🇺🇸Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act

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Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act

Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act

Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act is part of the United States state privacy-law framework. It regulates covered processing of personal data about Montana residents and must be assessed separately from federal sectoral laws and other states' statutes.

Current official version

Effective status: October 1, 2024; substantially revised October 1, 2025

Citation: Mont. Code Ann. ss. 30-14-2801 through 30-14-2820

Source basis: 2025 Montana Code Annotated, Part 28, plus the Montana Department of Justice SB 297 implementation page.

Scope and applicability

The current Act applies under the revised thresholds and exemptions in sections 30-14-2803 and 30-14-2804. Senate Bill 297 changed applicability and removed the broad GLBA entity exemption while retaining or adding more specific exemptions.

Thresholds must be calculated using the law's defined consumer population and lookback period. Exemptions should be recorded at entity, data and processing-activity level; an exemption covering one regulated dataset should not automatically be applied to unrelated marketing, website, workforce or customer-support data.

Consumer rights

Consumers may access, correct, delete and obtain portable data, and opt out of sale, targeted advertising and qualifying profiling. The Act recognizes authorized agents and requires a consumer appeal process.

The operational workflow should authenticate requests without collecting excessive new data, meet the applicable response period, document extensions and denials, propagate deletion and opt-out decisions where required, and preserve evidence of the response and any appeal.

Controller and processor duties

Controllers must provide request mechanisms and notices, limit collection and use, secure personal data, obtain consent for sensitive data, manage processors by contract and conduct data protection assessments. The current law also imposes enhanced protections for minors and related assessments.

Processor agreements should identify instructions, purpose, duration, data types, confidentiality, subprocessor controls, deletion or return, audit information and assistance with rights, security, breach response and assessments to the extent required by the statute.

State-specific point

Use the post-SB 297 text. The Montana Department of Justice expressly warns that the 2025 revisions changed exemptions, controller duties and protections for minors.

Enforcement and evidence

The Montana Attorney General enforces the Act and may seek civil penalties and injunctive relief. There is no general private right of action.

Maintain an applicability memorandum, data map, notice versions, request and appeal logs, consent and opt-out records, processor contracts, assessment records, security evidence and a dated record of the official statutory version used. Recheck the official legislature and regulator sources before each scheduled legal review.

What this means for you

Use a shared multi-state privacy operating model, but configure it for this law's exact scope, exemptions, rights, deadlines, consent rules, opt-out signals, assessment triggers and enforcement provisions. Do not substitute a generic US privacy checklist for the state-specific controls.

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