In the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee, Tribal leaders and lawmakers considered a Resolution that would help solve the jurisdictional problems in Lake County, where Public Law 280, requiring the County to handle enforcement of serious crime on the Flathead Reservation. Most of Lake County is on the Reservation.
They’re supporting House Joint Resolution 1, asking 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. Representative Tyson Running Wolf of Browning is carrying the bill, asking Congress to develop agreements with each of the tribal nations to put programs in action. The resolution would also request Governor Greg Gianforte to send a letter to Congress.
Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes’ spokesman Dan Stusek supports of the resolution and said a 2021 estimate from the Bureau of Indian Affairs showed federal funding for tribal law enforcement and public safety met less than 13% of the tribes’ total needs.
“Although C.S.K.T does more than any other jurisdiction on our Flathead Indian Reservation to ensure the safety of all citizens, our tribal justice system is consistently underfunded, current federal funding for tribal justice systems does not come close to meeting the Indian Country’s enormous unmet needs.”
Representative Running Wolf added that the resolution wouldn’t cost the state any money.
“There’s a zero funding appropriation, just ink and paper and a stamp to get it to Washington D.C. on behalf of both Senate and House and from the Executive Office.”
No one spoke in opposition at the resolution’s first hearing in the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations committee last week.
KGEZ 20-20 News thanks Clayton Murphy, of the University of Montana School of Journalism, for his work on this story. The Montana Broadcasters and the Newspapers Associations and the Greater Montana Foundation provided funding for these reports.
