The Interim

State-Tribal Relations Committee

STRC Adopts 12 Committee Bills at Final Meeting

Committee: State-Tribal Relations Committee
Author: Hope Stockwell
Posted on September 14, 2018

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At its last meeting of the interim, the State-Tribal Relations Committee voted to send 12 bills to the 2019 Legislature for consideration.

The package approved on September 7 includes five pieces of legislation aimed at filling gaps in the state’s missing persons programs. The centerpiece is called “Hanna’s Act” after Hanna Harris, who went missing and was found dead in Lame Deer in July 2013. Hanna’s Act clarifies that the Montana Department of Justice may assist with all missing persons cases and creates a missing persons specialist within the department to assist families and law enforcement authorities with investigations.

The STRC also passed bills related to increasing access to reentry resources for American Indian offenders, providing funding for school districts that serve English Learners (predominantly American Indian students in Montana), and providing additional Big Sky Economic Development grant funds to high unemployment counties. That bill (LCbsd3) was considered but not passed by the Economic Affairs Interim Committee as part of its Senate Joint Resolution No. 20 study of unemployment.

Details about each legislative proposal are available via the links below.

Related to missing persons in Indian Country:

  • LCdoj1 - establishing "Hanna's Act", authorizing the Department of Justice to assist with all missing persons cases
  • LCdoj2 - revising laws related to missing persons reports
  • LCdoj3 - a resolution requesting an interim study of options to break the cycle of youth who run away from home
  • LCdoj4 - requiring a missing child report to be filed in certain custodial interference cases
  • LCFOT2 - requiring the Office of Public Instruction to establish an electronic repository for school photos of children whose parents give permission for the photo to be held and shared with law enforcement if the child goes missing

Related to the SJ 3 study of increasing access to reentry resources for American Indian offenders:

  • LCsj31 - creating the reentry cultural programming grant program
  • LCsj32 - requiring a percentage of supportive housing grant program funding to be awarded to those serving American Indian offenders
  • LCpmed - allowing certified behavioral health peer support services to qualify as medical assistance under the Montana Medicaid program

Related to the study of improving Indian student achievement:

  • LCELMS - providing funding for school district programs serving English Learners
  • LCMILP - extending the termination date of the Montana Indian Language Preservation Program to June 30, 2023
  • LCCICA - extending the termination date of the Cultural Integrity and Commitment Act to June 30, 2023

Related to economic development

  • LCbsd3 - revising the Big Sky Economic Development Program to provide additional grant funds for high unemployment counties

Senate members of the STRC are Jen Gross (D-Billings), Steve Hinebauch (R-Wibaux), Jason Small (R-Busby), and Frank Smith (D-Poplar). House members of the STRC are Alan Doane (Vice Chair, R-Bloomfield), James O'Hara (R-Fort Benton), Rae Peppers (D-Lame Deer), and Sharon Stewart-Peregoy (Chair, D-Crow Agency).

For more information, visit the committee’s website or contact Hope Stockwell, committee staff.

Committee Website: http://leg.mt.gov/tribal
Committee Staff: hstockwell@mt.gov or 406-444-9280

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