HELENA – A state panel heard four hours of testimony Wednesday on bills relating to missing and murdered Indigenous women, an issue that proponents said affect all Montanans, but could have a profound impact on the Native American community.
House Bill 21, known as “Hanna’s Act,” authorizes the department of justice to hire a missing persons specialist to work with local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement authorities on missing persons cases.
The specialist will help law enforcement and families in the search for missing persons, oversee entries into the database of the national crime information center of the U.S. Department of Justice and other databases to ensure records of missing persons are accurate, complete, and made in a timely fashion.
However, they also noted it was not just a problem on reservations but statewide as well.
The bill, which would appropriate $100,000 to the general fund for each year of the biennium, would become effective July 1. The House Judiciary Committee heard the bill, along with three others Wednesday, but only took testimony.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rae Peppers, D-Lame Deer, is in remembrance of Hanna Harris, a Lame Deer woman killed in 2013 on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
Her mother, Malinda Harris Limberhand, was among those who spoke to the committee, not only about HB 21 but on HB 54 as well, which requests all law enforcement agencies to immediately accept a report of a missing person unless there are extenuating circumstances.
She said she reported her daughter missing and was told by the police chief she was probably partying.
“To this date I don‘t think she was ever put into a data base for missing persons,” Limberhand said.
Bryan Lockerby, division administrator for Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, said HB 54 provides help when issues about jurisdiction arise.
“This is about closing loopholes and closing gaps and finding them in the system and getting them shut down,” he said.
A long line of people testified Wednesday on the four bills before the House Judiciary Committee, many of them becoming emotional.
Other bills discussed included HB 40, creating the reentry cultural programming grant program and HB 48 to provide stacking of tribal court convictions for partner or family assault.
The hearing was capped by a rally in the rotunda of the Capitol and a news conference in the governor’s reception room.
Gov. Steve Bullock called missing and murdered indigenous women an "epidemic."
He said that nearly half the missing people cases in Montana are Native women. He said in 2013 there were 30 Native missing or murdered women in Montana.
"These are real lives and real people and for every single person going missing or murdered it has a ripple effect" on the lives of others.
He said lawmakers have a moral obligation to deal with the issues.
"Never doubt the power of your voices,” he said.
Peppers said the lives and safety of Native women cannot be put on the back burner any longer.
“Too many of our sisters, mothers, and daughters have been left behind by our legal system,” she said.
Peppers said the people who testified Wednesday are seeking justice.
“They are asking for answers,” she said, adding that law enforcement does not take their losses seriously.
Rep. Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, the House minority leader, said the “epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women could not be more urgent.
“Getting justice for these missing Montanans and their families is one of our top priorities. Democrats in the Legislature will not stop working until we get these bills across the finish line and deliver on our promises to Indian Country,” he said.
Peppers and others throughout the day said it wasn’t just an Indian Country problem, this is a Montana problem.
Rep. Sharon Stewart Peregoy, D-Crow Nation, said hearing the testimony was difficult.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., recently wrote a letter to the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs criticizing the handling of the case of 14-year-old Henny Scott of Lame Deer, who was found murdered in December. It took 13 days for law enforcement to notify the public that a missing persons report had been filed.
On Jan. 18, the House passed House Bill 20, that allows any law enforcement officer in the state to file a missing child report as soon as a child is reported missing.
It passed the House 97-0 on Jan. 21 and awaits a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
These bills come as a record number of Native lawmakers are serving in Montana’s Legislature this session, with the Montana American Indian Caucus having 11 tribal members, roughly 7 percent of the Legislature.