Lee Newspapers of Montana reports the measure, known as Hanna’s Act, passed the Senate Finance and Claims Committee on Tuesday. It’s already passed the House.
The bill is named after a Native American woman who was missing for several days before being found dead in 2013 on the Northern Cheyenne reservation.
The missing persons specialist is meant to help better coordinate law enforcement efforts on searches for missing people, especially American Indians.
The committee changes also would tie the bill’s fate to another piece of legislation that would create a grant program for tribal colleges to build a database of missing Native Americans.
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