# Montana HB 156: Revise education funding laws by replacing school district BASE levies with countywide BASE levies Montana HB 156, Revise education funding laws by replacing school district BASE levies with countywide BASE levies, is a 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) House bill sponsored by David Bedey (Republican); status signed, last action 2025-05-08 (Chapter Number Assigned); PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-12). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB156-2025 - As of: 2026-10-12 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Montana HB 156 - State: Montana - Session: 69th Legislature, Regular Session (2025) - Title: Revise education funding laws by replacing school district BASE levies with countywide BASE levies - Status: signed - Chamber: House - Introduced: 2025-01-09 - Last action: 2025-05-08, Chapter Number Assigned - Sponsor: David Bedey (Republican) - Cosponsors: 0 - Subjects: Education - K-12, Counties, Taxation--Property, Education - School Finance - Touches household money: yes - Roll calls: 6 (448 yes, 47 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 7 ## Summary No summary available. ## Bill overview: provisions PRIA read - County tax-base aid formulas change: mixed, high. The law moves tax-base aid math to the county level. A county’s ratio equals last year’s county taxable value divided by the sum of district budget areas; eligible counties get aid when their ratio is below the statewide ratio. BASE aid equals 44.7% of basic and per‑ANB entitlements; the BASE budge… - Countywide school levies replace district levies: mixed, high. Starting July 1, 2026, countywide levies fund the BASE part of school budgets. County superintendents compute each district’s BASE need and the county’s mills. Mills equal (county BASE need minus last year’s fund balance) divided by (GTB aid per mill plus taxable value ÷ 1,000). County commissioner… - Forecast checks to smooth school taxes: mixed, medium. Each December, the state forecasts levy account revenue as taxable value ÷ 1,000 times the mills. If the forecast differs from last year’s by $2,000,000 or more, multipliers change. Cuts lower aid by 85% on GTB and 15% on retirement; increases raise multipliers in order with caps (retirement up to… - Lower home-district tuition payments: mixed, medium. When a child attends school outside the home district, the home district now pays at most 20% of the tuition per‑ANB amount. The district of attendance must credit tuition to its general fund and transportation to its transportation fund. The old rule requiring tuition receipts to first cut the BAS… - Oil and gas school revenue limits: mixed, medium. If a district’s oil and gas tax receipts fall below 50% of last year, it may transfer money from any budgeted fund to the general fund up to the shortfall. Districts with big enrollment growth may keep an extra $45,000 for each added ANB in the next year. For nonoperating districts, oil and gas ret… - Rules for using extra school funds: mixed, low. Interest on a district’s general fund and leftover litigation reserves must reduce the BASE funding need. If general fund money exceeds the over‑BASE levy, trustees must move the extra to other funds to lower property taxes. Excess operating reserves may only cut the over‑BASE levy, not the BASE re… - New handling of protested property taxes: mixed, low. On July 1, 2026, the state repeals the old statute that covered exclusions for protested property and refunds. When certain state‑levied property taxes are paid under protest, the revenue is split: half of the university portion goes to the university fund, then the rest is divided between the stat… ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: David Bedey (Republican), House ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-04-11 | House | Do Concur | pass | 96 | 1 | | | 2025-04-11 | House | Do Concur | pass | 100 | 0 | | | 2025-04-04 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 46 | 3 | | | 2025-04-03 | Senate | Do Concur | pass | 45 | 4 | | | 2025-02-04 | House | Do Pass | pass | 81 | 19 | | | 2025-02-03 | House | Do Pass | pass | 80 | 20 | | ## Actions (40) - 2025-05-08: Chapter Number Assigned (House) - 2025-05-05: Signed by Governor (House) - 2025-04-25: Transmitted to Governor (House) - 2025-04-25: Signed by President (Senate) - 2025-04-23: Signed by Speaker (House) - 2025-04-14: Returned from Enrolling (House) - 2025-04-11: Sent to Enrolling (House) - 2025-04-11: 3rd Reading Senate Amendments (House) - 2025-04-11: Revised Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-04-11: 2nd Reading Senate Amendments (House) - 2025-04-11: Revised Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-04-11: Revised Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-04-07: Revised Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-04-04: Returned to House with Amendments (Senate) - 2025-04-04: 3rd Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-03: 2nd Reading (Senate) - 2025-04-02: Committee Report (Senate) - 2025-04-01: Committee Executive Action (Senate) - 2025-03-19: Hearing (Senate) - 2025-03-17: Hearing Canceled (Senate) - 2025-02-18: Referred to Committee (Senate) - 2025-02-05: 1st Reading (Senate) - 2025-02-04: Transmitted to Senate (House) - 2025-02-04: 3rd Reading (House) - 2025-02-04: Revised Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-02-03: 2nd Reading (House) - 2025-02-03: Revised Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-02-03: Revised Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-29: Revised Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-28: Committee Report (House) - 2025-01-27: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-01-27: Committee Executive Action (House) - 2025-01-21: Fiscal Note Printed (House) - 2025-01-21: Fiscal Note Signed (House) - 2025-01-20: Fiscal Note Received (House) - 2025-01-13: Hearing (House) - 2025-01-10: 1st Reading (House) - 2025-01-10: Referred to Committee (House) - 2025-01-09: Fiscal Note Requested (House) - 2025-01-09: Introduced (House) ## Bill text - Enrolled, 2025-04-15: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=9536e445-e382-4c4f-8752-bc4a032f571c) - As Amended (Version 3), 2025-04-02: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=b7a3cdc6-d4cc-44f1-9433-b750b989ec1f) - As Amended (Version 2), 2025-01-28: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=7739ca5b-67ba-4dd9-8724-f90461a23085) - Introduced, 2025-01-09: [PDF](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=20a09fd2-3152-462f-be1e-57ae81341a76) ## Related bills - SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law (signed) - HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit (vetoed) - HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws (vetoed) - SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act (vetoed) - SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer (vetoed) - SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program (vetoed) ## Sources - [Enrolled (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=9536e445-e382-4c4f-8752-bc4a032f571c) - [As Amended (Version 3) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=b7a3cdc6-d4cc-44f1-9433-b750b989ec1f) - [As Amended (Version 2) (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=7739ca5b-67ba-4dd9-8724-f90461a23085) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://docs.legmt.gov/download-ticket?ticketId=20a09fd2-3152-462f-be1e-57ae81341a76) ## Related - [SB 437: Revise definition of sex in Montana law](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB437-2025) - [HB 831: Increase elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB831-2025) - [HB 628: Revise early literacy targeted intervention laws](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB628-2025) - [SB 410: Provide for Montana genomic security act](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB410-2025) - [SB 422: Generally revise laws relating to insurance coverage relating to cancer](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB422-2025) - [SB 424: Revising the disabled veteran property tax assistance program](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-SB424-2025) - [Montana bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana/bills) - [Montana state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/montana) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/MT-HB156-2025 (as of 2026-10-12).