Three bills focused on issues of importance to Nevada Natives will soon be introduced to the Senate, following approval to advance them and others by an Indian Affairs committee on Wednesday.
In a five-minute meeting, the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee moved 25 bills. Less than half of the committee’s bills would address tribal water rights issues.
Sen. Cathrine Cortez Masto (D-NV) sponsors one of those water rights bills. If passed, it would secure $5.1 million for the Shoshone-Paiute tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation for water-related expenses. The tribe is located in Nevada and Idaho, but in the town of Owyhee, Nev., the locals have been dealing with contamination issues for decades.
According to the Associated Press, the town’s soil and water were contaminated by mishandled toxic chemicals that were stored in Bureau of Indian Affairs buildings. Although now demolished, the buildings were less than a mile away from the Owyhee River.
The senator’s second bill aims to help efforts to locate missing or murdered Indigenous persons by bridging the gap between local and national databases. In the 2023 Nevada legislative session, state Assemblymember Shea Backus backed a similar bill that passed into law.
That legislation allows tribes to work with statewide agencies to accept missing persons reports about individuals 18 and up from reservations. There are currently 11 missing or murdered Indigenous people in Nevada, according to a state-funded website.
The last bill for Indigenous communities that Cortez Masto sponsored would reshape Indian Health Service (IHS) scholarships and restructure how loans are repaid.
In order for Indigenous communities to see the benefits of these bills, the Senate and House of Representatives would both need to agree to pass them. The bills’ next stop will be the Senate floor.
