2026-09-15 · Montana · Legislation · Proposed — not yet introduced

What is proposed. The Montana committee draft of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act would apply to associations that already exist — not only to new ones — and the escape route would carry a hard deadline and a vote threshold. This is a provisional staff draft. It is not law, it is not a filed bill, and it has no bill number.

The document

The posted text is headed “As of: 2026/02/23 … Drafter: Maddie Krezowski, LC / PD 0022*.0” and carries the placeholder lines of a committee bill — “**** BILL NO. ****”, “INTRODUCED BY”, “BY REQUEST OF THE ****”. Its short title clause reads “[Sections 1 through 95] may be cited as the ‘Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act’.”¹

Its own drafter flags that it is unfinished. A comment dated 2/24/2026 in the companion change log reads: “NOTE: This provisional draft does not include existing sections of code that should be amended to add reference to the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act…”²

The transition rule, as drafted

Section 92 of the draft is the provision a Montana board would actually have to act on. Before October 1, 2028 the act would reach only communities created after its effective date, plus any that amend their declaration to opt in. On and after that date it would apply to all common interest communities — unless a pre-existing community

“elects not to be subject … by amending its declaration by vote or agreement of unit owners of units to which more than 50% of the votes in the association are allocated and recording the amendment before October 1, 2028.”

That subsection is drafted to override competing authority: it expressly supersedes section 38(1) of the act, any inconsistent provision of other Montana law, and any inconsistent provision in the declaration or bylaws.

1. Local Government Interim Committee — studies and topics page, hosting “UCIOA Draft 2-24-2026” and its companion comments document ↩
2. Comments to UCIOA Draft 2-24-2026 — drafter’s annotations and change log against HB 619 (Montana Legislative Services Division) ↩
3. House Joint Resolution 50 (2025), enrolled — the study resolution the draft was produced under ↩