---
type: "Bill"
title: "Provide that chief justice appoints the court administrator"
description: "Provide that chief justice appoints the court administrator"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 342"
citation: "Montana SB 342 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Public Officers and Employees"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Fuller"]
version_count: 23
action_count: 39
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-11-29T14:37:21+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-08T20:58:57+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7116714f-4685-4868-8835-ff514e611845"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC2062?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "9a9896519949054ec419588bbca5a9316da8b2426a568ca117a0451701ad75c9"
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 342 (2025) — Provide that chief justice appoints the court administrator

## Version chain

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

1. **LC2062.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=281742)
2. **SB0342_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283377)
3. **SB0342_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=284302)
4. **SB0342_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=291830)
5. **SB0342_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309127)
6. **SB0342_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309129)
7. **SB0342_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283376)
8. **SB0342_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309132)
9. **SB0342_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321857)
10. **SB0342_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321858)
11. **SB0342_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321859)
12. **SB0342_X(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324755)
13. **SB0342_X(14).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326478)
14. **SB0342_X(15).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327651)
15. **SB0342_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309133)
16. **SB0342_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309338)
17. **SB0342_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309339)
18. **SB0342_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309342)
19. **SB0342_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309343)
20. **SB0342_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310957)
21. **SB0342_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316894)
22. **SB0342_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320469)
23. **SB0342_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309130)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **57–42** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **12–8** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **32–16** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **5–3** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **58–42** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **32–18** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John Fuller — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-29T14:37:21+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-12-02T20:25:06+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2025-02-04T21:00:53+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-02-10T19:50:49+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-02-10T23:35:40+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-02-12T19:20:54+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-02-13T00:20:14+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-02-13T13:33:01+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-02-17T14:14:27+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-17T23:02:59+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-17T23:35:43+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2025-02-18T01:12:26+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-19T18:12:35+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-23T03:25:22+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-02-25T17:42:22+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-25T21:43:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-01T15:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-01T18:08:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-03T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-03T22:10:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-03T23:21:47+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-03-04T18:26:34+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-04T20:09:38+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-19T15:05:59+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-03-24T23:56:52+00:00** (H) Hearing Canceled - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-03-26T13:52:41+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-03T18:19:15+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-04T00:38:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-10T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T17:24:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T21:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:35:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:36:05+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-12T20:04:42+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-21T22:00:51+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-25T22:00:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-25T22:43:07+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-05T18:53:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-08T20:58:57+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/7116714f-4685-4868-8835-ff514e611845`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).