---
type: "Bill"
title: "Repeal law disallowing parties from contributing to judicial candidates"
description: "Repeal law disallowing parties from contributing to judicial candidates"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 39"
citation: "Montana HB 39 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Elections", "Judges and Justices"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Tom Millett"]
version_count: 34
action_count: 35
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2024-11-15T16:29:11+00:00"
last_action: "2025-03-04T22:03:15+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ec4a8831-4d3c-446b-86ca-9a31b3b2e78d"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1438?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "2625cb5bbc5086cf463ee8b7b46adf84fce7cae48e8b3b1ec21d42984858fb9b"
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 39 (2025) — Repeal law disallowing parties from contributing to judicial candidates

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0039_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267407)
2. **HB0039_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=271982)
3. **HB0039_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=272023)
4. **HB0039_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=272040)
5. **HB0039_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275277)
6. **HB0039_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276333)
7. **HB0039_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=279121)
8. **HB0039_1(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283063)
9. **HB0039_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=267239)
10. **HB0039_2(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283064)
11. **HB0039_2(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283141)
12. **HB0039_2(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283142)
13. **HB0039_2(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=292358)
14. **HB0039_2(13).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=292360)
15. **HB0039_2(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283065)
16. **HB0039_2(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283066)
17. **HB0039_2(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283123)
18. **HB0039_2(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283124)
19. **HB0039_2(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283125)
20. **HB0039_2(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283127)
21. **HB0039_2(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283128)
22. **HB0039_2(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283140)
23. **HB0039_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283062)
24. **HB0039_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297382)
25. **HB0039_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297383)
26. **HB0039_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=297384)
27. **HB0039_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310573)
28. **HB0039_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316535)
29. **HB0039_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320142)
30. **HB0039_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321282)
31. **HB0039_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324564)
32. **HB0039_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326236)
33. **HB0039_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=294174)
34. **LC1438.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=266614)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **57–43** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **25–23** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **11–8** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **57–43** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **26–24** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Tom Millett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-15T16:29:11+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-11-18T20:57:01+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-11-22T23:11:05+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-12-02T15:34:45+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-12-02T16:33:56+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-12-04T18:32:16+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-12-05T16:56:22+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2024-12-07T01:10:35+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2024-12-07T01:11:00+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2024-12-20T22:11:43+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-06T17:39:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-07T01:58:00+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) State Administration
- **2025-01-10T20:23:00+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (H) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-10T20:44:46+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (H) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-14T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-14T20:32:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-15T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-15T21:08:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-16T15:42:54+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-01-16T20:14:00+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-17T15:39:06+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-04T17:01:13+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-02-05T23:36:00+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-02-07T20:17:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-02-14T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-02-14T20:58:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-02-15T15:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-02-15T17:52:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-02-15T17:52:40+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-02-18T17:08:24+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-02-26T16:46:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-02-26T18:54:59+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-02-26T19:30:20+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-04T20:45:01+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-04T22:03:15+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/ec4a8831-4d3c-446b-86ca-9a31b3b2e78d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).