Montana Right to Know: Public Records Deadlines, Fees, and How to Sue

Montana puts the right to examine government documents in its constitution, not just its statutes. Article II, section 9 guarantees access unless individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of disclosure, and Title 2, chapter 6, part 10 supplies the deadlines, the $25 hourly fee ceiling and the district court remedy.

This page covers Montana state and local records. Federal agency records run under the separate federal Freedom of Information Act: see how to file a FOIA request. For the rules in every other state, start at our public records laws by state hub.

A constitutional right, not just a statutory one

Most states grant records access by statute, which a legislature can narrow at will. Montana wrote it into the 1972 constitution. Article II, section 9 provides:

No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.

Two features of that sentence matter to a requester. The right runs to "no person," with no residency condition. And the only stated exception is a balancing test weighted toward disclosure: privacy does not simply have to be present, it has to "clearly exceed" the merits of public disclosure.

The statutes in Title 2, chapter 6, part 10 implement that right by setting deadlines, fee ceilings and a remedy. They do not replace it. Section 2-6-1009(4) makes that explicit by allowing a fee award to a person who prevails in an action to enforce rights "under Article II, section 9, of the Montana constitution or under the provisions of Title 2, chapter 6, parts 10 through 12."

Deadlines: 5 business days, then 5 working days, then 90 days

Before any of the numbers below, check who holds the record. Every day count in this section comes from section 2-6-1006(3), and subsection (1)(b)(ii) places a local government outside subsection (3) entirely. So the tiers apply to a public agency that is not a local government. If you are filing with a county, city, town or school district, skip to the local government paragraph at the end of this section.

For a public agency that is not a local government, section 2-6-1006(3) runs three tiers, and which one applies depends on how identifiable the material is.

Acknowledgment: 5 business days. Under section 2-6-1006(3)(a)(i), the agency "shall respond to a public information request by acknowledging receipt of the request within 5 business days of the agency's designated contact person receiving the request." Note where the clock starts. It runs from the designated contact person, so finding that person before you file is worth the effort.

A single readily available record: 5 working days. Where the request is "for a single, specific, clearly identifiable, and readily available public record," the agency must provide it "within 5 working days of the agency's acknowledgment of receipt of the request."

The exception most requesters trip over. Section 2-6-1006(3)(a)(ii) provides that the 5-day rule does not apply to a request for records concerning a specified person or piece of property, the examples given being applications, vital records, licenses, permits and registrations. Those are exactly the records that feel most "single and readily available," so do not assume the 5-day clock covers them. It does not.

Anything broader: 90 days, or 6 months. If a request "seeks public information that cannot be readily identified and gathered," the agency must provide an estimate of the time it will take and of any fees, and then provide the information in a timely manner, which may be within 90 days of acknowledgment, or within 6 months where the agency determines 90 days is not feasible and gives written notice explaining why.

The payment suspension. If the agency requires you to pay an estimated fee, its obligation to respond is suspended when it sends the estimate and remains suspended until you pay. A request left unpaid does not keep running against the agency's clock.

The clarification cutoff. Section 2-6-1006(3)(c) lets an agency close a request if it asked you to clarify what you are seeking and 30 days pass without an answer. Treat a clarification email as time sensitive; ignoring it ends the request rather than pausing it.

Local governments. A lighter standard applies here, and it is the only standard. Section 2-6-1006(1)(b)(ii) states that a local government, which includes counties, cities, towns and school districts, is not subject to subsection (3). A local government must "respond in a timely manner" by making the information available for inspection and copying, or by providing an estimate of the time and fees where the information cannot be readily identified and gathered. No day counts attach to that track at all.

What changed on July 1, 2026

The version of section 2-6-1006 in force is the one effective July 1, 2026. The temporary version terminated on June 30, 2026 and no longer governs any request. That matters more than it sounds, because of how the official code site behaves.

Read the official page carefully. mca.legmt.gov still displays both versions of section 2-6-1006 on the same page, and it shows the terminated temporary text first. A requester who reads from the top and stops is reading law that expired. Scroll to the version marked effective July 1, 2026.

The day counts did not change. Both texts carried the same numbers: 5 business days to acknowledge, 5 working days for a single readily available record, 90 days or 6 months for a request that cannot be readily identified and gathered.

