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Montana Recording Laws (2026): Announcement Exception and Penalties

Independently fact-checkedEditor-reviewedLaw current as of November 1, 2026By Recording Law Editorial TeamReviewed November 2, 202612 min read

Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited November 1, 2026). · Reviewed by the RecordingLaw editorial team. · Law checked current as of November 1, 2026. · 14 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content

Montana Recording Laws (2026): Announcement Exception and Penalties

Montana is an all-party state with a twist: the law requires that every party know about a hidden-device recording, not that every party agree to it. Under MCA 45-8-213(1)(c), recording a conversation with a hidden device without the knowledge of all parties is a criminal misdemeanor. Any party who announces audibly that recording is occurring makes the recording immediately lawful under the announcement exception in MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii).

Montana recording law at a glance

QuestionAnswer
Consent ruleAll-party knowledge required (announcement satisfies)
Main statuteMCA 45-8-213
When is recording illegal?Hidden device used without all-party knowledge and no prior announcement
Criminal penaltyMisdemeanor: up to 6 months county jail, up to $500 fine
Civil remedyCommon-law invasion of privacy against a private recorder; Article II Section 10 claim only against government actors
Hidden camerasMCA 45-5-223 prohibits surreptitious visual observation in residences and upskirt-style recording in public
Recording policeOpen recording falls outside MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) (hidden-device element); First Amendment right recognized in the Ninth Circuit

For in-depth treatment of each topic, see the Montana recording laws in depth section below.

Montana requires every party to know about a recording made with a hidden device; any party can satisfy this by announcing it, and a violation is a misdemeanor with up to 6 months in jail and a fine up to $500.
In Montana an audible announcement is enough: everyone must know about a hidden-device recording, but no one has to agree to it.

Montana three smartphones around a blank document on a wooden desk

Montana small audio recorder and over-ear headphones resting on a stack of legal documents

Recording in-person conversations in Montana

The core rule comes from MCA 45-8-213(1)(c): recording a conversation with a hidden electronic or mechanical device without the knowledge of all parties is a criminal offense. Two elements must both be present for the statute to apply: a hidden device, and the absence of all-party knowledge. Remove either element and the prohibition does not apply.

The announcement exception in MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii) is the primary way parties satisfy the knowledge requirement. Either person in the conversation may give the warning. An audible statement like "I am recording this conversation" made before or at the start of recording is sufficient. No response, agreement, or acknowledgment from the other side is required. Once the announcement is made, either party may record freely for the duration of that conversation.

Montana is meaningfully different from both pure one-party and strict all-party states. A one-party state (such as Texas) lets the recording party record silently because their own presence counts as consent. A strict all-party state (such as California) requires active consent from every participant. In Montana, the recording party announces that recording is occurring. No consent is solicited or required. The other party's only recourse is to end the conversation.

Two quick examples: An employee says before a meeting, "I want everyone to know I am recording this." Recording is lawful under state law from that moment. A business plays an automated message at the start of a call telling callers the call is being recorded. That is the clearest way to give the warning MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii) describes. No Montana court has decided whether a "this call may be recorded" message is enough, so businesses are safer saying the call is being recorded rather than that it may be.

The statute also exempts persons speaking at public meetings under MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(ii). Recording at a city council session, school board meeting, or other open government meeting requires no announcement because speakers have no reasonable expectation of privacy in those public remarks. Montana's Open Meetings law at MCA 2-3-212 separately permits audio recordings to serve as the official record of open meetings.

Recording phone calls in Montana

The same rule applies to phone calls. Recording a call with a hidden or concealed mechanism without the knowledge of all parties violates MCA 45-8-213(1)(c). Any party who announces at the start of the call satisfies the statute.

No Montana statute or court decision settles which state's rule applies when a call crosses state lines. The safe practice is to follow the strictest rule that could apply, which for a call with a Montana participant means at least giving the warning. The announcement should be made before substantive conversation begins, not after.

