HELENA, Mont. (NMB) – After being introduced in January, the bill that would create a specialist position to investigate all missing persons cases in the state passed its final vote in the Montana Legislature 96-to-1 Tuesday.
Tim Pierce with the UM Legislative News Service reports that House Bill 21 is named “Hanna’s Act” after Hanna Harris, who was found murdered on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in 2013. Representative Rae Peppers from Lame Deer, the bill’s sponsor, says both sides of the aisle helped pass the legislation that would spend $100,000 a year on the position in the State Department of Justice.
“It was so bi-partisan in this House that it overwhelms me right now. And they have told me this themselves that they understood human trafficking is a serious issue for all people of Montana.”
Representative Sharon Stewart Peregoy from Crow Agency, who co-sponsored the bill, says after the rough journey of the bill losing funding, being tabled and missing deadlines, the final vote was almost anti-climactic.
“It was such a hard journey. So, today, taking the final vote, it’s like ‘we’re done.’ It’s a sigh of relief.”
“Hanna’s Act” still needs to be signed by the governor before it becomes law.
