---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws"
description: "Revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 234"
citation: "Montana HB 234 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes", "Minors (see also: Family Law)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bob Phalen"]
version_count: 13
action_count: 53
vote_count: 11
first_action: "2022-10-28T18:08:13+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-09T14:37:05+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/78276e84-d246-436d-bf6b-ef8bfa5084ca"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/bill/20231/LC0892"
source_hash: "8ed443d3de245924563ca3a1aaf3efb91e946a7a6ab111082fd97e07bc079515"
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 234 (2023) — Revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0234.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5930)
2. **HB0234.001.002_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5925)
3. **HB0234.001.003_Amendments-in-Context_final-full (1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5923)
4. **HB0234.001.003_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5928)
5. **HB0234.001.004_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5929)
6. **HB0234.001.005_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5924)
7. **HB0234.001.006_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5922)
8. **HB0234.002.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-condensed.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5927)
9. **HB0234.002.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5926)
10. **HB0234_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5933)
11. **HB0234_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5934)
12. **HB0234_3.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5931)
13. **HB0234_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=5932)

## Votes

- (S) 2nd Reading Concurred — **34–16** (pass) · upper
- (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended — **7–4** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Senate Amendments Concurred — **94–6** (pass) · lower
- (S) 3rd Reading Concurred — **35–15** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Passed — **55–45** (pass) · lower
- (H) Motion Carried — **100–0** (pass) · lower
- (H) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by Senate — **66–33** (pass) · lower
- (H) Motion Failed — **65–35** (pass) · lower
- (S) Motion Failed — **18–32** (fail) · upper
- (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended — **12–7** (pass) · lower
- (H) 3rd Reading Passed — **53–45** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bob Phalen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-09T14:37:05+00:00** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`
- **2023-05-08T18:04:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-02T19:10:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-02T18:15:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-05-02T17:40:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-05-01T23:08:32+00:00** (C) Printed - Enrolled Version Available `enrolled`
- **2023-05-01T23:08:31+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2023-04-26T21:16:13+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2023-04-26T19:38:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by Senate `passage, passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-04-26T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-24T19:49:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Senate Amendments Concurred `amendment-amendment, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-24T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-04-19T02:05:00+00:00** (S) Returned to House with Amendments
- **2023-04-18T21:59:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-18T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-17T17:19:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-17T16:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-04-13T22:18:01+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-04-13T19:29:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-04-12T21:00:00+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-04-07T21:00:00+00:00** (S) Hearing
- **2023-03-16T19:49:00+00:00** (S) Motion Failed `failure`
- **2023-03-13T18:14:25+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-10T20:13:24+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-02-10T14:56:52+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2023-02-09T22:01:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-08T21:10:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-02-08T21:07:00+00:00** (H) Motion Carried
- **2023-02-08T20:54:00+00:00** (H) Motion Failed `failure`
- **2023-01-31T21:16:35+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-01-31T20:20:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-31T20:13:04+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-22T19:19:52+00:00** (C) Amendments Available
- **2023-01-19T15:30:51+00:00** (H) Hearing
- **2023-01-13T20:10:50+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-01-13T17:06:15+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-12T17:41:30+00:00** (C) Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-12T15:18:44+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2023-01-10T15:20:27+00:00** (C) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2023-01-08T00:44:06+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2023-01-06T16:15:34+00:00** (C) Executive Director Final Review
- **2023-01-06T16:15:28+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2023-01-06T14:34:33+00:00** (C) Draft in Assembly
- **2023-01-06T04:27:07+00:00** (C) Executive Director Review
- **2023-01-05T21:35:34+00:00** (C) Bill Draft Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-05T21:35:33+00:00** (C) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2023-01-05T18:52:28+00:00** (C) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2023-01-04T22:03:10+00:00** (C) Draft to Drafter - Edit Review
- **2023-01-04T02:47:41+00:00** (C) Draft in Edit
- **2023-01-03T20:23:48+00:00** (C) Draft in Legal Review
- **2022-12-28T21:10:28+00:00** (C) Draft to Requester for Review
- **2022-12-28T21:05:10+00:00** (C) Draft to Requester for Review
- **2022-10-28T18:08:13+00:00** (C) Draft Request Received `receipt`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/78276e84-d246-436d-bf6b-ef8bfa5084ca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).