-

Bills on missing, murdered Indigenous people face uncertain future in Leg
By Austin Amestoy | UM Legislative News Service | January 18, 2021

[SNIP]

In Montana, where Native Americans make up 6.6% of the population, they comprise 26% of all missing person cases. Indigenous people in the state are four times more likely to go missing than whites, according to data from the 2019 U.S. Census.

That’s part of the reason why advocates were excited when the 66th Montana Legislature passed several landmark laws in 2019 to help address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis. Now, nearly two years later, the Montana Legislature is poised to tackle the MMIP crisis once again, with several bills promising bolstered support for the grassroots organizers who started the movement in the first place. But with a large class of freshman lawmakers, a new face in the governor’s office and especially, a different budget situation, some of the bills’ supporters worry about keeping the legislative momentum going.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, said ultimately, she hopes the Legislature will be more willing to allocate more funding for the MMIP cause.

“It’s life and death. The rest of this stuff is just money,” she said. “But this is literally life and death.”

[SNIP]

https://missoulacurrent.com/government/2021/01/murdered-indigenous-people/
============