WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 20 U.S. representatives, including North Dakota Republican Kelly Armstrong, reintroduced a bill to the House Tuesday, May 14, that aims to combat the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women.
The bill, known as Savanna’s Act , is named after 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a Fargo woman who was murdered in 2017 when her baby was cut from her womb.
The bill was previously introduced by former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. The Senate passed the bill, but it did not receive consideration in the House. In January, the bill was reintroduced in the Senate.
The new bill builds off previous versions by expanding the requirement for creating law enforcement guidelines to all U.S. attorneys and requires guidelines to be regionally appropriate, according to a news release from bill sponsors. It also would require the attorney general to publicly list law enforcement agencies that comply, and incentivize implementation of the new guidelines.
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