Helena — The Senate State Administration Committee held a short hearing on Senate Bill 527, a measure whose sponsor, Senator Laura Smith, asked the panel to table. Senator Smith opened the hearing and said she requested the bill be tabled.

No proponents appeared in the room; opponents spoke at length about the bill’s ethics and fiscal impact. A Ravalli County committee representative (Lussenhide) used the hearing to argue that elective services such as IVF should not be funded by taxpayers, saying “taxpayers paying for things that are elective should be off the table.” Robin Sertell testified on behalf of Montanans for Life, describing ethical objections and alleging industry practices she characterized as problematic; she also raised concerns about the bill’s Section 3 and the potential lifetime‑care obligations and costs to Montana taxpayers.

Senator Smith told the committee she would not respond in detail to those concerns because she planned to request tabling. At the committee’s executive session later in the meeting the vice chair moved to table SB 527; the motion carried without objection and the bill was placed on the table for later disposition.

Ending: SB 527 was tabled; no further action was taken at this meeting. Because the sponsor requested tabling, the committee did not proceed to a full debate or an extended response to witnesses’ factual claims.