13-35-804. Penalties, MCA

Montana Code Annotated 2025

TITLE 13. ELECTIONS

CHAPTER 35. ELECTION AND CAMPAIGN PRACTICES AND CRIMINAL PROVISIONS

Part 8. Deepfake Regulation

Penalties

13-35-804. Penalties. (1) A complaint of 13-35-802 may be filed with the commissioner of political practices pursuant to 13-37-111. A sufficiency finding from the commissioner of an investigation into a complaint filed under 13-37-111 is subject to civil penalties under 13-37-128 imposed by the commissioner or county attorney.

(2) A second sufficiency finding by the commissioner must be referred to the county attorney for misdemeanor prosecution. Upon conviction, a violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment in county jail for not more than 6 months, or both.

(3) A third sufficiency finding by the commissioner must be referred to the attorney general or county attorney for felony prosecution. Upon conviction, a violation is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 2 years, or both.

(4) All penalties accruing under this section are cumulative to each other, and a suit for or recovery of one is not a bar to the recovery of any other penalty.

(5) A prosecution under this section is not a bar to enforcement by injunction or other appropriate civil or administrative remedies.

History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 541, L. 2025.