Nora Mabie and Kaiden Forman-Webster
Montana Free Press + ICT
From allowing a fledgling task force to raise its own money and requiring the creation of a curriculum on how to prevent human trafficking, new laws aim to address the disproportionately high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Montana.
Native Americans in Montana are four times more likely to be reported missing than their counterparts, according to a state Department of Justice report. And while Indigenous people comprise 6.5 percent of Montana’s population, as of Wednesday, they accounted for 24 percent of the state’s active missing persons reports.
Experts say the problem is a consequence of national policy. Federal laws have created a patchwork of law enforcement jurisdiction on reservations where the lead investigative agency — whether state, tribal or federal law enforcement — is often determined by a variety of factors, including the severity of the crime, whether it occurred on or off tribal land and whether the victim and perpetrator were Native American or not.
The United States has a treaty responsibility to fund public safety in Indian Country, but tribal leaders and advocates have long said that federal funding doesn’t come close to meeting community needs. Though it’s ultimately up to Congress to increase funding for law enforcement on reservations, state lawmakers nationwide have taken steps to address the issue.
Montana lawmakers in past years enacted legislation creating the state’s Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force (now called the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council) and establishing a grant fund to support volunteer search efforts.
This year, new laws aim to bolster the state council and call on the federal government to adequately fund law enforcement in Indian Country.
Ramping up state efforts
House Bill 83, brought by Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, was the first of Montana’s American Indian Caucus priority bills to be signed into law in the legislative session that ended in April.
Effective July 1, the law allows the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council — composed of representatives from every tribe as well as from state and federal law enforcement entities — to receive donations and other funds. The group meets regularly to analyze data and propose solutions to address the crisis. When the Legislature first established the task force in 2019, it appropriated $149,649 from the General Fund for task force operations and to hire a full-time coordinator. A fiscal note in the 2019 bill estimated the task force would cost the General Fund about $122,962 in subsequent years. In 2023, the Legislature appropriated $205,162 for the biennium from the General Fund to the Montana Department of Justice for task force work.
This year, House Bill 2, the state’s budget bill, includes a $20,000 line item to support the advisory council.
HB 83, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte in February, specifically creates a state special revenue account, allowing the advisory council to receive donations, grants and other money for operational expenses. It also appropriates $1 from the state’s General Fund to that new account.
In a February committee hearing, Dana Toole, special services bureau chief at the Montana Department of Justice, told lawmakers that the advisory council was offered an unsolicited grant from a nonprofit but was unable to accept the money.
While the HB 83 generally sailed through the Legislature with widespread bipartisan support, lawmakers’ occasional objections largely centered on the advisory council’s focus on Indigenous people.
Rep. Lukas Schubert, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Kalispell, in January proposed an amendment to HB 83 that would remove the $1 appropriation to the group, arguing that the advisory council “discriminates by omission against non-Native individuals.”
“We’ve had the federal government spend millions of dollars on woke DEI programs and we cannot allow that to come to Montana,” Schubert said in a House debate on the bill.
Rep. Greg Overstreet, R-Stevensville and citizen of the Muscogee Nation, condemned Schubert’s proposal and urged his colleagues to “show the Native population … our respect by voting to appropriate $1.”
Schubert’s amendment failed in a 96 to 4 vote of the full House of Representatives.
When asked about the advisory council’s focus on the Native American population in an April committee hearing, Running Wolf told lawmakers that the disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Indigenous people is “a big issue” and “a problem that all of Montana should be looking at.”
House Bill 545, also brought by Running Wolf, was signed into law May 12. The law renames the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force, making it the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council. It also removes a member of the Montana Highway Patrol from the group and adds a homicide investigator.
Running Wolf and other supporters told lawmakers that the name “task force” can be misleading, as it implies that the group may assist with on-the-ground searches and investigations.
“A task force unit is specifically organized for a task,” Running Wolf explained in a Senate Judiciary Committee in April. “An advisory council is a group of people who provide advice and guidance.”
Rep. Shelly Fyant, D-Arlee and a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, told members of the House Judiciary Committee that the legislation would improve public safety across Indian Country.
“This is a very scary reality in my world,” she said in a February hearing. “I have seven granddaughters, and I worry about them.”
Human trafficking prevention
Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, brought Senate Bill 107 — now law — which requires the Montana Office of Public Instruction to create a curriculum on how to identify and prevent human trafficking.
At a January Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Webber handed lawmakers pieces of paper with the names and faces of 48 missing children in Montana.
“I bring to you today a critical component of the Legislature’s responsibility to protect the children of Montana,” she said.
In her testimony, Webber, who is Blackfeet, spoke of the high rates of missing Indigenous people. A Montana Department of Justice report revealed that more than 80 percent of people reported missing in 2023 were under 18. Webber argued that while the state and federal governments have enacted laws to address the crisis, more efforts should target prevention. SB 107, she said, would equip children with the tools they need to stay safe.
Several lawmakers voiced opposition to the bill, saying students should spend time in school learning to read and do math. Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, criticized the vagueness of the curriculum plan, saying it could become “woke.” And several Republican senators took issue with the idea of requiring, rather than encouraging, the state Office of Public Instruction to create the curriculum.
While the bill does not outline curriculum requirements, it states that the Office of Public Instruction may provide educational resources to students, parents and teachers and can coordinate with law enforcement, the state health department and other human trafficking prevention organizations to educate others.
SB 107 takes effect July 1. Once the Office of Public Instruction creates the curriculum, school districts will have the option to implement it.
Webber’s bill wasn’t the only piece of legislation aimed at human trafficking prevention. The governor earlier this month also signed Senate Bill 245, which requires the Office of Public Instruction to make available training materials for school bus drivers on how to identify and report human trafficking.
More funding
While the federal government has a treaty responsibility to fund law enforcement on most reservations, tribes have long said that the funding is insufficient.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community have filed separate lawsuits against the federal government, alleging the United States has failed to provide adequate law enforcement resources in their communities. Tribal communities statewide in recent months have called attention to the issue, urging action and demanding change. Devastated by the death of an 8-year-old child last fall, Northern Cheyenne community members in southeast Montana took to the streets to protest violence. Fort Peck community members did the same in March after a string of deaths in the community.
House Joint Resolution 1, which passed the Legislature in April, urges Congress to fully fund law enforcement on reservations in Montana. Though resolutions cannot create law or force action, they convey the Legislature’s desires and priorities.
HJ 1 specifically asks that Gianforte write a letter to Congress, encouraging the body “to fully fund Montana Indian reservation law enforcement and public safety programs and services” by June 30. A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to a May 28 request on whether Gianforte had sent the letter.
Sponsor Running Wolf in a March committee hearing called the resolution “a call to action.” He argued that adequate funding is critical for tribes “to protect their communities.”
This story is co-published by Montana Free Press and ICT, a news partnership that covers the Montana American Indian Caucus during the state’s 2025 legislative session.