Montana legislation · 2025 Regular Session
Montana SB288: Expedite seized property after law investigation
Status: Signed into law, April 18, 2025
What the bill says
An act establishing evidentiary seizure guidelines for law enforcement weapons in officer-involved shootings; and requiring the expedited return of law enforcement weapons under certain conditions after an investigation is complete.
From the engrossed text:
AN ACT ESTABLISHING EVIDENTIARY SEIZURE GUIDELINES FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT WEAPONS IN OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS; AND REQUIRING THE EXPEDITED RETURN OF LAW ENFORCEMENT WEAPONS UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS AFTER AN INVESTIGATION IS COMPLETE. Section 1. Evidentiary seizure of law enforcement weapons. (1) When law enforcement is involved in an officer-involved shooting, the law enforcement officer's weapon involved in the shooting must be collected by investigators to be photographed and turned over to the state laboratory of criminalistics for test firing, collection of cartridge cases and rounds of ammunition, and to document the unique characteristics of the weapon. (2) After an investigation is complete and no appeals are pending or no criminal charges are filed or are presently contemplated against the law enforcement officer, a weapon collected for evidence testing pursuant to subsection (1) or collected as part of a coroner's inquest pursuant to 46-4-201 must be returned within 7 days by whichever entity is appropriate to the law enforcement agency from which it was collected for redeployment in the field. Section 2. Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 44, chapter 3, part 3, and the provisions of Title 44, chapter 3, part 3, apply to [section 1]. - END - - 1 - Authorized Print Version - SB 288 ENROLLED BILL I hereby certify …
Sponsors
- Loge, Denley (R, 45) · primary sponsor
- Kelly, Steven (R, 9)
Latest actions
- : Chapter Number Assigned
- : (S) Signed by Governor
- : (S) Transmitted to Governor
- : (H) Signed by Speaker
- : (S) Signed by President
- : (S) Returned from Enrolling
- : (S) Sent to Enrolling
- : (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading
- : (H) 2nd Reading
- : (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading
Votes
- Do Concur (March 31, 2025): 99 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Do Concur (March 29, 2025): 97 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Do Pass (February 25, 2025): 49 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Do Pass (February 24, 2025): 49 yea, 0 nay, passed
Subjects: Law Enforcement
Common questions
- What is SB288?
- SB288 is a bill in the Montana Legislature (2025 Regular Session): Expedite seized property after law investigation.
- What does SB288 do?
- In its own words: An act establishing evidentiary seizure guidelines for law enforcement weapons in officer-involved shootings; and requiring the expedited return of law enforcement weapons under certain conditions after an investigation is complete.
- What is the status of SB288?
- Signed into law as of April 18, 2025. Latest action: Chapter Number Assigned (April 18, 2025).
- Who sponsored SB288?
- Loge, Denley (R, 45), with 1 co-sponsor.
- Where is the official record for SB288?
- On the Montana Legislature website: https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC4301
Source: official Montana record. Tracked by Delilah, AI for legislation across all 50 states and Congress.