Montana Geospatial Information Act (MGIA) News

Legislative Update - HB 192 Amended

HB 192 was amended to include both an increase to the recordation fee for the State Library and the County GIS Accounts. The amendment increases MSL’s GIS recordation fee by $.75/page and the County GIS account fee by $.25/page and adds an inflationary factor to help the fees keep pace with rising costs.

This past Friday, March 21, 2025, the Senate Local Government Committee voted unanimously to approve the amendment and to approve the bill as amended.
Amended bill text: https://bills.legmt.gov.

It will be heard on the Senate Floor in the coming days and will then, if passed, return to the House for them to consider action on the amendment on the House Floor. The Montana State Library are proponents of this bill.

How to participate:

• Guidance for Public Participation - https://www.legmt.gov/participate/
  
  
• Monitor the progress or listen in on hearings/readings:
  • https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1448?open_tab=status
• Contact your legislator: https://www.legmt.gov/districts/.
  
  
• Contact professional associations/groups and encourage their review.

To see previous communication on HB 192 - link.

Erin Fashoway, State GIS Coordinator
Montana State Library
efashoway@mt.gov
https://msl.mt.gov/geoinfo/data/msdi/i