In the House, Democrat and Choctaw Nation citizen Rep. Ronald Stewart filed three bills relating to tribal affairs.
House Bill 1137 relates to a statute passed in 2021 known as Ida’s Law, mandating the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation create a local liaison for Missing and Murdering Indigenous women through federal dollars. Notably, the funding was never secured. If passed, the language would remove the grant requirements.
Rep. Stewart is also asking for the state to protect Freedmen under Oklahoma law through House Bill 1118. If passed, tribes who do not grant fair and equal rights to their Freedmen citizens will lose any agreements, compacts and funds they possess with the state. Currently, the Cherokee Nation is the only tribe to grant full recognition of Freedmen.
Additionally, Stewart and Democratic Sen. Jo Anna Dossett have introduced similar measures, House Bill 1145 and Senate Bill 361, regarding the protection of alternative Indigenous health care practices, which outlines what care these practitioners can provide.
Republican Sen. Jack Stewart is asking for a harsher punishment regarding Oklahoma statute through Senate Bill 385. The original law prohibits any filing of ownership rights by an entity that has no proof of claim over land belonging to the Five Tribes and Osage Nation. If passed, the misdemeanor would have a $500 fine and up to a ninety-day imprisonment.
