releases: https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=EE552A51-E9AE-4DAA-A942-14C1DE7D2371
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=EE552A51-E9AE-4DAA-A942-14C1DE7D2371 | U.S. Senate Passes Heitkamps Savannas Act to Shed Light on Nationwide Epidemic of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women | 2018-12-06 | 2018 | 2018-12 | Democrat | House | ND | Heidi Heitkamp | H001069 | www.heitkamp.senate.gov | legacy | Heitkamp Named the Legislation in Memory of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, Who Was Tragically Killed Last Year in North Dakota WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp announced that the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to pass Savanna's Act, a landmark bill she introduced to help address the epidemic of missing and murdered Native American women. On some reservations, Native women are murdered at ten times the national average, and 84 percent of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. In 2016, North Dakota had 125 reported cases of missing Native women according to the National Crime Information Center, but numbers are likely much higher as cases are often under reported and data isn't officially collected. Named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who was abducted and tragically killed last year in Fargo, Savanna's Act builds on a bill Heitkamp and former U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced and got signed into law to expand Amber alert warnings in Indian Country where such alerts often do not exist to help stop abductions. The Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on Savanna's Act after Heitkamp introduced it last fall. When I introduced this bill last year, I wanted to honor the memory of Savanna and spark a nationwide call to action against the growing crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. For tar too long, this crisis in our Native American communities has been unnoticed, ignored, and unreported, said Heitkamp. Today's unanimous passage of Savanna's Act in the U.S. Senate is a major step in raising awareness about this growing epidemic. By improving tribal access to federal law enforcement databases, we are protecting some of our most vulnerable citizens and putting guidelines in place to potentially save lives. And as we remember the life of Savanna and the unimaginable pain of those eight days of friends and family searching for her, this legislation will help law enforcement agencies better collect and maintain data on those missing and help our criminal justice system take stronger action against those who traffic in exploitation, abuse, and murder. When I first came to the U.S. Senate, one of my top priorities was to build stronger and safer futures for kids across North Dakota's reservationsand earlier this year, I was proud to watch my AMBER Alert in Indian County Act become law. With Savanna's Act moving one step closer to being signed into law, I hope my colleagues will take up this mantle and continue to fight for legislative action that protects all women and children and promotes safety and healing across Indian Country. And the U.S. House should immediately pass my bill. In October 2017, Heitkamp spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate as she introduced Savanna's Act, where she shared the stories from families of missing and murdered Native women. Click here to watch her full remarks. And in November 2017, Heitkamp launched a social media campaign using #NotInvisible to raise awareness about the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and bring it out of the shadows. Last month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs voted to advance Savanna's Act just as a report from the Urban Indian Health Institute found extensive underreporting and shortcomings in understanding the crisis, reinforcing the need for urgency and broadened awareness to address it. Heitkamp helped unveil the Urban Indian Health Institute report at a press conference in Washington, D.C. The report revealed significant challenges in collecting data on the total number of missing or murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives residing off-reservation and outside rural villages. Click here for statements of support for Savanna's Act from United Tribes of North Dakota, National Congress of American Indians, and other tribal chairmen and leaders across North Dakota. Specifically, Savanna's Act would: Improve data on tribal victims by requiring the Department of Justice to: provide training to law enforcement agencies to record tribal enrollment information or affiliation in crime information databases; raise awareness about the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, including conducting specific outreach to Tribes; and annually report known statistics on missing and murdered Native Americans and recommendations on how to improve data collection. Improve tribal access to crime information databases by requiring the Attorney General to consult and solicit recommendations from Tribes on improved access to local, regional, state, and federal crime information databases and criminal justice information systems during the annual consultations mandated under the Violence Against Women Act. Create locally developed guidelines for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans. Click here for a fact sheet on the legislation. Last year, Heitkamp also launched a website with key resources and information on missing and murdered indigenous women, including offering steps to take if you know or suspect a person has gone missing by force. Background Heitkamp has long worked to stop violence, exploitation, and trafficking of Native women and children by: Combating human trafficking in Indian Country. Heitkamp held an initial Senate hearing in September 2013 on stopping human trafficking with a focus on Indian Country. She has worked closely with Cindy McCain, a global leader in the effort to stop human trafficking. McCain testified at a Senate hearing earlier this month on human trafficking in Indian Country and highlighted Heitkamp's work on the issue. In 2015, Heitkamp brought Cindy McCain to Fort Berthold, to talk about how to combat human trafficking. In September, Heitkamp called for federal agencies and organizations to provide specific training on human trafficking to federal government employees in Indian Country. Heitkamp also played a key role in passing bipartisan legislation in 2015 to fight human trafficking, and introduced multiple other bills on the issue. Calling for a permanent federal law enforcement presence in Indian Country. When she served as North Dakota's Attorney General and now as a U.S. senator, Heitkamp has worked to raise awareness about the need for a permanent federal law enforcement presence across Indian Country. In 2016, she brought then-Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James B. Comey to Fort Berthold to press him on the issue. Just a few weeks ago, Heitkamp spoke with the current FBI director about law enforcement challenges in Indian Country and pressed the agency to make these issues a priority. Protecting Native women from violence. In the U.S. Senate, Heitkamp has built on her work as North Dakota's Attorney General to combat domestic violence. The first bill she cosponsored was the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which she then played a major role in passing in 2013. Heitkamp worked to include a key provision in the bill to address the continuing crisis of violence against women in tribal communities. The provision strengthens the existing programs and provides tribal governments the force they need to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators who commit these crimes on tribal land. Keeping communities strong and safe. Through herStrong & Safe Communities Initiative, which Heitkamplaunchedin September 2014, she has worked to address the emerging challenges in North Dakota as a result of the state's population boom, including crime, exploitation, and trafficking issues in Indian Country. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |