Montana added 235 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, and more than 250,000 doses of vaccines have been administered in the state.
The bill is effective immediately after the governor signs it.
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As lawmakers move toward the midway point of the session, they're taking quick action on a wide variety of bills.
Similar legislation has been vetoed in several previous sessions by Democratic governors, after being passed by Republican-dominated Legislatures.
The Montana Senate on Thursday in party-line votes gave initial approval to four bills that would change access to abortions in the state.
"This shows the drafters of the bill think the property of giant international corporations are more important than the property of Montana citizens," a Fort Peck tribal councilman told the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
The legislation passed second reading votes on mostly party-line margins.
Rocky Vista University announced Tuesday that it has selected Billings as the future site of its four-year medical school.
In his 2016 campaign, the governor called on his opponent to sell the state's aircraft.
Gov. Greg Gianforte got a firsthand look Friday at the material that will go unused and talked with the people who stand to lose income and tax dollars following President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
A legislative budget panel Friday voted against funding for new district court judges in Gallatin and Flathead counties.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte toured shuttered Keystone XL sites and conducted a public hearing in Glasgow on Friday.
The proposal Thursday included moving the program to the Office of Public Instruction instead of the Department of Commerce.
In 2020, the Montana Supreme Court ruled state and local law enforcement had no authority to honor civil federal immigration detainers.
A bill signed into law Thursday by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte allows concealed firearms to be carried in most places in the state without a permit.
The governor did not say how he'd act on HB 257 if it were to pass the Legislature.
Under the amendment passed Wednesday, the verification process would be run every six months.
"It will totally undermine the independence of the judiciary," Yellowstone County District Court Judge Greg Todd said.
Montana added 243 new cases of COVID-19, continuing a trend of declining new cases over the past several weeks.
Senate Bill 10 came at the request of the bipartisan Revenue Interim Committee.
Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who lifted the state's mask mandate on Friday, also repealed two other executive orders issued by former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
The bill’s fiscal note estimates the change would mean increased revenues to the state.
"One thing I hear all the time is what are we going to do about these judges, all the decisions they make?" Sen. Steve Hinebauch, R-Wibaux, said Friday.
State Medical Officer Greg Holzman's letter did not give a reason for the resignation.
In his directive Friday, Gianforte also said he was consolidating previous orders that were issued by his predecessor.