Our recording consent checker shows the controlling rule for a call between Montana and any other state, along with what satisfies it.

Federal law (18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d)) lets a party to a call record it, so Montana's warning rule is the stricter requirement for calls involving a Montana participant.

Montana law also separately criminalizes intercepting electronic communications. Under MCA 45-8-213(3), purposely intercepting an electronic communication, defined broadly enough to include text messages, emails, and other data transmissions, is a distinct offense from the conversation-recording rule in (1)(c). The same warning-based exception applies: interception by a public official or employee performing official duty, or interception where a party has been given warning, falls outside the prohibition.

For detailed treatment of call recording scenarios, interstate rules, and business compliance, see Montana Phone Call Recording Laws.

Two pairs of hands on a round wooden cafe table, one beside a coffee cup, the other beside a smartphone

Hidden cameras, doorbells, and nanny cams

MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) applies to audio recording with a hidden device. A separate statute, MCA 45-5-223, addresses video voyeurism. It prohibits two distinct acts: (1) hiding, waiting, or loitering within or near a private dwelling to watch or electronically observe occupants without consent, and (2) recording the sexual or intimate parts of another person in a public place without knowledge or consent when the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Penalties under MCA 45-5-223 escalate with repeat convictions, reaching up to 5 years imprisonment on a third or subsequent offense.

On your own property, security cameras and doorbells pointing at exterior spaces (driveways, front doors, shared walkways) are generally lawful. Cameras aimed into a neighbor's home or at areas where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy (bathrooms, changing rooms) implicate both MCA 45-5-223 and common-law privacy rights. A camera that also captures audio from conversations raises MCA 45-8-213(1)(c): if the audio records conversations without all-party knowledge and the camera functions as a hidden device, the recording prohibition applies.

The practical rule for nanny cams: video-only in common household areas is generally permissible. Video plus audio in spaces where people have no expectation of being recorded (a nanny's private bedroom) may violate both statutes.

For full treatment of camera rules, placement, and tenant-landlord disputes, see Montana Security Camera Laws and Montana Voyeurism Laws.

Penalties for illegal recording in Montana

Criminal penalties under MCA 45-8-213(4) vary by which subsection is violated.

OffenseTierMaximum Penalty
(1)(c) recording violation, any offenseMisdemeanor (flat)6 months county jail and/or $500 fine
(1)(a)/(1)(b) harassment/extortion, first offenseMisdemeanor6 months county jail and/or $500 fine
(1)(a)/(1)(b) harassment/extortion, second convictionMisdemeanor (enhanced)1 year county jail and/or $1,000 fine
(1)(a)/(1)(b) harassment/extortion, third or subsequentFelony5 years state prison and/or $10,000 fine
(1)(d)/(1)(e) intimate images, first offenseMisdemeanor6 months county jail and/or $500 fine
(1)(d)/(1)(e) intimate images, second or subsequentFelony5 years state prison and/or $25,000 fine

The key point for recording violations: the escalating tiers in subsections (4)(b) and (4)(c) apply only to (1)(a) and (1)(b) harassment and extortion offenses, and the felony tier in (4)(d) applies only to (1)(d) and (1)(e). A second or third recording conviction under (1)(c) still carries the same flat misdemeanor baseline. General Montana felony sentencing statutes may interact with repeat offenses, so consult a Montana attorney if facing a specific charge.

In Montana a hidden-device recording violation stays a misdemeanor with up to 6 months in jail and a $500 fine; only repeat harassment, extortion and intimate-image offenses rise to felonies.
Repeat recording violations do not escalate in Montana; the felony tiers apply only to harassment, extortion and intimate-image offenses.

Civil remedies. MCA 45-8-213 provides no private statutory cause of action for recording violations. A person secretly recorded by a private individual may pursue common-law claims such as invasion of privacy (intrusion) or intentional infliction of emotional distress, and the remedies available depend on the facts of each case. The constitutional privacy right under Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution supports a damages claim against government actors, as in Dorwart v. Caraway (2002), not against private individuals.

