---
type: "Bill"
title: "Generally revise laws relating to attorney fees and prevailing parties for veto overrides"
description: "Generally revise laws relating to attorney fees and prevailing parties for veto overrides"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 38"
citation: "Montana SB 38 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Greg Hertz"]
version_count: 17
action_count: 44
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-10-24T20:34:58+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-08T21:32:38+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/60a5f73b-7fbf-4fa6-8270-da85681fc709"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0612?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "1d28e669a0c6001b099b0d798688f0dd36f689f057a5d33845146bf846df5dd9"
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 38 (2025) — Generally revise laws relating to attorney fees and prevailing parties for veto overrides

## Version chain

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

1. **LC0612.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=266753)
2. **SB0038_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267804)
3. **SB0038_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275096)
4. **SB0038_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276168)
5. **SB0038_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=278516)
6. **SB0038_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=306317)
7. **SB0038_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309054)
8. **SB0038_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309055)
9. **SB0038_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267803)
10. **SB0038_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316872)
11. **SB0038_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320448)
12. **SB0038_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321732)
13. **SB0038_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321733)
14. **SB0038_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321734)
15. **SB0038_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324722)
16. **SB0038_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325910)
17. **SB0038_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310935)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **36–13** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- be_concurred_in — **12–8** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **58–41** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **32–18** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **58–42** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Greg Hertz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-10-24T20:34:58+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-11-26T22:16:02+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-11-26T22:50:39+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-12-05T18:06:44+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-12-09T18:10:26+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-12-09T22:28:52+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-12-10T19:21:24+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2024-12-12T16:52:41+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2024-12-12T17:46:00+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2024-12-18T17:04:44+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Received `receipt`
- **2024-12-18T17:04:51+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Unsigned
- **2024-12-18T17:38:57+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Requested
- **2025-01-06T21:38:00+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-07T21:39:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-09T17:07:00+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Printed
- **2025-01-22T19:12:17+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-01-29T18:15:10+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-29T18:59:55+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-29T22:49:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-31T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-31T20:32:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-02-03T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-02-03T21:40:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-03T22:15:09+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-02-04T16:58:50+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-04T20:10:01+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-19T15:06:01+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-03-24T23:56:54+00:00** (H) Hearing Canceled - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-03-25T00:01:06+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-03-26T13:52:26+00:00** (H) Hearing Canceled - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-03T13:50:27+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-08T16:43:18+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-08T21:19:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-10T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T15:44:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T21:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:26:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:26:31+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-12T15:59:18+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`
- **2025-05-05T18:21:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-08T21:32:38+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/60a5f73b-7fbf-4fa6-8270-da85681fc709`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).