---
type: "Bill"
title: "Generally revise military higher education act"
description: "Generally revise military higher education act"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 553"
citation: "Montana HB 553 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education - K-12", "Military Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["George Nikolakakos"]
version_count: 34
action_count: 37
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-12-14T20:48:36+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-08T19:11:04+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02a5e001-0559-4049-8404-be7f873292eb"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC3687?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "7bfb789e46c2297a2e92dcd4fbdc5e1e7e1f00c554a376b48fbf3540ecaf947b"
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 553 (2025) — Generally revise military higher education act

## Version chain

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

1. **HB0553.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=289288)
2. **HB0553.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=289022)
3. **HB0553_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290901)
4. **HB0553_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290902)
5. **HB0553_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290903)
6. **HB0553_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290904)
7. **HB0553_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283856)
8. **HB0553_2(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290906)
9. **HB0553_2(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=306832)
10. **HB0553_2(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311700)
11. **HB0553_2(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311704)
12. **HB0553_2(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290907)
13. **HB0553_2(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290908)
14. **HB0553_2(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290961)
15. **HB0553_2(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290962)
16. **HB0553_2(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290963)
17. **HB0553_2(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=291011)
18. **HB0553_2(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293834)
19. **HB0553_2(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293980)
20. **HB0553_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=290905)
21. **HB0553_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311707)
22. **HB0553_X(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324824)
23. **HB0553_X(11).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326957)
24. **HB0553_X(12).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326963)
25. **HB0553_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311708)
26. **HB0553_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=312336)
27. **HB0553_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=312337)
28. **HB0553_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=317080)
29. **HB0553_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320646)
30. **HB0553_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322155)
31. **HB0553_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322156)
32. **HB0553_X(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322157)
33. **HB0553_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=311706)
34. **LC3687.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=283056)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **45–4** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **48–2** (pass) · upper
- do_pass_as_amended — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **11–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- George Nikolakakos — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-12-14T20:48:36+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2025-01-20T14:52:10+00:00** (LC) Draft On Hold
- **2025-01-27T19:12:41+00:00** (LC) Draft Taken Off Hold
- **2025-02-13T21:12:51+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2025-02-13T22:16:52+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2025-02-17T15:45:07+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2025-02-18T00:05:13+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2025-02-18T00:53:54+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2025-02-18T17:14:02+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-18T20:03:05+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-18T22:14:11+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2025-02-19T19:32:02+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Education `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-19T19:52:09+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-21T17:25:56+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Education
- **2025-03-01T01:38:09+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended - (H) Education `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-01T21:07:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended - (H) Education `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-05T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-05T23:54:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-07T15:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T16:55:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T18:00:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2025-03-14T23:06:17+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-14T23:25:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Education and Cultural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-08T00:43:47+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
- **2025-04-08T23:36:30+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
- **2025-04-09T00:08:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (S) Education and Cultural Resources
- **2025-04-14T16:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-14T16:51:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-15T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-15T21:09:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-15T21:11:18+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-17T13:58:03+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-24T23:00:29+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-25T18:15:35+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-25T21:33:14+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-05T18:37:31+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-08T19:11:04+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/02a5e001-0559-4049-8404-be7f873292eb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).