Two MMIP proposals advance at North Dakota Statehouse
Native legislator amends bill to empower tribal authorities
Contributing Editor
Rep. Jayme Davis, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, speaks during a legislative hearing on bills addressing missing and murdered Indigenous people in North Dakota at the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (Screen grab from the North Dakota Legislature)
Two North Dakota House bills to allay the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people made headway in the 69th Legislature this week. Both proposals – to address information-sharing gaps in MMIP prevention – received overwhelming support for do-pass votes in time for the Appropriations Committee’s Feb. 10 deadline.
It remains to be seen if the full House of Representatives and Senate will agree on the language offered. Proponents are backing changes to the North Dakota Attorney General’s job under the statutes that make up the state Constitution’s Century Code.
Advocating for the changes are the four Indigenous lawmakers elected in 2024 from the state’s recently court-ordered new majority-Native Districts 4 and 9. Among them, Rep. Jayme Davis, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, assured that the Government and Veterans Affairs Committee bill loops in tribal authorities.
Her successful amendment to Rep. Dawson Holle’s HB 1199 calls for appointment of tribal leaders to a multi-jurisdictional advisory board in the attorney general’s criminal justice data information sharing system. Davis specifically stipulated the inclusion of all North Dakota tribal elected chairs or their respective designees. Her wording covers the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Spirit Lake Tribe, Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation. The executive director of the Indian Affairs Commission figures as a key component of the envisioned board.
The amendment passed out of committee to the House floor on a 13-1 vote, with one absent member not voting. It entails a $250,000 initial budget commitment, including expenses for non-state employees to attend advisory committee meetings.
In separate legislation, Davis’ HB 1535 passed out of the Judiciary Committee on an 11-1 vote for a do-pass recommendation, with two absent members not voting. It would create and fund a “Feather Alert System” such as one effective in California. The bill establishes criteria for involving the public in searches for Indigenous people who have “gone missing under unexplained, suspicious, or dangerous circumstances.”
North Dakota Highway Patrol Sgt. Jenna Clawson Huibregtse submitted written testimony warning that complications could arise from adding a new alert system to the multiple pre-existing ones. Clawson Huibregtse is the patrol’s Safety and Education officer, operating as its alerts coordinator and overseeing the cultural liaison officer program.
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