MCA 45-8-213 contains no suppression or exclusionary provision, and Montana has no statutory analogue to the federal wiretap suppression rule in 18 U.S.C. 2515. Admissibility of a particular recording is decided under Montana's rules of evidence and, where state agents obtained it, under the constitutional analysis in State v. Goetz and State v. Allen discussed below. Do not assume an unlawfully made private recording is automatically excluded.

Montana dome security camera in the corner of an office ceiling, soft interior daylight

Recording the police in Montana

Recording law enforcement in Montana rests on two independent legal foundations. Neither one is a police-specific exception written into the statute.

The first is statutory, and it turns on the hidden-device element rather than on any exception for recording officials. MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) reaches only a conversation recorded by use of a hidden electronic or mechanical device. A phone or camera held in plain view while an officer conducts a traffic stop, an arrest, or other duties in a public space is not a hidden device, so the offense is not made out and no announcement is required.

One point is worth stating plainly, because it is often reported the other way. MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(i) is not an exception for recording public officials. Its text exempts "elected or appointed public officials or to public employees when the transcription or recording is done in the performance of official duty," which covers officials and employees who do the recording as part of their job, not private citizens who record them. No Montana authority reads that subparagraph as permission to secretly record police, so do not rely on it for that.

The second is constitutional. The Ninth Circuit, which covers Montana, recognizes a First Amendment right to record law enforcement officers performing their duties in public. This right exists independently of the state statute and protects recording officers in public regardless of how the hidden-device question comes out.

Practical guidance: keep the device in plain view. Visibility is what keeps the conduct outside MCA 45-8-213(1)(c), and it also makes the recording harder to dispute later. No announcement is required when you are recording openly. Concealed audio recording of a conversation with an officer has no clear statutory safe harbor in Montana, so do not assume a secret recording is protected. Do not interfere with law enforcement operations while recording; obstruction is separately prohibited.

For a full treatment of legal protections, limits, and journalist rights, see Montana Laws on Recording Police.

Special topics in Montana

Workplace recording

Montana is the one state that is not fully at-will: after a probationary period, the Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act generally requires good cause for a firing (MCA 39-2-904). Its constitutional privacy right under Article II, Section 10 restricts government employers, not private ones. Employees who use the announcement exception comply with MCA 45-8-213, but employer policies remain separately enforceable. The NLRB held in Stericycle, Inc. and Teamsters Local 628, 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023), that facially neutral workplace no-recording policies are presumptively unlawful if they would reasonably tend to chill employees from exercising Section 7 rights. An employer can rebut that presumption by proving the rule advances a legitimate and substantial business interest that a more narrowly tailored rule could not serve. NLRB GC Memo 25-07 (June 25, 2025) additionally directs regional offices to treat surreptitious recording of collective bargaining sessions as a per se bad-faith bargaining violation under NLRA Sections 8(a)(5) and 8(b)(3). Stericycle remains the Board's standard for judging workplace rules, though the current Board has signaled it may revisit it. Montana employers with blanket no-recording policies should review them under that standard.

Healthcare recording

Emergency telephone communications may be recorded by health care facilities under MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iv); that exception is narrow and does not extend to routine telehealth appointments. When a covered provider makes or keeps a recording containing protected health information, HIPAA's Privacy Rule governs how it uses and discloses that recording: use for the provider's own treatment, payment, or health care operations is permitted (45 CFR 164.506), and most other uses need the patient's authorization (45 CFR 164.508). HIPAA does not govern a patient's own recording, and MCA 45-8-213's announcement rule still applies to hidden-device audio.

Debt collection recording

Under 12 CFR 1006.100(b) (CFPB Regulation F), debt collectors that record calls must retain those recordings for three years. The CFPB retention obligation stacks on top of the MCA 45-8-213 announcement requirement.

School recording

Audio or video recordings that are directly related to a student and maintained by an educational institution are education records under FERPA (20 U.S.C. 1232g). FERPA limits who the school may share such a record with, but it does not require consent to make a recording. Montana's warning rule in MCA 45-8-213 governs hidden-device audio recording.

Federal overlay

18 U.S.C. 2511 (federal Wiretap Act) permits one-party consent recording as the national floor. Montana's law is stricter and controls for intrastate conversations. For interstate calls, Montana's announcement requirement should be followed regardless of the federal baseline. See our guide to the federal Wiretap Act and ECPA.

The FCC's One-to-One TCPA Consent Rule (FCC 24-24) never took effect: the Eleventh Circuit vacated it in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, No. 24-10277 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025), mandate issued April 30, 2025, and the current federal definition of prior express written consent at 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9) does not contain it. It does not apply in Montana or any other state.

AI deepfakes and intimate images (Chapter 686, Laws of 2025)

Montana has made it a crime since before 2025 to distribute intimate images of an identifiable person to harass or injure them (MCA 45-8-213(1)(d)). Chapter 686, Laws of 2025 (HB 514) extended that offense to AI-generated ("digitally fabricated") images and to disclosures made to obtain money, and added a new offense in (1)(e) for possessing such images and threatening to disclose them to obtain money. The statute now defines "digitally fabricated" as using technical means such as artificial intelligence to create media that realistically misrepresents an identifiable individual. The core recording-consent rules and the announcement exception in (2)(a)(iii) were not affected.

Government data purchasing: SB 282 (effective October 1, 2025)

Montana Senate Bill 282 (Ch. 382, L. 2025) prohibits government entities from purchasing electronic communications, contents of communications, precise geolocation data, or other sensitive personal data without a warrant or court-issued investigative subpoena. The same law amended MCA 46-5-112 so that stored device data obtained in violation of these rules is inadmissible; that section's separate exceptions (owner consent, emergencies, devices in correctional facilities) govern obtaining stored device data, not buying data. SB 282 does not affect the MCA 45-8-213 recording-consent rules for private parties.

Case law

State v. Goetz, 2008 MT 296, held that the warrantless electronic monitoring and recording of a defendant's one-on-one conversations with a confidential informant, notwithstanding the informant's consent, was a search subject to the warrant requirement of Article II, Section 11 of the Montana Constitution and violated the defendant's rights under Article II, Sections 10 and 11. State v. Allen, 2010 MT 214, 357 Mont. 495, 241 P.3d 1045, held that warrantless one-party-consent recording of a telephone conversation by a police informant acting at law enforcement's direction violates Article II, Sections 10 and 11 of the Montana Constitution, requiring police to obtain a warrant before recording a conversation even when one participant consents. Allen and Goetz govern warrantless participant monitoring and recording by or at the direction of law enforcement under Article II, Sections 10 and 11 of the Montana Constitution, a distinct legal track from the private-party consent regime in MCA 45-8-213 that is this page's main subject. No Montana Supreme Court decisions from 2024 through May 2026 specifically construing MCA 45-8-213 have been identified.

Montana dome security camera in the corner of an office ceiling, soft interior daylight
  • Ch. 686, Laws of 2025: Expanded the intimate-image offense in MCA 45-8-213(1)(d) to AI-generated images and added a new sextortion offense in (1)(e). Recording-consent rules unchanged.
  • SB 282 (Ch. 382, L. 2025), effective October 1, 2025: Prohibits government data purchasing of communications and location data without a warrant. Private recording rules unaffected.
  • HB 32 (signed February 27, 2025, Ch. 6, L. 2025): Amended MCA 40-6-701 to permit government recordings at public events without separate parental consent for minors. Does not alter MCA 45-8-213 or private recording rules.
  • NLRB GC Memo 25-07 (June 25, 2025): Treats surreptitious recording in collective bargaining as a per se bad-faith bargaining violation.
  • FCC One-to-One Consent Rule (FCC 24-24): Vacated by the Eleventh Circuit, January 24, 2025; mandate issued April 30, 2025. The rule is not in force anywhere, including Montana.

