At its last meeting of the interim, the Montana Legislature’s 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 STRC also passed bills related to increasing access to reentry resources for American Indian offenders, providing funding for school districts who serve English Learners, 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. You may track each of the bills in the upcoming session by clicking on the link to the right of the bill description.
Related to missing persons in Indian Country:
- LCdoj1 – establishing “Hanna’s Act”, authorizing the Department of Justice to assist with all missing persons cases (LC 322 in the 2019 session)
- LCdoj2 – revising laws related to missing persons reports (LC 320 in the 2019 session)
- LCdoj3 – a resolution requesting an interim study of options to break the cycle of youth who run away from home (LC 321 in the 2019 session)
- LCdoj4 – requiring a missing child report to be filed in certain custodial interference cases (LC 317 in the 2019 session)
- 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 (LC 319 in the 2019 session)
Related to the SJ 3 study of increasing access to reentry resources for American Indian offenders:
- LCsj31 – creating the reentry cultural programming grant program (LC 316 in the 2019 session)
- LCsj32 – requiring a percentage of supportive housing grant program funding to be awarded to those serving American Indian offenders (LC 311 in the 2019 session)
- LCpmed – allowing certified behavioral health peer support services to qualify as medical assistance under the Montana Medicaid program (LC 312 in the 2019 session)
Related to the study of improving Indian student achievement:
- LCELMS – providing funding for school district programs serving English Learners (LC 314 in the 2019 session)
- LCMILP – extending the termination date of the Montana Indian Language Preservation Program to June 30, 2023 (LC 315 in the 2019 session)
- LCCICA – extending the termination date of the Cultural Integrity and Commitment Act to June 30, 2023 (LC 318 in the 2019 session)
Related to economic development:
