The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Montana
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Mont. Code Ann. Title 50, ch. 2 (Local Boards of Health), part 1
- Issued
- 2026-09-28 Sept. 28, 2026
- Effective
- standing; subsections (2) to (4) added by Ch. 408, L. 2021 (HB 121, approved Apr. 16, 2021) (read as 2021-04-16)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Apr. 16, 2021 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureGathering capEvents and venuesQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; owners or persons in control of premises; all businesses and facilities where people congregate
- Character
- statutory duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Montana DUT-MT
Operative words
local health officers... shall: (a) make inspections for conditions of public health importance and issue written orders for compliance or for correction...; (b) take steps to limit contact between people in order to protect the public health from imminent threats, including but not limited to ordering the closure of buildings or facilities where people congregate and canceling events
Penalty
Compliance order executed at the violator's expense (50-2-123; DUT-MT-006); misdemeanor under 50-2-124(2) (DUT-MT-007); law-enforcement assistance under 50-2-120; hindering a health officer is unlawful under 50-2-122
What it required
Every county, city and city-county health officer held a mandatory ('shall') charge to issue written compliance orders, to order 'the closure of buildings or facilities where people congregate', to cancel events, to 'establish and maintain quarantine and isolation measures' ((1)(d)) and to 'pursue action with the appropriate court' if chapter 2 or the rules under it are violated ((1)(e)); the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Missoula, Cascade and Lewis and Clark orders of 2020-2021 (Ex. MT-043 to MT-070, MT-074 to MT-085) rest on this section.
Retrieval noteThe 2021 amendments (HB 121) added (2): a health officer's emergency directive 'remains in effect only during the declared state of emergency or disaster or until the governing body holds a public meeting... and the majority of the governing body moves to amend, rescind, or otherwise change' it, and may not limit attendance at places of worship; (3) bars orders violating 50-2-116(5); and (4) preserves the officer's authority under 50-2-123 and this section 'to enforce and ensure compliance by private businesses with all lawfully adopted regulations, directives, and orders'. Subsection (1)(a)-(e) is the standing text under which the 2020 county orders issued; the pre-2021 wording was not re-read in this run (the Internet Archive was offline) and is described from the History line.