A bill that Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed could have made it easier for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to get state funding for work on missing and murdered Indigenous cases after the agency struggled for years to secure federal money.
Ida’s Law, signed by Stitt in 2021, mandated the creation of an Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The bill was intended to provide more resources and coordination between law enforcement on cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Oklahoma had the third-most missing Native American cases in the nation in January, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
But creating the new office depended on the State Bureau of Investigation getting federal funding, which has never materialized.
For three years, two special agents were instead assigned to work Native cases and coordinate with state and tribal offices in addition to their other responsibilities, a spokesman for the agency said.
The agency shifted agent responsibilities to make those positions focused full-time on Indigenous cases in 2024 without additional state funding.
“We had come to the conclusion that we needed to do what we could to assist more with those [Missing and Murdered Indigenous People] cases,” said Hunter McKee, the spokesman.
McKee also said the agency is hoping to add more agents to that effort.
A bill introduced this session by Rep. Ronald Stewart, D-Tulsa, would have cut mentions of federal funding in Ida’s Law.
A fiscal analysis of the bill found that the measure was not expected to have a significant impact on state appropriations.
But the governor vetoed the legislation on May 5. Stitt said in his veto message that resources and investigative efforts should be deployed “based on the needs of the case, not the identity of the victim.”
Stitt went on to say on Twitter that Stewart’s bill would have asked the state to fund the State Bureau of Investigation’s missing and murdered Indigenous people initiative instead of the federal government.
The State Bureau of Investigation has always been able to use state funds to support its work on missing and murdered Indigenous cases, but the measure would have clarified that in statute, the bill’s author said. He also said nothing in his bill would have stopped OSBI from continuing to seek federal dollars.
The State Bureau of Investigation still doesn’t have a designated office for cases involving missing and murdered Native Americans as described in Ida’s Law, said Dale Fine, a special agent at OSBI. But Fine, who’s a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, said he and one other agent are now able to spend more time on Native cases and outreach to tribal partners.
The OSBI agents are part of a patchwork for working cases that includes local law enforcement and volunteer groups across the state, and Fine said they provide support where needed.
OSBI can typically only help with investigations if asked to by law enforcement or certain elected officials. Fine said OSBI agents can handle full investigations, or help out with certain aspects like analyzing a crime scene or performing polygraph tests.
The agency can also offer support to volunteer groups who help work cases involving missing or murdered Native Americans, he said.
Karrisa Newkirk said her Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women volunteer network covers the state and works directly with families to distribute information on missing Native Americans. The group can act as liaisons between the families and law enforcement and also help fundraise and plan funerals if a loved one is found dead.
“It’s exhausting and it’s emotional, and we get so intertwined with these families that we cry with them,” Newkirk said. “Like you’re so invested that you are emotionally invested. And so it’s a lot, but when you know that your people are in trouble, there’s really nothing else that you wouldn’t do for them.”
Newkirk said her organization is funded mostly through grants and community donations. She’s concerned about potential funding cuts. Her group applied for multiple federal grants, but Newkirk said it hasn’t gotten any updates.
The Trump administration has proposed sweeping cuts to core tribal programs.
The White House unveiled a fiscal year 2026 budget request earlier this month that proposes cutting $107 million in funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ public safety and justice programs. The agency’s Office of Justice Services includes a Missing and Murdered Unit that reviews unsolved cases and works with tribal and federal investigators.
It’s taken years of advocacy to create designated offices for those cases on a state and federal level, said Christa McClellan, the president of a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People group in central Oklahoma. She said those resources face an uncertain future, which could present more work for groups like hers.
“We know that it can either get worse or it can get better, and we just try our best to stay ready no matter what,” McClellan said.