Nevada (R) Governor Joe Lombardo is certainly showing his dedication to Nevada tribes. He has signed several bills concerning our Nevada Indigenous residents.
Bill AB125 allows any police officer in Nevada to accept a report of a missing Indigenous person. This bill drops the jurisdictional barriers, which allows the person to be entered into missing person registries in a timely manner. This law went into effect July 1.
Bill AB444 regards the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The ICWA keeps native children within their communities and tribes if they are removed from their home. The law was first enacted in 1978 after a study revealed that Indigenous children were disproportionately separated from their families by state child welfare and private adoption agencies.
The Elko County School district will be allocated $64.5 million for a new PK-12 school built on the Duck Valley Reservation. AB519 will allow a new state fund to pool proceeds to fund school building needs. The fund will be seeded with $50 million, and $25 million of that will be set aside for tribal schools.
Bill SB391 will finally silence the “sundown siren.” Minden, located 50 miles south of Reno, historically sounded a siren that warned Indigenous people to leave the area or face severe consequences. This racist act is finally a thing of the past.
It seems (R) Gov. Lombardo has been busy, signing 536 out of 611 introduced bills that have reached his desk alone in his 82nd legislative session, many of which have certainly helped our Nevada tribes.
Photo: Gabe Stern
