Oklahoma Legislature
OKLAHOMA CITY — An additional measure aimed at addressing the rate of missing and murdered Indigenous Oklahomans is still alive in the Oklahoma legislature, while another one is done for the session.
Without debate or discussion, the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced House Bill 3345 Tuesday afternoon. Also known as Ida’s Law, the bill would create a liaison’s office within the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations to work with tribal communities and law enforcement, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office and the Office of the Secretary of Native American Affairs on cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. It also specifically calls for the liaison’s office to be staffed by a missing person specialist who has extensive experience working in and with tribal communities.
The bill is named in honor of Ida Beard, a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. Beard disappeared from her El Reno neighborhood in 2015 and to date, is still missing. Nationally, homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native American women, trailing only cancer and heart disease. In 2016 alone, more than 5,700 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls were reported to the National Crime Information Center.
A 2018 study published by the Seattle Indian Health Board’s Urban Indian Health Institute ranked Oklahoma 10th nationally for the number of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, but also acknowledged that due to a lack of data, the numbers are “likely an undercount.” “Working closely with tribal members for the past year on legislation to address missing and murdered Indigenous people in Oklahoma has been a transformative experience,” said Rep. Mickey Dollens (D-Oklahoma City), the measure’s author. “The heartache and suffering that this community has gone through is brutal, and it is real.”
Meanwhile, a related bill failed to even receive a com- mittee hearing before the session’s Thursday night deadline for measures to advance. Assigned to the Public Health Committee, House Bill 2847 from Rep. Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) would create a Red Alert system to go out when an Indigenous person disappears and is believed to be at risk for foul play or has other conditions that warrant additional concern. Similar to an Amber Alert when a child is reported missing or a Silver Alert when a senior citizen is missing, a Red Alert notification would be sent out statewide.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Sean Roberts (R-Hominy) could not be reached for comment as to why the bill was not granted a hearing. Despite his district being entirely within the jurisdictional areas of the Cherokee and Osage nations, he has previously sponsored legislation that runs counter to tribal interests, including a 2014 proposal that would have given the state of Oklahoma regulatory authority over the Osage Nation’s mineral estate.