Montana Legislative Update
Published March 3, 2025 at 9:43 AM · Legislative Advocacy - Montana, News Releases and Bulletins
Weekly Montana Legislative Activity Report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Professional Insurance Agents Western Alliance is pleased to announce the addition of DL Williams as our lobbying representative in the state of Montana.
With the ongoing legislative session addressing critical matters such as labor rights, healthcare policy, and business regulations, DL Williams will work closely with policymakers to advance our priorities and represent the interests of insurance.
Our new lobbying efforts will engage legislators, stakeholders, and the public to ensure Professional Insurance Agents of Montana remains at the forefront of these discussions.
As legislative activity intensifies during the session, it is our commitment to continue advocating for the independent agent community.
We look forward to serving you.
Week of February 28th- 2025
The Montana legislature is quite active, with significant bills under consideration.
A Saturday session was held, and numerous bills were brought up for a senate floor vote. Wednesday February 26th was the last day to introduce General Bills so there was a lot of activity in both houses.
The Right to Work bill in Montana is especially notable, as these laws often spark intense debate between business interests and labor unions. The presence of many workers testifying against the bill suggests strong opposition from labor groups.
There were several hearings regarding Health Insurance and “Prior Authorization” The health insurance hearings on “Prior Authorization” also indicate an ongoing effort to streamline the approval process for medical treatments, which can be a major frustration for healthcare providers and patients alike.
Active Bills being Tracked
Relating to general revision of consumer protection laws. Heard in Business, Labor and Economic Affairs committee on 2-28-2025. I watched 6 hours of exciting committee hearings-HB114 was pushed back to the end of the hearings. The bill was brought up for discussion. It was supported by the State of Montana administration as a revision to consumer protection laws. There was no opposition to the bill so it was “closed” and will be passed out of committee. In my opinion the discussion of the revisions was glossed over regarding section 33-18-201, page 3. There is verbiage delineating the responsibility of Producers that is not consistent with current insurance rules and instructions provided by insurance carriers. The guidelines can add a serious legal burden to the role of Producers in handling claims.
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAWS. 5 RELATING TO MEDICAL PROVIDERS; PROVIDING FOR AN EVIDENTIARY STANDARDS FOR MEDICAL 6 PROVIDERS; ALLOWING FOR CERTAIN INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS BY THE INSURER;7 AMENDING SECTION 39-71-605, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE.” The hearing was held on Friday-2-28-25.
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING INSURANCE LAWS RELATING TO NONRENEWALS AND CANCELLATIONS OF INSURANCE POLICIES; REQUIRING THE INSURER TO PROVIDE THE REASONS FOR NONRENEWAL; AMENDING NOTICE TIMELINES FOR AN INSURER TO SEND NOTICE OF ANCELLATION OR NONRENEWAL; AND AMENDING SECTIONS 33-15-1104, 33-15.
This bill is a revision to carrier requirements on rules of notice. In my opinion an excellent revision to the time of notice requirement. The bill generally changes the days of carrier notice from 45 days to 90 days. We will continue to monitor this bill
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT REVISING INSURANCE LAWS RELATING TO COMPETITIVE 5 MARKETS; INCLUDING WORKERS' COMPENSATION PLANS AMONG THOSE THAT MUST BE 6 CONSIDERED BY THE STATE AUDITOR RELATING TO MARKET CONCENTRATION; INCLUDING PLAN 7 NO. 3, THE STATE FUND, IN THE STATE AUDITOR'S CONSIDERATION OF A COMPETITIVE MARKET; 8 AND AMENDING SECTION 33-16-1020, MCA.”
This bill is a potentially very damaging proposal to Montana State Fund. I watched the hearing on this bill twice to comprehend all of it. This bill would restrict the ability of MSF to write new business if their market share exceeded certain levels. This bill could seriously impact any group programs and would be a boon to many carriers. Based on the verbiage and the comments by MSF and business opponents during the hearing there is strong opposition to this bill. MSF, Big I, Montana Logging Assoc., Trucking Assoc, Stockgrowers, Farm Bureau, MT Chamber of Commerce all spoke in opposition to this bill. The only proponent seemed to be the bill author from Billings-It would seem to be written by competitor of MSF. We will follow this bill closely!
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