New bill bolstering Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives office signed into law
Update on May 11:
A bill to expand the Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives in Colorado is now in the hands of Governor Jared Polis and there is no indication yet whether he will sign or veto the bill. The number of unsolved Indigenous missing or murdered across North America has been an alarming trend pointed out more prominently in recent years. Often law enforcement and a true lack of data have been main inhibitors in solving the crisis.
Senate Bill 23-054 directs the office to conduct case reviews and publish a report annually about any violent or exploitive crimes against an Indigenous person, fill a position with a representative of the Indigenous community on the sentencing reform task force, collaborate with Indigenous-led organizations and the Colorado district attorneys' council to provide training for victim advocates and designating an employee as a point of contact for families in need.
This bill recently passed through the Colorado House and Senate, both approving amendments that bill sponsor, Democratic State Senator Jessie Danielson of Jefferson County, said made the bill even stronger. Danielson also said the bill is supported by the tribal councils representing the two sovereign nations in Colorado, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
The Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives is fairly new itself, only officially established in 2022 after the passing of a bill in the previous legislative session. So far the office along with the MMIR of Colorado Taskforce launched a Missing Indigenous Persons Alert system earlier this year. The alert system notifies local and statewide agencies of a reported missing Indigenous person in hopes this one step process will help solve more cases.
According to the MMIR taskforce, a group of advocates to bring awareness to MMIR in Colorado, there are more than 80 cases in Colorado. Their list includes current missing Indigenous children and adults, unsolved murders, murdered relatives and unidentified potential Indigenous relatives and one case which is waiting for cause of death.
Also in the year since it was established, the Colorado Department of Public Safety announced it hired Arron Julian as the director of the Office of Liaison for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Relatives. One area this new bill works to improve on, said Danielson. Among the improvements the bill also establishes a 24-hour phone line for when the director is unavailable.
Danielson told Rocky Mountain PBS she hopes Governor Jared Polis, a democrat, has changed his mind about the bill, she had previously heard at the beginning of the session that he wasn't in support of the bill.
Conor Cahill, press secretary for the governor, provided this statement to Rocky Mountain PBS in response to questions on his intentions of signing or vetoing the bill: "The Governor will review this bill just as he does all bills as it makes its way to his desk. The Polis-Primavera administration is committed to continuing to address this critical issue and ensuring the success of the Office of MMIR."
The governor has 30-days to take action on the bill. He recently signed two bills Danielson also sponsored and had support from Indigenous community members — SB23-211 Federal Indian Child Welfare Act Of 1978 and SB23-202 Wearing Of Native American Traditional Regalia.
Senate Bill 23-054 is currently in the beginning stages of the lawmaking process. The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing the bill, which was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jessie Danielson of Jefferson County, following the public comment period Monday.
This bill would add more requirements to the recently established Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. This would include things like conducting case reviews, training for victim advocates and designating an employee as a point of contact for families in need.
“We're hoping to improve access and transparency with criminal justice records and the administration of justice for families. We are asking for autonomy and funding for that office, and then we are also asking for a community led oversight so that the Indigenous community are the ones that are invested in this office and informing these law enforcement agencies about cultural, cultural sensitivities,” said Raven Payment, another member of the MMIR of Colorado Taskforce.
The taskforce recently launched a Missing Indigenous Persons Alert system with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which notifies local and statewide agencies of a reported missing Indigenous person. The system is one step in the MMIR of Colorado Taskforce's mission to create more awareness around these missing person cases.
“There's a lack of justice for Indigenous people, and I can only speak from being on the reservation, you know, coming from a background of trauma,” explained Bluestar. “You realize now that I'm an adult, all the things that have slipped through the cracks.”
Currently in Colorado there are more than 70 MMIR cases, though part of this bill’s purpose is to further gather data on cases and more consistently check in on cases that are still open. Danielson said the most important thing to her has become listening to those in the Indigenous community who came up with a solution, something she believes should be honored.
“What really motivates me is that once I came to understand how disproportionately high the rate of violence against indigenous people in Colorado and across this country really is,” explained Danielson. “I could admit that Colorado is way behind in addressing it, and we have an obligation to our friends and neighbors across the state to do something about it right now.”
As the group gathered outside the Capitol ahead of the hearing, they said a prayer and then performed traditional drumming and singing as they made their way into the Capitol, through the rotunda and to the Old Supreme Court Room where the hearing was held.
Walking through the capitol building in this way, wearing traditional ribbon skirts, which represent the sacredness of Indigenous women and the deep connection their bodies and spirits have to the land, is a weight not lost on these women.
“One of the stark comparisons is that when we walk into this building, you know, we are standing before the portraits of the men that tried to eradicate our existence and put policies into place to try to exterminate us from the United States,” explained Payment. “One of the things that was key in putting this legislation forward was that we were putting our own office dedicated to our issues on an equitable playing field as other law enforcement agencies, so that they would have some power and autonomy to make change at the highest level of these offices.”
When a bill is introduced, the first committee hearing is the only chance the public has to make comments on the bill. Given three minutes each, those who spoke took up more than two hours of time during Monday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing knowing the importance of their words.
“I'm always standing for our people,” said Bluestar. “Every time I speak, I envision a story that we went through or a family that's suffering or somebody that needs help right now at this moment, or somebody who's gone and, you know, they were in a bad situation. So, every time I speak, I think of them.”
Those interested in receiving notifications from the Missing Indigenous Person Alert can do so by emailing cdps_cbi_missing@state.co.us.
You can follow the MMIR Taskforce of Colorado on Facebook and Twitter.
Amanda Horvath is the managing producer at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can email her at amandahorvath@rmpbs.org.
Alexis Kikoen is the senior producer at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at alexiskikoen@rmpbs.org.
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Below is the original article and video published on Feb. 7.
With the gold dome and white stone of the capitol building in downtown Denver, the color red was evident throughout the clothing of a group of people there on Monday.
The color red has become a symbol for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) movement — the reason this group wanted to speak to lawmakers. American Indian and Alaska Native people are at a disproportionate risk of experiencing violence, murder or going missing due to a number of historical and systemic issues that are ongoing today. That includes justice systems that are often not prepared enough to handle such cases or systems that deprioritize and under-investigate cases involving Indigenous peoples.
“What got me here [at the Colorado State Capitol building] was having an aunt whose case went into the cold case and then just observing youth, living on the reservation. All of the injustices that happened to Indigenous women, children, men,” said Daisy Bluestar, a member of the MMIR of Colorado Taskforce and member of the Southern Ute Tribe. She made the long trip from Ignacio, Colorado to speak to lawmakers in person.