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 bill to fund the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons task force awaits the governor's signature; Judge rules law defining male and female unconstitutional; Elk calves die after eating toxic ornamental plants in the Bitterroot Valley. -
Supporters of a bill that would create a special revenue account to fund the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force say it is necessary to keep the program going. -
Montana's Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force has re-formed with new staff. The group has existed in Montana since 2019, but it hasn’t met since lawmakers funded an expansion of their work within the Department of Justice last year. -
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.
