Aaron Bolton / Montana Public Radio
Three bills aimed at addressing the disproportionate number of Native Americans who go missing in Montana have been endorsed by the state House of Representatives. The legislation builds on work that began last session.
Rep. Sharon Stewart Peregoy, a Democrat from Crow Agency, is carrying the legislation to extend the Montana Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force, to create a commission to study trends around the crisis and to fund special training for law enforcement.
“At the end of the day, this is about lives, she said.
All three bills were drafted in the interim bipartisan State-Tribal Relations Committee. With Thursday’s unanimous passage of House Bill 98 to extend the task force on a preliminary vote, all three are poised to move onto the Senate.
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Democratic Rep. Sharon Stuart Peregoy introduces House Bill 35 to the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 21, 2021.
Montana lawmakers on Thursday considered a suite of bills intended to address the missing and murdered Indigenous person crisis.
Democratic Rep. Sharon Stewart Peregoy of Crow Agency told the House Judiciary Committee that lawmakers must build upon legislation passed in 2019 in response to the disproportionate number of Indigenous people who go missing in Montana.
“We’ll get our foot in the door, but we need to get into the room. And when we get into the room there’s still a whole lot of things that have to be done, she said.