Montana’s Missing Persons Task Force has not met since last summer despite the Legislature funding the group for the next decade.
State lawmakers last year passed two bills carried by Montana’s American Indian Caucus to help missing and murdered people in Montana. But the DOJ did not hire a coordinator for the task force until this month, and has not spent any of the funding allocated for training local search and rescue groups.
According to 2023 state data, Indigenous people make up nearly 7 % of the population and make up a quarter of Montana’s missing persons cases.
In a statement to MTPR, a spokesperson for the DOJ said they are in the process of appointing members to the missing persons task force, now that they have hired a coordinator and are reaching out to tribes about getting representatives. MTPR has confirmed several tribes are in the nomination process.
An interim group of lawmakers is scheduled to hear updates on this legislation this week.
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A district court judge has granted a temporary block on a state rule that restricts Medicaid coverage of abortion, maintaining current coverage of the procedure while a lawsuit plays out. A bill to extend funding for Montana’s Missing Indigenous Person’s Task Force has passed its final vote in the House. The legislation would renew the working group through 2033. -
A bill establishing a grant program to fund training for missing persons response teams has passed the state Senate and is headed to the governor’s desk. -
The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would renew Montana’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force for another two years and add members from the Office of Public Instruction. -
Two bills addressing the issue of missing persons in Montana passed out of the House floor Wednesday, and will now move on to the Senate.
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According to the report, Indigenous people accounted for nearly a third of all 2021 missing person reports in Montana, despite only making up roughly 7% of the state’s total population. -
Dozens of people Thursday walked across Browning to commemorate a national day of awareness for missing and murdered indigenous persons. The walk comes as the local college is launching a database that aims to help resolve unsolved cases.
