This bill aims to extend legislative immunity to legislative staff, ensuring that they are protected from being questioned or compelled to testify in judicial proceedings regarding privileged legislative information. The new legal language specifies that the evidentiary privilege and legislative speech and debate immunity will apply to legislative staff, similar to the protections afforded to legislators. It emphasizes that any privileged information held by legislative staff must be treated as confidential and that the introduction or public discussion of a bill by a legislator does not waive this privilege.

Additionally, the bill amends existing definitions in the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) to clarify the roles and protections of legislative staff. It includes new definitions for "legislative staff" and "privileged legislative information," ensuring that these terms are clearly understood within the context of legislative immunity. The bill also provides an immediate effective date upon passage and approval, indicating the urgency of implementing these protections for legislative staff.

Statutes affected:
LC Text: 2-9-101, 2-9-901