Tyson Running Wolf

Republican lawmakers want to cut Montana’s wolf population in half. One bill to do that received preliminary approval in the state House.

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.

Tribal leaders and lawmakers are supporting legislation that would urge the federal government to fully fund law enforcement in Indian Country in Montana, where they say agencies are underfunded at a time when reservations are faced with epidemics of drugs and missing and murdered Indigenous people.

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.

Tribal leaders and state education officials are trying to figure out how to stabilize a school on the Blackfeet Reservation after auditors uncovered more than a million dollars in debt linked to financial mismanagement.

Montana’s American Indian Caucus passed some of their top priorities during the 2023 legislative session. Caucus members say that work took a lot of explaining about the issues their communities face.

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.

Montana’s Legislature has passed a joint resolution recognizing the history of American Indian boarding schools and calling on the U.S. government to create a national day of remembrance. A proposal aiming to eliminate legal protection for abortion is headed to the governor.

Montana’s days of partisan balance in interim committees could soon come to an end. While the GOP wants more power between legislative sessions, there was wide support to leave one committee, the liaison between the state and tribal nations, unchanged.

A bill creating a highway memorial for the country’s longest-serving elected tribal leader has reached the desk of Montana’s governor.