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69th Legislature 2025 HJ 33
- 1 - Authorized Print Version – HJ 33
ENROLLED BILL
A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF
MONTANA URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION RELATING TO UNSOLICITED
OFFERS OF MORTGAGE CREDIT, KNOWN AS TRIGGER LEADS.
WHEREAS, the Montana Legislature maintains that it is in the best interest of all Montanans to have
access to safe, accountable, and private mortgage banking in achieving the American dream of home
ownership; and
WHEREAS, Montanans who seek to fulfill this dream have been increasingly besieged with unsolicited
credit offers from a litany of unknown and amorphous financial institutions, not because Montana homebuyers
requested the credit solicitations, but because various entities obtained leads that were triggered by the
Montana homebuyer potentially seeking a mortgage through a trusted and known lender; and
WHEREAS, these unsolicited offers of credit by entities unknown to Montanans, known as trigger
leads, routinely subject Montanans to a barrage of unrequested, unnecessary, and gratuitous emails, mail,
texts, and telephone calls at all times, day and night; and
WHEREAS, trigger leads are, at worst, criminally fraudulent offers by entities seeking to commit identity
theft, and at best, trigger leads subject Montanans to daily harassment. Accordingly, the Montana Legislature
declares trigger leads a public nuisance that must be, at the very least, competently regulated, but the best
solution is for trigger leads to be prohibited; and
WHEREAS, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
operating with the intent of fostering interstate commerce and competition in the mortgage credit market, have
naively shielded trigger leads from any meaningful state action; and
WHEREAS, although the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
allow for a person to opt out of unsolicited offers of credit, in reality this practice is wholly ineffective and has
69th Legislature 2025 HJ 33
- 2 - Authorized Print Version – HJ 33
ENROLLED BILL
only served as a convenient excuse to avoid meaningful federal regulation; and
WHEREAS, the United States Congress has, through introduced legislation, identified the
overwhelming problem with the proliferation of trigger leads; none of these acts, however, have yet to pass.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE STATE OF MONTANA:
That the 69th Montana Legislature urges the United States Congress to take meaningful action to
protect not only Montanans but all Americans by curtailing or eliminating trigger leads and, at the very least, to
allow Montana and other states to protect their citizens by eliminating federal preemption of trigger leads under
the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State send a copy of this resolution to each
member of the Montana Congressional Delegation.
- END -
I hereby certify that the within bill,
HJ 33, originated in the House.
___________________________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
___________________________________________
Speaker of the House
Signed this _______________________________day
of____________________________________, 2025.
___________________________________________
President of the Senate
Signed this _______________________________day
of____________________________________, 2025.
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 33
INTRODUCED BY T. FALK, E. BUTTREY
A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF
MONTANA URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO TAKE ACTION RELATING TO UNSOLICITED
OFFERS OF MORTGAGE CREDIT, KNOWN AS TRIGGER LEADS.