House committee backs bill to limit sale of mental‑health app data under state privacy law

Representative Sullivan reintroduced House Bill 397, a measure to protect mental‑health and substance‑use related digital services and apps from trading or selling user data. Sullivan said many consumer apps that offer mental‑health support do not fall under federal HIPAA protections and instead may monetize sensitive information.

Under the bill, mental‑health digital services that meet the statutory definition would be treated under Montana’s existing Uniform Health Care Information Act; the measure imposes restrictions on selling or disclosing user information and provides civil remedies for noncompliance. Sullivan said the definition is intentionally narrow to include internet and health-care applications addressing mental health or substance‑use disorders and to avoid “chaos” from trying to include every large tech device at once.

Representative Edchart and others asked whether major device‑makers or general device health telemetry would be covered; Sullivan said the bill focuses on discrete mental‑health service apps and that he is willing to work on broader protections later. Representative Edchart and others praised the bill as an incremental step to protect privacy for sensitive mental‑health data.

The Committee of the Whole recommended House Bill 397 do pass; the clerk recorded 100 yes and 0 no on second reading.