Montana's insurance regulator is tightening supervision rules for surety bail bond licensees after a fatal shooting in Missoula.
The Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, Office of the Montana State Auditor, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on May 22, 2026, adopting a new rule and amending several existing rules on training and supervision for surety bail bond insurance licensees.
The notice points to a March 2026 incident as the reason. Two people holding temporary surety bail bond insurance licenses are alleged to have been involved in a fatal shooting in Missoula of a person they were trying to apprehend. According to the notice, no fully licensed surety bail bond agent appears to have been present to supervise the temporary licensees during the attempted apprehension.
Those temporary licenses come from House Bill 726, which Montana's legislature passed in 2025. The law lets new entrants work as bail bond agents while finishing their training, so long as a fully licensed agent supervises them. But the statute does not define what supervision means. That is the gap the new rule closes.
Under the proposal, a temporary licensee must be in the direct physical presence of the supervisor when trying to arrest or take surrender of a person, or when entering a private residence. For routine licensed work like issuing bonds, the temporary licensee has to be under the supervisor's direct control and guidance and able to reach them immediately.
A single licensed agent can supervise no more than two temporary licensees at a time.
Applicants will have to name a supervisor before getting the temporary license, and submit a sworn affidavit from that supervisor. The affidavit must confirm that the supervisor agrees to take responsibility for the temporary licensee's actions while serving as a bail bond agent, meets the statutory qualifications, and will notify the commissioner's Producer Licensing office immediately if employment or supervision ends.
If supervision ends, the temporary license is suspended on the spot. If the suspension runs past five days, the supervisor has to find a replacement agent in good standing to take over any active surety bonds – and notify the CSI, the person out on bail, any indemnitor, the court clerk, the prosecutor, and the detention facility.
The wider package folds surety bail bond licensees into Montana's existing continuing education framework alongside producers, adjusters, and consultants. It also bars temporary licensees from requesting extensions on the statutory training requirements.
The agency says many Montana bail companies are small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but it does not expect significant or direct costs from the rules.
A public hearing is set for June 16, 2026, at the CSI Basement Conference Room in Helena, with a Teams link available. Written comments close June 24, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. The notice is signed by State Auditor James Brown.
The rules are still proposed and not yet final.