What changed was the classification boundary. The terminated temporary version routed "a public agency that is not an executive branch agency" to the lighter subsection (2) standard and "all executive branch agencies" to the detailed subsection (3) track. The version now in force routes "a local government" to subsection (2), stating expressly that a local government is not subject to subsection (3), and routes "a public agency that is not a local government" to subsection (3).

The practical consequence is that state-level bodies outside the executive branch, such as legislative and judicial branch agencies, moved from the lighter track onto the more regulated one, while local governments stayed on the lighter track. If you are filing with a city, county, town or school district, the numbered deadlines above are not what governs; the "timely manner" standard is. If you are filing with any other public agency, the numbers apply.

Fees

Section 2-6-1006(5) sets a ceiling and a structure, and one general rule runs through all of it: where a public agency incurs a cost, it may only charge for that cost once.

The fee must be documented, and the agency may require you to pay the estimated fee before it begins identifying and gathering the information. Two adjacent provisions govern format, and they are easier to use if you keep them apart. Section 2-6-1006(1)(d) is the limit: an agency is not required to alter or customize public information to meet the requester's preferred form. Section 2-6-1006(1)(e) is the option: an agency may agree to provide the information in a customized form, and the cost of doing so may be added to the fee. So a format request is a negotiation, not an entitlement, and agreeing to it costs money.

On fee waivers, the honest answer is that we could not confirm a general one. The only waiver in section 2-6-1006 is section 2-6-1006(4)(b), which bars the secretary of state from charging a member of the legislature or a public officer for a search relating to that office's duties or for a certified copy of a law or resolution. That does nothing for an ordinary requester. A broader indigency or public-interest waiver may exist elsewhere in Title 2, chapter 6, but research for this page did not confirm one, and this page will not assert a right it could not verify. Ask the records custodian in writing whether that agency has adopted any policy on reducing fees, and meanwhile keep the cost down by requesting inspection rather than copies, by framing the request as a single specific readily available record where you honestly can, and by insisting on the written estimate before work begins.

How to file a Montana public information request

1. Find the agency's designated contact person for public information requests. Section 2-6-1006(1)(a) requires an agency to make the means of requesting accessible to all persons, and the acknowledgment clock runs from that contact person's receipt.
2. Put the request in writing and date it.
3. Decide honestly which tier you are in, and check first whether the agency is a local government, because a county, city, town or school district is outside the day counts altogether. For any other public agency, a request for one identifiable document moves on a 5 working day clock, but section 2-6-1006(3)(a)(ii) pulls records about a specified person or piece of property, meaning applications, vital records, licenses, permits and registrations, out of that rule. If that is what you are after, plan on the estimate-and-timely-response path rather than the 5-day one. A request for a category of material over a date range is not on the 5-day clock either, and framing it as though it is will not make it so.
4. Describe the record specifically: subject, date, department, and any case, permit or incident number.
5. Ask for the written time and fee estimate the statute requires, and set a ceiling above which you want to be contacted before work proceeds.
6. If the agency is not a local government, diary the 5 business day acknowledgment date. If it passes with nothing, follow up in writing, because a missed section 2-6-1006(3) response is independently actionable under section 2-6-1009(3). A local government owes only a timely response, so there is no dated trigger to diary there.
7. Answer any clarification request quickly. Under section 2-6-1006(3)(c) an agency may close a request if it asked you to clarify and 30 days pass with no reply.

Our free FOIA request generator will draft a Montana-specific letter with the right citations, and nothing you enter into it is stored or transmitted.

Denials, and the district court remedy

Written explanation required. Section 2-6-1009(1): "A public agency that denies an information request to release information or records shall provide a written explanation for the denial." There is no carve-out for partial denials.

Two independent triggers for suit. Section 2-6-1009(2) allows a person who receives a denial and believes it violates the chapter to file a complaint in district court under the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure. Section 2-6-1009(3) separately allows a complaint where the agency did not respond as section 2-6-1006(3) requires. Silence is therefore actionable in its own right, without waiting for a formal denial. Because that trigger is keyed to section 2-6-1006(3), it reaches a public agency that is not a local government. Under the terminated temporary version it had reached executive branch agencies instead.

