---
type: "Bill"
title: "Establish factors when determining best interest of child"
description: "Establish factors when determining best interest of child"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 466"
citation: "Montana SB 466 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Family Law", "Minors"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dennis Lenz"]
version_count: 24
action_count: 41
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-10-04T20:06:27+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-13T13:45:10+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/41ff200a-c1bb-4513-aa28-adca286dee26"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0482?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "7b9e477d37b1080868e4eccf22b8c9eab02bb2e3c4a48db4d2b1d97414501ea5"
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 466 (2025) — Establish factors when determining best interest of child

## Version chain

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

1. **LC0482.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=286229)
2. **SB0466_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=287881)
3. **SB0466_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293531)
4. **SB0466_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293712)
5. **SB0466_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=298540)
6. **SB0466_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309228)
7. **SB0466_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309233)
8. **SB0466_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=287134)
9. **SB0466_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309236)
10. **SB0466_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322688)
11. **SB0466_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322689)
12. **SB0466_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322690)
13. **SB0466_X(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324955)
14. **SB0466_X(14).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325843)
15. **SB0466_X(15).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327354)
16. **SB0466_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309237)
17. **SB0466_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309390)
18. **SB0466_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309391)
19. **SB0466_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309626)
20. **SB0466_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309627)
21. **SB0466_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310988)
22. **SB0466_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316924)
23. **SB0466_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320499)
24. **SB0466_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309234)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- be_concurred_in — **21–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **100–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dennis Lenz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-10-04T20:06:27+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-11-06T14:11:47+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2024-11-20T15:23:55+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-01-06T16:04:09+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2025-02-17T17:39:37+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-02-17T17:41:01+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-02-20T17:06:56+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-02-20T19:57:20+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-02-23T19:20:12+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-02-24T16:40:46+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-02-24T19:53:18+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-02-24T22:16:55+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-25T14:40:56+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2025-02-25T15:23:11+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-25T20:06:54+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-26T01:52:51+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-26T19:51:55+00:00** (S) Hearing Canceled - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-02-27T21:27:15+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety
- **2025-03-04T03:15:48+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-04T20:05:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) Public Health, Welfare and Safety `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-06T15:30:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-06T16:23:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-07T00:30:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T01:59:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T16:18:49+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-03-17T15:23:45+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-17T19:15:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-19T19:09:42+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Human Services
- **2025-03-26T00:02:14+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Human Services
- **2025-03-26T19:24:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Human Services
- **2025-04-10T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T17:11:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T21:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:34:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:34:45+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-13T04:56:49+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-21T22:00:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-29T22:15:14+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-30T16:55:55+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-08T14:33:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-13T13:45:10+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/41ff200a-c1bb-4513-aa28-adca286dee26`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).