FARGO (KFGO) – Former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is still trying to get Congress to pass Savanna’s Act even though she’s left office.
The bill would would improve crime databases and start reporting missing and murdered indigenous people.
The National Crime Information Center says there were more than 5,700 reports of killed or missing Native American women and girls in the United States in 2016. Only 116 cases were logged into a Department of Justice database.
“In many times, the expectations of family members is so low that there isn’t a big push until something happens like with Savanna and all of a sudden it brings a lot of attention to this invisible problem,” Heitkamp said.
Savanna’s Act was passed unanimously in the Senate last year but wasn’t voted on in the House. It will have to be reintroduced again in both chambers.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has vowed to bring Savanna’s Act back to the Senate. Heitkamp says the measure is “in capable, incredible hands.”
