49-3-204. Licensing. (1) A state or local governmental agency may not grant, deny, or revoke the license or charter of a person on the grounds of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, or national origin. Each state or local governmental agency shall take appropriate action in the exercise of its licensing or regulatory power as will assure equal treatment of all persons, eliminate discrimination, and enforce compliance with the policy of this chapter. This subsection does not prevent the department of public health and human services from licensing a child-placing agency that gives nonarbitrary consideration in adoption proceedings to relevant information concerning the factors listed in this subsection. Consideration of religious factors by a licensed child-placing agency that is affiliated with a particular religious faith is not arbitrary consideration of religion within the meaning of this section.

Terms Used In Montana Code 49-3-204

  • Age: means number of years since birth. See Montana Code 49-3-101
  • Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
  • Physical or mental disability: means :

    (i)a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities;

    (ii)a record of such an impairment; or

    (iii)a condition regarded as such an impairment. See Montana Code 49-3-101

  • Sex: has the meaning provided in 1-1-201. See Montana Code 49-3-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
  • State or local governmental agency: means :

    (a)any branch, department, office, board, bureau, commission, agency, university unit, college, or other instrumentality of state government; or

    (b)a county, city, town, school district, or other unit of local government and any instrumentality of local government. See Montana Code 49-3-101

(2)The state may not issue or renew a license under Title 16, chapter 4, to an applicant or licensee that excludes from its membership or from its goods, services, facilities, privileges, or advantages any individual on the grounds of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, or national origin. This subsection does not apply to any lodge of a recognized national fraternal organization.