Updates from the State-Tribal Relations Interim Committee Meeting

Mar 16, 2020

On March 5-6, the State-Tribal Relations Committee (STRC) met in Helena to discuss a wide variety of topics.

To quickly recap the importance of STRC, the 2001 Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 10, which established the STRC to:

  1. Act as a liaison with tribal governments,

  2. Encourage state-tribal and local government-tribal cooperation,

  3. Conduct interim studies, and

  4. Report its activities, findings, recommendations, and any proposed legislation.


In August 2019, the STRC adopted its work plan for the interim and outlined how it will carry out its statutory duties and assigned study. It also identified the topics the committee, as well as the tribal governments which the committee visits over the interim, has prioritized for discussion.

Last week, the STRC’s agenda covered a lot of territory. Highlights include:

MBPC’s team will continue to attend meetings, track STRC activity, and provide updates. It is our hope that the STRC take the information it continues to gather this interim to inform proposed legislation that works for Indian Country for the 2021 session.
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