The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Montana
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Mont. Code Ann. Title 10 (Military Affairs and Disaster and Emergency Services), ch. 3 (Disaster and Emergency Services), part 1
- Issued
- 2026-09-28 Sept. 28, 2026
- Effective
- standing; subsection (1)'s 'force of law' sentence and subsections (4)-(5) were added in 2021 (Chs. 357 and 504, L. 2021); subsection (2)(a)-(c) is the text the 2020 Directives cited as 10-3-104(2)(a) and (2)(c) (read as 2026-09-28)
- End
- standing
- In force
- Standing since Sept. 28, 2026 (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
- Emergency declarationStay-at-homeBusiness closureTravel and quarantineStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; owners or persons in control of premises; all businesses within the emergency area
- Character
- statutory authority
- Collection
- Standing duties: Montana DUT-MT
Operative words
These executive orders, proclamations, and regulations have the force of law.... (2)... the governor may:... (c) except as provided in subsection (4), control ingress and egress to and from an incident or emergency or disaster area, the movement of persons within the area, and the occupancy of premises within the area.
Penalty
Title 10, ch. 3 carries no penalty section of its own; the Directives were enforced as public health orders under 50-1-103(2) (DUT-MT-004) with the penalties of Title 50 (DUT-MT-003, -007), and 10-3-305(2) commands that 'all officers and agencies shall cooperate with and extend their services and facilities to the governor' (read; not saved)
What it required
During the emergency declared by EO 2-2020 (Ex. MT-001) and re-declared by EO 2-2021 (Ex. MT-019), the Governor held statutory power over 'the movement of persons within the area, and the occupancy of premises within the area', the area being the whole State; the Stay at Home, closure, capacity and face-covering Directives recited 10-3-104(2)(c) as their source, and since 2021 the statute states in terms that the Governor's emergency orders 'have the force of law'. Character as recorded: statutory_authority (enabling power; binds through the orders issued under it).
Retrieval noteSubsection (2)(a) (suspension of regulatory statutes) is the source of the licensing, telehealth and carrier Directives (Ex. MT-023, MT-024, MT-031). 10-3-303(3) as amended in 2021 limits a state of emergency to 45 days absent a legislative poll or joint resolution (read; not saved), the mechanism by which the 2021 emergency ran to EO 10-2021 of June 30, 2021 (Ex. MT-022). The 2019 text of subsection (1) was not re-read in this run (Internet Archive offline).