---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise laws related to hearings after the emergency removal and protective placement of a child"
description: "Revise laws related to hearings after the emergency removal and protective placement of a child"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 17"
citation: "Montana SB 17 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Family Law", "Minors"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dennis Lenz"]
version_count: 22
action_count: 37
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-09-23T12:43:55+00:00"
last_action: "2025-04-04T00:35:20+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bc615215-3900-4050-9e0b-9c9bbc263a85"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0260?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "53f9144dd0ae0f0bbd2988c0178ebba57385cb734c8e30417850311e57b843fb"
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 SB 17 (2025) — Revise laws related to hearings after the emergency removal and protective placement of a child

## Version chain

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

1. **LC0260.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=265640)
2. **SB0017_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267372)
3. **SB0017_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275062)
4. **SB0017_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276136)
5. **SB0017_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=277495)
6. **SB0017_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=281421)
7. **SB0017_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295290)
8. **SB0017_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267265)
9. **SB0017_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295289)
10. **SB0017_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295292)
11. **SB0017_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320251)
12. **SB0017_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324118)
13. **SB0017_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325701)
14. **SB0017_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295394)
15. **SB0017_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295461)
16. **SB0017_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295467)
17. **SB0017_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=305172)
18. **SB0017_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=305173)
19. **SB0017_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=305174)
20. **SB0017_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310728)
21. **SB0017_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316666)
22. **SB0017_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=295291)

## Votes

- be_concurred_in — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **100–0** (pass) · lower
- do_pass — **11–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dennis Lenz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-09-23T12:43:55+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-10-01T15:16:17+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-10-08T20:03:20+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-10-25T13:53:17+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-11-12T16:31:44+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-11-17T16:32:21+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-11-18T20:21:00+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2024-12-07T00:31:42+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2024-12-07T01:21:00+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2025-01-06T21:46:00+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-07T21:06:22+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-10T19:39:37+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-01-25T00:37:59+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-27T20:48:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-29T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-29T22:39:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-30T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-30T22:07:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-30T22:56:52+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-01-31T18:58:06+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-31T20:13:01+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-01T00:37:42+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Human Services
- **2025-02-11T22:34:42+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Human Services
- **2025-02-12T20:18:00+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Human Services
- **2025-02-12T21:25:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Human Services
- **2025-03-17T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-17T20:03:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-18T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-18T20:35:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-18T20:49:00+00:00** (H) Returned to Senate
- **2025-03-18T20:54:00+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-03-19T18:36:55+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-03-24T16:30:53+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-03-26T21:30:07+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-03-27T14:05:58+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-04-03T18:00:42+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-04T00:35:20+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/bc615215-3900-4050-9e0b-9c9bbc263a85`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).