No administrative appeal. Montana provides no records ombudsman and no administrative appeal board comparable to Maryland's Public Access Ombudsman or Massachusetts's Supervisor of Records. District court is the forum.

Fees. Section 2-6-1009(4) allows a person alleging a deprivation of rights who prevails in district court to be awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees, whether the claim rests on Article II, section 9 or on Title 2, chapter 6, parts 10 through 12. The award is discretionary.

Filing deadline. Section 2-6-1009 states none, and research for this page did not locate a limitations period elsewhere in the chapter. A general Montana civil limitations statute would presumably supply one by default, but this page does not identify which. Move promptly, and ask a Montana attorney about the applicable period rather than assuming there is no clock.

What can be withheld, and the body camera gap

Withholding in Montana runs through two layers. The constitutional layer is the Article II, section 9 balancing test, under which material may be withheld where the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. The statutory layer includes section 2-6-1003, which sets out both what an agency may withhold and the limits on that withholding.

The exception covers safety and facility security, and it has a jeopardy trigger. Section 2-6-1003(2) lets a public officer withhold information relating to individual or public safety or the security of public facilities, including public schools, jails, correctional facilities, private correctional facilities and prisons, but only if release of the information jeopardizes the safety of facility personnel, the public, students in a public school, or inmates of a facility. Facility security is a prong the statute genuinely contains, so an agency invoking it is not misreading the text. What the agency still owes you is the link between the specific record and that jeopardy, so ask which safety risk release would create.

Withholding must be minimized. Section 2-6-1003(2) provides that a public officer "may not withhold from public scrutiny any more information than is required to protect individual or public safety or the security of public facilities." A blanket refusal covering an entire file rather than the protected material inside it is at odds with that instruction. Note what this clause is keyed to: it limits the safety and security exception. Privacy-based withholding is governed instead by the separate constitutional balancing in Article II, section 9.

Pending litigation is not, by itself, a reason to refuse. Section 2-6-1003(5) provides that a public agency "may not refuse to disclose public information because the requested public information is part of litigation or may be part of litigation unless the information is protected from disclosure under another applicable law." So "we are in litigation" is not a valid ground for denial standing alone. The closing clause is the agency's remaining route, and it requires the agency to identify some other law that protects the material, so ask it to name that law.

Other statutes outside part 10 close specific categories as well.

On police body cameras specifically, Title 2, chapter 6, part 10 contains no provision. Research for this page did not verify whether a dedicated body-worn camera records rule exists elsewhere in Montana law, for example in Title 44, which governs law enforcement, and this page will not state a rule the reviewed statutes do not contain.

Two things hold regardless. Article II, section 9's privacy balancing applies to footage, and that balancing is where most disputes about video showing identifiable private individuals will actually be decided. And section 2-6-1009(1) requires a written explanation for any denial, so ask the agency to name the provision it is relying on. That citation is what you evaluate, and what a district court filing would test.

What the right to know does not cover

Birth, death and marriage certificates run through the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Office of Vital Records under separate eligibility rules tied to your relationship to the person named. See our Montana death records guide.

Emergency call audio raises questions about active investigations and privacy that differ from ordinary agency paperwork. We cover the general framework in Are 911 calls public records?.

Federal agency records run under 5 U.S.C. 552, not Montana law. See our guide to filing a federal FOIA request.

Information on this page reflects Montana law as of August 2026 and follows the version of Mont. Code Ann. section 2-6-1006 effective July 1, 2026, which is the version in force. It is general legal information rather than legal advice. For advice on a specific denial or a district court filing, consult an attorney licensed in Montana.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to be a Montana resident to request public information?

No. Section 2-6-1006(1)(a) provides that 'a person may request public information from a public agency' and requires the agency to make the means of requesting accessible to all persons. The constitutional provision in Article II, section 9 is likewise framed as 'no person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents,' with no residency qualifier.

Why does Montana's right to know come from the constitution?

Montana wrote public access into its 1972 constitution rather than leaving it to statute. Article II, section 9 reads: 'No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.' Two practical consequences follow. The balancing test is constitutional, so an agency withholding on privacy grounds must show that individual privacy 'clearly exceeds' the public interest, not merely that some privacy interest exists. And section 2-6-1009(4) ties the fee-shifting remedy to that constitutional right as well as to the statutes, allowing costs and reasonable attorney fees to a person who prevails in an action to enforce rights 'under Article II, section 9, of the Montana constitution or under the provisions of Title 2, chapter 6, parts 10 through 12.'

