MontanaHB 53569th Legislature, Regular Session (2025)House

Revise the uniform criminal extradition act

Sponsored By: Greg Overstreet (Republican)

Became Law

Criminal ProcedureInterstate CooperationCourtsCrimes

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

8 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 2 costs, 2 mixed.

Who pays extradition transport and jail costs

When someone is returned to Montana and arrested on a judicial warrant, that person must repay government transport costs under Montana’s restitution laws (46-18-241 to 46-18-249). Agents moving a person through Montana may use local jails when needed, and they must pay the short-term jail costs. Montana may pay approved transport expenses to its authorized agent and may use commercial carriers. The law also bans extra pay or rewards for getting a requisition or detaining a fugitive, except as 46-30-411 allows.

Faster, clearer power to issue warrants

The governor may send an electronic copy of a warrant to the officer who must serve it. The governor can recall a warrant or issue a new one. A governor’s warrant lets an officer arrest the person anywhere in Montana, ask other officers for help, and deliver the person to the other state’s agent.

How Montana demands people be returned

When Montana asks another state to return a person, the governor issues a sealed requisition. It orders the agent to receive the person if delivered and bring the person to the proper county officer in Montana.

Stricter paperwork and review for extradition demands

Montana only honors a demand from another state if it is in writing, is authenticated, and includes an indictment, a sworn affidavit with a warrant, or a conviction and escape statement. It must usually say the person was in that state and fled. The governor may ask the attorney general or a local prosecutor to investigate and report on the demand before deciding.

Your rights after an extradition arrest

If you are arrested on a governor’s warrant, a judge must see you without delay and tell you the charge and your right to a lawyer. Extradition hearings do not decide guilt or innocence, only identity and process. Officers who willfully violate these rules commit a misdemeanor and can face up to a $1,000 fine and up to 6 months in jail.

Broader surrender rules and Montana rights

The governor may surrender a person even if that person left the other state involuntarily. The governor may also surrender someone who was never in the other state if acts in Montana or a third state caused a crime there. When a Montana case is pending, the governor may either surrender the person or hold the person until trial or sentence is finished here. Montana keeps its right to try the person and to regain custody. The law updates who counts as an executive authority and what “state” and “waiver of extradition” mean, including Indian reservations and tribal leaders.

Bail and timing rules for extradition cases

Bail is allowed while you wait for a governor’s warrant unless the other state’s law makes the crime punishable by death or life. A court may deny bail if you are held on a governor’s warrant, except in narrow cases like wrong identity or bad paperwork. If you are returned to Montana on a judicial warrant, the issuing judge must decide bail first. Judges can hold you up to 30 days while a warrant is sought and extend that or your bail in 60-day steps. Beginning December 17, 2024, transfer timelines match the federal Extradition Act, and the clock pauses while Montana has a lawful hold.

Waiving extradition is quicker but final

You may sign a written waiver in front of a Montana judge to give up extradition steps. The judge explains your rights first. After a waiver, you are held without bail for delivery, and the waiver cannot be revoked once the other state is notified. With a prior out-of-state waiver and certified papers, a Montana court may order release to that state without the governor’s warrant after a hearing and a probable-cause finding, and you may seek a writ of habeas corpus.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Greg Overstreet
Republican • House

Cosponsors

Theresa Manzella
Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 186 • No: 105

House vote • 4/15/2025

Do Concur

Yes: 33 • No: 17

House vote • 4/14/2025

Do Concur

Yes: 31 • No: 13

House vote • 3/5/2025

Do Pass

Yes: 62 • No: 36

House vote • 3/4/2025