republic-os/legislation/us/states/mt/2025/sb-97.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise venue laws for cases challenging constitutionality of recent laws"
description: "Revise venue laws for cases challenging constitutionality of recent laws"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 97"
citation: "Montana SB 97 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Courts", "Judges and Justices", "Juries and Jurors", "Legislature"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Fuller"]
version_count: 20
action_count: 40
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-08-28T13:21:13+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-08T21:52:15+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9b30d2ac-e97f-4604-af1e-7df33708c68e"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC0045?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "89a08bdca10af067180cbe483e95f4c1aa2a9f4e9cb7ac5bd500de91d3818025"
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 97 (2025) — Revise venue laws for cases challenging constitutionality of recent laws

## Version chain

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

1. **LC0045.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=265874)
2. **SB0097_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=271135)
3. **SB0097_1(10).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309081)
4. **SB0097_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=275202)
5. **SB0097_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=276264)
6. **SB0097_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=277874)
7. **SB0097_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=278074)
8. **SB0097_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=278082)
9. **SB0097_1(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=278083)
10. **SB0097_1(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=306326)
11. **SB0097_1(9).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309080)
12. **SB0097_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=269860)
13. **SB0097_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316886)
14. **SB0097_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320461)
15. **SB0097_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321747)
16. **SB0097_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321748)
17. **SB0097_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=321749)
18. **SB0097_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324725)
19. **SB0097_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=325554)
20. **SB0097_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310949)

## Votes

- Do Concur — **56–44** (pass) · lower
- be_concurred_in — **12–8** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **31–19** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass — **32–18** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **57–42** (pass) · lower
- do_pass — **6–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- John Fuller — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-08-28T13:21:13+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-09-27T17:27:59+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-10-29T19:12:53+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-11-13T12:04:35+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-11-21T21:54:32+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-12-09T14:08:57+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-12-10T01:15:16+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-01-06T14:44:34+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-01-06T22:34:42+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2025-01-06T23:08:36+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Requested
- **2025-01-07T22:08:50+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-01-13T20:29:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-01-13T23:29:38+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) Judiciary
- **2025-01-14T22:32:00+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Received `receipt`
- **2025-01-14T23:03:00+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Signed
- **2025-01-15T14:19:00+00:00** (S) Fiscal Note Printed
- **2025-01-22T18:31:14+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-22T20:30:34+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-23T21:25:40+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Pass Consideration `reading-2`
- **2025-01-30T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-01-30T22:50:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-01-31T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-01-31T20:51:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-01-31T21:23:38+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-02-03T17:34:08+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-03T20:00:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-04-03T20:37:02+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-08T17:12:43+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-08T21:21:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) Judiciary
- **2025-04-10T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-10T20:21:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T21:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:39:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:39:43+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-12T18:42:27+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`
- **2025-05-05T18:25:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-08T21:52:15+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/9b30d2ac-e97f-4604-af1e-7df33708c68e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).