State record · MT · 2026-09-01 · Statute

Montana

Live on this state’s ALPR statute. The occupancy form on file is not a named ALPR highway instrument. A live card is not a permit in hand.

Highway system

Primary

Public highways are classified as (a) commission-designated highway systems, (b) state highways, (c) county roads, (d) city streets (Mont. Code Ann. § 60-1-201). “Public highways” means streets, roads, highways, bridges, and related structures built and maintained with appropriated funds, dedicated to public use, or acquired as the rest of § 60-1-103(23) lists.

Owner

Primary

Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) may plan, lay out, alter, construct, reconstruct, improve, repair, and maintain highways on the commission-designated highway systems and state highways according to commission priorities (Mont. Code Ann. § 60-2-201(1)). County roads and city streets are other owners.

Right-of-way

Primary

Mont. Code Ann. § 60-1-103. “Right-of-way” is a general term denoting land, property, or any interest in land or property, usually in a strip, acquired for or devoted to highway purposes (§ 60-1-103). “Highway,” “road,” and “street” include the entire area within the right-of-way. “Highway” includes rights-of-way or other interests in land, embankments, retaining walls, culverts, and the rest of the packed definition.

Public records

Primary

Montana Public Records Act (Mont. Code Ann. title 2, chapter 6; access § 2-6-1003). Who may request: Every person has a right to examine and obtain a copy of any public information of this state, except as § 2-6-1003(2)–(4) and other law withhold. ALPR data captured under § 46-5-117 is a public record but protected from disclosure under title 2, chapter 6, parts 10–12, except to the registered owner (§ 46-5-118(5)). Planning/parking/weigh-station data under § 46-5-117(2)(a)–(c) is private, not a public record (§ 46-5-119).

ALPR data captured under § 46-5-117 is a public record but protected from disclosure under title 2, chapter 6, parts 10–12, except to the registered owner (§ 46-5-118(5)). Planning/parking/weigh-station data under § 46-5-117(2)(a)–(c) is private, not a public record (§ 46-5-119).

Open meetings

Primary

Open Meetings (Mont. Code Ann. title 2, chapter 3, part 2; open-meetings rule § 2-3-203)

ALPR statute

Primary

Mont. Code Ann. §§ 46-5-117 to 46-5-119 — Use of license plate reader prohibited — exceptions; preservation and disclosure; confidentiality. MCA 2025 text, En. Ch. 202, L. 2017. Default (§ 46-5-117(1)): an agency or employee of the state or any subdivision may not use, directly or indirectly, a license plate reader on any public highway. Exceptions in (2): MDT or an incorporated city/town for anonymized planning data, or parking-restriction enforcement; MDT devices at virtual ports of entry, automated weigh-station screening, virtual weigh stations, or national transponder prescreening; an agency tracking its own fleet; and state or local law enforcement if a public written policy is in place before the system is operational, annual audits are done, data is used only for law-enforcement/criminal-justice purposes, user-access records are kept indefinitely, and the reader is used only to identify a vehicle that is stolen, associated with a wanted/missing/endangered person, registered to a person with an outstanding warrant, in violation of commercial trucking requirements, in case-specific criminal investigative surveillance, involved in a homicide/shooting/major crime, or in the vicinity of a recent crime. A positive match alone is not reasonable suspicion for a stop. Public-officer violations fall under Title 2, chapter 2. § 46-5-118: LE captured plate data generally may not be preserved more than 90 days unless a preservation request, a § 46-5-220 warrant, or a federal warrant; sale forbidden except as 46-5-117 provides. § 46-5-119: (2)(a)–(c) databases are private, not public records, and may be kept only as long as minimally necessary, no more than 18 months. Retention: Law-enforcement captured plate data: 90 days unless preservation request, state warrant, or federal warrant (§ 46-5-118). A preservation request resets a one-year destruction clock. Planning/parking/weigh-station databases under § 46-5-117(2)(a)–(c): no more than 18 months (§ 46-5-119)..

ROW permit

None found

not packed — no ALPR-specific MDT instrument retrieved. Who may apply: not packed. MDT’s Utilities Permitting Administration System (UPAS) is the retrieved desk for utility permits in highway ROW. It does not list an ALPR permit type. § 46-5-117 is the highway-use rule for state and local agencies; it is not a ROW permit. Do not copy Florida GUP, Minnesota OLPA, or Utah ALPRS Special Use. Who Approved This lists private installs only and no public Flock contract record — that is a hunt note, not a packed MDT permit.

MDT’s Utilities Permitting Administration System (UPAS) is the retrieved desk for utility permits in highway ROW. It does not list an ALPR permit type. § 46-5-117 is the highway-use rule for state and local agencies; it is not a ROW permit. Do not copy Florida GUP, Minnesota OLPA, or Utah ALPRS Special Use. Who Approved This lists private installs only and no public Flock contract record — that is a hunt note, not a packed MDT permit.

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