BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota’s House has passed a bill that would require more law enforcement training related to missing and slain Native Americans.
Representatives voted 90-2 on Tuesday to approve the measure sponsored by Fargo Democratic Rep. Ruth Buffalo. She is the first female Native American Democrat elected to the state Legislature.
Buffalo also is sponsoring a bill that would collect data on missing and slain Native Americans in North Dakota.
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Buffalo says the state does not collect data on missing people and the issue of missing and slain indigenous women is a “nationwide crisis.”
Buffalo’s bills mirror Savanna’s Act, which was introduced by former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. That proposal came in response to the August 2017 death of Spirit Lake Tribe member Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who disappeared in Fargo.
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This story has been corrected to show that the House passed a bill that would require more law enforcement training related to missing and slain Native Americans, not a bill that would collect data on such cases. The data bill is still pending.
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