How fast does a Montana agency have to respond?

That depends on which agency you asked. All of the day counts live in section 2-6-1006(3), and section 2-6-1006(1)(b)(ii) puts a local government, including a county, city, town or school district, outside subsection (3). A local government owes only a response in a timely manner, with no numbered deadline at all. For a public agency that is not a local government, section 2-6-1006(3) uses three tiers. First, acknowledgment: the agency must acknowledge receipt within 5 business days of its designated contact person receiving the request. Second, readily available records: if the request is for a single, specific, clearly identifiable and readily available public record, the agency must provide it within 5 working days of that acknowledgment, except that section 2-6-1006(3)(a)(ii) removes requests for records about a specified person or piece of property, such as applications, vital records, licenses, permits and registrations, from that rule. Third, everything else: if the request seeks information that cannot be readily identified and gathered, the agency must provide an estimate of the time it will take and of any fees, then respond in a timely manner, which may be within 90 days of acknowledgment or within 6 months where the agency determines 90 days is not feasible and gives written notice explaining why. Two caveats worth planning around: if the agency requires payment of an estimated fee, its obligation to respond is suspended when it sends the estimate and stays suspended until you pay, and under section 2-6-1006(3)(c) the agency may close the request if it asked you to clarify and 30 days pass without an answer.

Did Montana's deadlines change on July 1, 2026?

The numbers did not. The version in force is the one effective July 1, 2026; the temporary version terminated June 30, 2026. Both carried identical day counts: 5 business days to acknowledge, 5 working days for a single readily available record, and 90 days or 6 months for a request that cannot be readily identified and gathered. What changed is which agencies fall into which response track. The terminated temporary version split agencies into 'executive branch agency,' which got the detailed subsection (3) track, and 'a public agency that is not an executive branch agency,' which got the lighter subsection (2) standard of responding in a timely manner. The version now in force instead splits 'local government,' which gets the lighter subsection (2) track and is expressly not subject to subsection (3), from 'a public agency that is not a local government,' which gets the detailed subsection (3) track. The practical effect is that state-level bodies outside the executive branch moved onto the more regulated track, while local governments remained on the lighter one. One warning about the source: mca.legmt.gov still shows both versions on the same page and displays the terminated temporary text first, so scroll to the version marked effective July 1, 2026 before relying on what you read.

What can Montana charge me for records?

Section 2-6-1006(5) sets the schedule, and the tracks differ in their details. For making information available for inspection and copying, fees may not exceed $25 an hour for searching, gathering, reviewing, processing and providing information in the most cost-efficient and timely manner possible, plus actual copying and media costs and, where applicable, a convenience fee under section 2-17-1102. For a request for a single, specific, clearly identifiable and readily available record, section 2-6-1006(5)(b)(i) caps the hourly charge at $25 for 'gathering, reviewing, processing, and providing' the record, and searching for it is not among the listed billable activities; section 2-6-1006(5)(b)(iii) then adds actual copying, media and postage costs. For a request that is not for a single readily available record, section 2-6-1006(5)(c)(i) allows a filing fee of not more than $5, and once that fee is paid the first hour of service is free, after which the $25 an hour ceiling applies, plus actual copying, media and postage costs under section 2-6-1006(5)(c)(iv). The statute also states that where an agency incurs a cost it may only charge for that cost once. The fee must be documented, and the agency may require payment of the estimated fee before it starts identifying and gathering the information.

Is there a fee waiver in Montana if I cannot afford the charges?

We could not confirm a general public-interest or indigency waiver, and we would rather say that than assert one. The only waiver located in section 2-6-1006 is narrow and does not help an ordinary requester: section 2-6-1006(4)(b) provides that the secretary of state may not charge a fee to a member of the legislature or a public officer for a search relating to that office's duties or for a certified copy of a law or resolution. A broader waiver may exist elsewhere in Title 2, chapter 6, but research for this page did not confirm one. The practical route is to ask the records custodian in writing whether that agency has adopted any policy on reducing or waiving fees, and meanwhile to shape the request so the fee stays low: ask for inspection rather than copies where that would answer your question, request a single specific readily available record rather than a broad category where you can, and ask for the written estimate the statute requires before authorizing work.

