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Committee approves amendment and forwards bill creating missing Indigenous persons task force with $250,000 appropriation
Summary
The Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to House Bill 1199 that adds an attorney general designee to lead an information‑sharing effort; the bill creates a task force on missing persons, allocates $250,000 to the attorney general—s office for data and education work and passed out of committee 15–1.
The Appropriations Committee voted to approve an amended version of House Bill 1199, establishing a criminal‑justice information‑sharing mechanism and a task force focused on missing persons, including missing Indigenous people, and appropriating $250,000 from the general fund to the attorney general—s office for ongoing data and education activities.
Senator Scheibely (committee sponsor for the amendment) told the committee the bill will create a criminal‑justice data sharing structure to be administered by the attorney general—s office and will also create a task force. "It also creates a task force," Scheibely said while explaining the amendment.
The amendment offered in committee replaces an explicit reference to "the attorney general" with language allowing the attorney general or the attorney general—s designee to perform the work; the sponsor described this as a technical change requested by the attorney general—s office. The appropriation was described in committee as ongoing general‑fund support; the transcript records that the $250,000 was requested but not narrowly designated to a specific list of deliverables.
Senator Dwyer asked why tribal entities had been removed from a section of the bill earlier in the legislative process: "Why on page 3 did were all the tribes removed..." The committee record shows that deletions on page 3 occurred during prior policy‑committee work, not in the Appropriations Committee.
The amendment (identified as version 02/2002 in committee materials) was moved by Senator Scheibely, seconded by Senator Sorbog, and recorded as passed on the amendment roll call. The committee later moved a due‑pass recommendation on the bill as amended; the roll call for the due‑pass recorded the measure as passing 15–1. Committee members noted that the appropriation appears to be ongoing and that the attorney general—s office will determine the specifics of data services and educational efforts supported by the funding.
Committee records indicate the bill will be carried to the floor by the policy committee; committee leadership asked staff to identify a policy carrier for the bill.