Montana recording laws in depth

By type of recording

By place or relationship

More Montana laws

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Recording laws change and apply differently to each situation. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed Montana attorney.

More Montana Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Montana a one-party or two-party consent state?

Montana counts as an all-party state, with a twist: the law requires every party's knowledge, not every party's agreement. MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) prohibits recording with a hidden device without the knowledge of all parties. Any party who announces audibly that recording is occurring satisfies the statute under subsection (2)(a)(iii). No consent from the other party is required, only the announcement.

Can I record a phone call in Montana without telling the other person?

No. Recording a phone call with a hidden device without the knowledge of all parties violates MCA 45-8-213(1)(c). You must make an audible announcement before or at the start of recording. Once you say something like 'I am recording this call,' you may legally record the rest of the conversation under Montana law.

What is the announcement exception under Montana law?

The announcement exception is in MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii). The recording prohibition does not apply to persons who have been warned that a conversation is being recorded. Either party may give the warning. No agreement or response is required from the other party. The audible announcement alone removes the recording from the statute.

What happens if I secretly record someone in Montana?

A violation of MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) is a misdemeanor: up to 6 months in county jail and a fine up to $500. Unlike the harassment and extortion subsections, the recording violation carries a flat misdemeanor with no statutory escalation for repeat offenses. The statute itself contains no provision excluding an illegally made recording from evidence; admissibility is decided under Montana's rules of evidence.

Are Ring doorbells and nanny cams legal in Montana?

Video-only cameras pointing at your own exterior property are generally lawful. A camera that also captures audio from conversations engages MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) if it functions as a hidden device recording without all-party knowledge. Cameras aimed into spaces where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy, or upskirt-style recording in public, implicate MCA 45-5-223, Montana's voyeurism statute.

Can my employer record me in Montana?

An employer may record workplace conversations if employees have received the required announcement under MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii). Many employers give the warning through call-recording announcements or a clear statement at the start of a recorded meeting; no Montana court has decided whether a written policy alone is enough. Blanket no-recording policies imposed on employees must also comply with the NLRB Stericycle standard (372 NLRB No. 113, 2023), which presumes such policies are unlawful if they would reasonably tend to chill Section 7 rights, unless the employer proves a legitimate and substantial business interest that a more narrowly tailored rule could not serve. The current Board has signaled it may revisit that standard.

Can I record the police in Montana?

Yes, if you record openly. MCA 45-8-213(1)(c) reaches only conversations recorded with a hidden device, so a phone held in plain view during a traffic stop or arrest does not violate it and no announcement is required. The Ninth Circuit, which covers Montana, separately recognizes a First Amendment right to record law enforcement performing duties in public. Montana has no exception for secretly recording officers: the exemption in MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(i) covers officials and public employees who do the recording in the performance of official duty, not private citizens recording them. Do not interfere with police operations while recording.

What did the 2025 amendments to MCA 45-8-213 change?

Chapter 686, Laws of 2025 expanded the existing intimate-image distribution offense in (1)(d) to cover AI-generated images and disclosures made to obtain money, and added a new offense in (1)(e) for possessing such images and threatening to disclose them. The definition of 'digitally fabricated' was added to cover AI-generated content. The recording-consent rules in (1)(c) and the announcement exception in (2)(a)(iii) were not changed.

Updates

Clarified the NLRB Stericycle standard for workplace no-recording rules: an employer can rebut the presumption of unlawfulness by showing a legitimate and substantial business interest that a narrower rule could not serve, and the Board may revisit the standard.

We corrected an FAQ answer that said a written workplace policy satisfies Montana's recording-warning exception; no Montana court has decided that question.

We corrected how this page classifies Montana (an all-party state that requires knowledge, not agreement), clarified that the 2025 law expanded an existing intimate-image offense, limited the constitutional privacy claim to government actors, removed a repealed FCC rule, corrected the FCC consent-rule vacatur and the FERPA, HIPAA, SB 282 and penalty-tier descriptions, and noted that Montana requires good cause for firings after probation.

Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources; governing law re-checked for recent changes

Corrected the descriptions of State v. Goetz and State v. Allen to the constitutional holdings the Montana Supreme Court actually reached, removing an unsupported reference to a Title 46 warrant framework.

Corrected the Montana public-official exception: MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(i) exempts officials and public employees who record in the performance of official duty, not the recording of officials, so the police section is now grounded on the statute's hidden-device element and the Ninth Circuit First Amendment right, and the unsupported claim that illegally made recordings are generally inadmissible has been replaced with an accurate statement that the statute contains no exclusionary provision.

Corrected the description of the State v. Allen case holding, fixed the HB 32 signing date (2025, not 2026), fixed a wrong statute pin-cite for the healthcare recording exception, and fixed a wrong NLRB docket link.

Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources; governing law re-checked for recent changes

Governing law re-checked for recent changes

Corrected the subsection citation for Montana's recording-announcement exception (MCA 45-8-213(2)(a)(iii), not (2)(c), which does not exist) and the public-meetings exception ((2)(a)(ii), not (2)(b), which governs a different, unrelated intimate-image offense) throughout the page.

Corrected 3 more references to the nonexistent MCA 45-8-213(2)(c); the announcement exception is subsection (2)(a)(iii).

Governing law re-checked for recent changes

Reviewed and approved by an editor

Restructured page: added AEO lede, at-a-glance table, condensed special topics into tight subsections, added in-depth index with by-type and by-place groupings, refreshed FAQ to 8 questions, verified MCA 45-8-213 penalty structure (flat misdemeanor for (1)(c) confirmed; escalation tiers apply only to (1)(a)/(1)(b)/(1)(d)/(1)(e)), verified MCA 45-5-223 voyeurism statute, preserved all statutes and 2025 amendments.

Refreshed with 2025 amendments: added Ch. 686 AI deepfake provisions, SB 282 data broker warrant requirement, HB 32 MCA 40-6-701 framing, verified penalty structure from MCA 45-8-213(4), added NLRB GC Memo 25-07, CFPB Reg F retention, FERPA school guidance, and the FCC one-to-one rule vacatur. Expanded from 2,880 to approximately 5,200 words.

Added wearable recording devices section and 2 FAQs

Sources and References

  1. MCA 45-8-213: Privacy in Communications (as amended by Ch. 686, Laws of 2025)(mca.legmt.gov).gov
  2. MCA 45-5-223: Surreptitious Visual Observation(mca.legmt.gov).gov
  3. 18 U.S.C. 2511: Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications(uscode.house.gov).gov
  4. Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, No. 24-10277 (11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025), mandate issued Apr. 30, 2025(courtlistener.com)
  5. SB 282 enrolled: archive.legmt.gov (Ch. 382, L. 2025)(archive.legmt.gov).gov
  6. Montana Supreme Court: Wiretap/Criminal section(courts.mt.gov).gov
  7. Montana AG Opinions Table: dojmt.gov(dojmt.gov).gov
  8. FCC 24-24 (One-to-One TCPA Consent Rule): VACATED by 11th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025(docs.fcc.gov).gov
  9. DOJ Justice Manual 9-7.302: Electronic Surveillance(justice.gov).gov
  10. NLRB GC Memo 25-07 (June 25, 2025): Surreptitious Recording in Collective Bargaining(nlrb.gov).gov
  11. Stericycle, Inc. and Teamsters Local 628, 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023)(nlrb.gov).gov
  12. 12 CFR 1006.100(b) (CFPB Regulation F): Call Recording Retention(consumerfinance.gov).gov
  13. HHS OCR, Guidance on HIPAA Rules and Audio-Only Telehealth (2022)(hhs.gov).gov
  14. USDOE Student Privacy Policy Office: FERPA and Audio/Video Recordings(studentprivacy.ed.gov).gov
  15. MCA 2-3-212: Audio recordings as official record of open meetings(leg.mt.gov).gov
  16. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Montana Recording Guide(rcfp.org)
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