What does Montana have to tell me if it denies my request?

Section 2-6-1009(1) is short and absolute: 'A public agency that denies an information request to release information or records shall provide a written explanation for the denial.' There is no exception in the text for partial denials or for informal refusals. If an agency withholds without a written explanation, that failure is itself something to point to.

How do I challenge a Montana denial?

You go to district court, and there are two independent triggers. Section 2-6-1009(2) allows a person who receives a denial and believes it violates the chapter to file a complaint in district court under the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure. Section 2-6-1009(3) separately allows a complaint where the agency simply did not respond as section 2-6-1006(3) requires, so a missed deadline is actionable on its own without waiting for a formal denial. Because that trigger is keyed to section 2-6-1006(3), it applies to a public agency that is not a local government; under the terminated temporary version it had applied to executive branch agencies. Montana does not provide an administrative appeal board or an ombudsman for records disputes.

Is there a deadline for filing that court complaint?

Section 2-6-1009 does not state one, and research for this page did not confirm a limitations period elsewhere in the chapter. That means a general Montana civil statute of limitations would presumably apply by default, but which one and from what date are questions this page will not answer by inference. Treat the absence of a stated deadline as a reason to move promptly and to ask a Montana attorney about the applicable limitations period rather than as an assurance that no deadline exists.

Can I recover attorney fees in Montana?

Possibly. Section 2-6-1009(4) provides that a person alleging a deprivation of rights who prevails in a district court action to enforce rights under Article II, section 9 of the Montana Constitution, or under Title 2, chapter 6, parts 10 through 12, 'may be awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees.' The award is discretionary rather than presumptive, and it requires prevailing in court.

What can Montana withhold?

Two layers operate. The constitutional layer is the privacy balancing in Article II, section 9: material may be withheld where the demand of individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. The statutory layer includes section 2-6-1003, whose catchline reads 'access to public information -- safety and security exceptions -- additional exceptions.' Subsection (2) lets a public officer withhold information relating to individual or public safety or the security of public facilities, including public schools, jails, correctional facilities, private correctional facilities and prisons, but only where release of the information jeopardizes the safety of facility personnel, the public, students in a public school, or inmates of a facility. The same subsection instructs that a public officer 'may not withhold from public scrutiny any more information than is required to protect individual or public safety or the security of public facilities,' so a blanket refusal over an entire file is hard to square with the text. Note that this minimization clause is tied to safety and security, not to privacy; privacy withholding runs through the constitutional balancing instead. Subsection (5) then provides that a public agency 'may not refuse to disclose public information because the requested public information is part of litigation or may be part of litigation unless the information is protected from disclosure under another applicable law,' so litigation alone does not justify a denial, though another protective statute still can. Other statutes outside part 10 also close specific categories. Because a denial must come with a written explanation under section 2-6-1009(1), the efficient move is to make the agency name the provision it is relying on and evaluate the denial against that provision rather than against a general assertion of confidentiality.

Can I get Montana police body camera footage?

Title 2, chapter 6, part 10 contains no body-camera provision. Section 2-6-1003 has a safety and facility-security exception that could reach some law enforcement material, and its subsection (5) forecloses refusing on the basis of pending litigation unless the information is protected from disclosure under another applicable law, but there is no dedicated body-worn camera carve-out in this chapter, and research for this page did not verify whether one exists elsewhere, for example in Title 44, which governs law enforcement. This page will not state a rule the statutes reviewed do not contain. Two things are true regardless of where the specific rule lives. The constitutional privacy balancing in Article II, section 9 applies to footage, which is where most disputes about video involving identifiable private individuals will actually be resolved. And any denial must come with a written explanation under section 2-6-1009(1), so ask the agency to identify the statute it is applying and take that citation as the starting point for deciding whether to file in district court.

Are Montana birth and death certificates public information?

No. Montana vital records are administered by the Department of Public Health and Human Services Office of Vital Records under separate eligibility rules tied to your relationship to the person named. See our guide to Montana death records for who may order a certified copy.