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Savanna's Act Headed To Trump's Desk

After first being introduced in the Senate in 2017 and in the House of Representatives in 2019, Savanna’s Act is on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The House of Representatives passed the latest legislation on Sept. 21 after being unanimously passed in the Senate last March.

The bill, which is named in honor of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a 22-year old pregnant member of the Spirit Lake Tribe who was tragically murdered in August 2017, improves information sharing between Tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. It also increases data collection on cases involving missing or murdered Indigenous people, requires law enforcement training on how to record victim tribal enrollment information in federal databases, creates standardized regionally-appropriate guidelines for inter-jurisdictional cooperation on cases and requires the Attorney General to include data on missing and murdered Indigenous people in an annual report to Congress.

“Montana faces a tragic crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. They are our daughters and sisters, and they deserve justice. Passage of Savanna’s Act brings us one step closer to ending this epidemic by upgrading critical data and improving communication among law enforcement. I look forward to President Trump signing our bipartisan bill into law,” stated Representative Gianforte in a press release upon the passage of the bill.

Indigenous women and girls in Montana face murder rates that are 10 times higher than the national average, and according to the National Institute of Justice, more than 80 percent of Native American women have experienced violence and half have experienced it within the last year. According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, in 2016, there were 5,712 cases reported of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, but only 116 cases were logged in the Department of Justice database, which shows a disparity in knowing the true number of how many Native women go missing each year.

In addition to passing Savanna’s Act, the Not Invisible Act was also passed, which strengthens violent crime prevention efforts in Indian Country. This bill requires the Department of Interior (DOI) to designate a coordinator within the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) to coordinate violent crime prevention efforts across federal agencies who must submit an annual report summarizing coordination activities and recommendations for improving federal coordination efforts. It also directs DOI and the Department of Justice to establish a commission composed of relevant federal agencies, Tribal leaders, Tribal law enforcement, mental health providers, survivors and state and local law enforcement to develop recommendations on improving the federal response to MMIW, human trafficking and violent crime in Indian Country.

“The passage of my bipartisan Savanna’s Act and Not Invisible Act through the House puts us one step closer to securing better tools for combating the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons in Indian Country,” stated Senator Tester in a release. “This is big news for Montana Tribes, MMIW advocates, and victims of violence who have worked tirelessly to get these pieces of legislation where they are today, and I’m proud to have helped shepherd these bills through Congress. I urge the President to sign these bills immediately so that Native American communities can use these resources as soon as humanly possible.”

 

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