The State-Tribal Relations Committee elected Rep. Tyson Running Wolf (D-Browning) and Sen. Jason Small (R-Busby) as its chair and vice chair, respectively, on Friday during the committee’s initial meeting of the 2021-22 interim.
The STRC also established the framework for its work plan, choosing to spend about half of its time studying reservation satellite and alternative voting offices and the process for converting fee title land to trust land. The committee will use the rest of its time to learn about:
- Indian Country programs funded with one-time-only appropriations;
- aquatic invasive species funding for tribally-operated inspection stations;
- implementation of 2021 legislation related to child protective services and the current number of Indian children in foster care in Montana;
- Indian Education for All litigation;
- legislative redistricting;
- treatment of Indians incarcerated in Montana and educational programs for offenders at the Women’s Prison;
- ARPA funds distributed to tribes;
- tribal TSEP grant applicants; and
- the history and impacts of residential Indian boarding schools in Montana.
The work plan was influenced by the committee’s meetings on Thursday and Friday with the CSKT Tribal Council and the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council in Pablo and Browning. The STRC expects to next meet in early October, date and location TBD.
For more information about the committee and its work, please visit the committee’s website at http://leg.mt.gov/tribal or contact committee staffer, Hope Stockwell, at 406-444-9280 or hstockwell@mt.gov.
