f07af10f5ae3226c5c9bdf6f47fcf989b95"
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 77 (2025) — Generally revise laws related to child abuse and neglect investigations by the department of public health and human services

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0077_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267862)
2. **HB0077_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267864)
3. **HB0077_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275104)
4. **HB0077_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276175)
5. **HB0077_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276934)
6. **HB0077_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295628)
7. **HB0077_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298818)
8. **HB0077_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267861)
9. **HB0077_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298816)
10. **HB0077_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298829)
11. **HB0077_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=307745)
12. **HB0077_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=307746)
13. **HB0077_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310810)
14. **HB0077_X(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316753)
15. **HB0077_X(14).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320332)
16. **HB0077_X(15).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324185)
17. **HB0077_X(16).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325969)
18. **HB0077_X(17).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327417)
19. **HB0077_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299231)
20. **HB0077_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299232)
21. **HB0077_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299233)
22. **HB0077_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299234)
23. **HB0077_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299235)
24. **HB0077_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299236)
25. **HB0077_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=299237)
26. **HB0077_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=307744)
27. **HB0077_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298820)
28. **LC0729.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=265870)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **99–1** (pass) · lower
- do_pass — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- be_concurred_in — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- SJ Howell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-01T20:43:40+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-11-20T20:04:33+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-11-20T21:05:31+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-11-20T23:48:54+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-11-21T17:39:07+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-11-21T21:31:28+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-11-22T21:14:06+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2024-12-12T22:19:58+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2024-12-12T22:20:00+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2024-12-20T22:13:09+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-06T18:07:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-07T00:41:00+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Human Services
- **2025-01-10T22:40:50+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Human Services `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-11T00:13:48+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) Human Services `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-13T20:43:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) Human Services `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-16T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-16T21:26:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-17T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-17T20:50:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-17T21:07:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-01-20T20:44:55+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-20T21:27:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-14T22:57:35+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-03-19T22:33:55+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-03-20T21:40:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-03-24T19:30:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-24T19:58:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-25T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-25T19:09:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-25T19:10:08+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-03-27T12:07:18+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-03-28T22:45:23+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-03-31T17:30:49+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-31T19:55:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-07T14:00:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-07T14:23:26+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/e27ed196-58af-4fcb-8616-5f2c8757f95f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).