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LC 3938

Generally revise livestock laws

2025 Regular Session

Legislative Summary: LC 3938 - Generally Revise Livestock Laws OverviewLC 3938 is a draft bill that proposes various changes to Montana's laws governing the livestock industry. The

(LC) Draft Died in Process
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Bill Summary · LC 3938

Legislative Summary: LC 3938 - Generally Revise Livestock Laws

Overview

LC 3938 is a draft bill that proposes various changes to Montana's laws governing the livestock industry. The bill seeks to update and streamline regulations around livestock management, transportation, and disease control. While the bill ultimately died in the legislative process, the proposed revisions provide insight into potential future efforts to reform livestock laws in the state.

Key Provisions

The main components of LC 3938 include:

Livestock Transport Requirements

  • Requires all livestock transported within or through Montana to have a valid health certificate and brand inspection certificate
  • Allows the state veterinarian to establish electronic monitoring and reporting requirements for certain high-risk livestock shipments

Disease Prevention and Control

  • Expands the state's authority to order the testing, quarantine, or destruction of livestock herds suspected of harboring infectious diseases
  • Authorizes the Department of Livestock to establish a statewide livestock traceability system to aid in disease surveillance and response

Livestock Identification and Ownership

  • Mandates the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for all cattle, bison, and domestic cervids (e.g. elk, deer)
  • Increases penalties for the fraudulent misbranding or altering of livestock ownership brands

Livestock Feeding Operations

  • Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to develop permitting and monitoring requirements for large-scale livestock feeding facilities
  • Imposes new manure management and odor control standards for these operations

Potential Impact

If enacted, LC 3938 would have introduced significant changes that would have affected both livestock producers and regulators in Montana, including:

  • Heightened requirements and oversight for the transport and movement of livestock, intended to enhance disease prevention and response capabilities
  • Increased use of electronic identification and traceability technologies to track livestock, which could improve disease monitoring but also raise privacy concerns
  • Stricter environmental regulations and permitting for large livestock feeding operations, which could increase operational costs for producers
  • Stiffer penalties for livestock identification fraud, aiming to deter illegal practices and ensure accurate ownership records

Overall, the bill represented an effort to modernize and strengthen Montana's livestock regulatory framework, though the specific impacts would have depended on the final legislative language and implementation.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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