As people gathered around the Oklahoma Capitol to support victims and their families, Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed a bill tweaking a law he signed to help solve the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.
Ida's Law, signed by Stitt in 2021 with strong bipartisan support, was created to fill the gap between state, federal and tribal bureaus in MMIP investigations. It mandated that the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation create an office and hire liaisons dedicated to these cases through federal funding.
The OSBI was unable to secure this funding. Despite this, the office hired Special Agent Dale Fine and Josh Patzkowski to lead MMIP case efforts. The two even addressed a crowd of people rallying to commemorate Missing and Murdered Indigenous People's Day on the steps of the state Capitol on Monday.
Representative Ronald Stewart, D-Tulsa, aimed to change the federal funding requirement with House Bill 1137, which amended the language in the original bill to remove the federal funding requirement. That would mean the OSBI would receive direct funding for its MMIP office through the state.
The bill received almost unanimous support in the House and Senate, except for one "no" by Cherokee citizen Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, and landed on Stitt's desk on April 29.
In his veto message, Stitt wrote that he "cannot endorse legislation that singles out victims based solely on their race."
"Creating a separate office that prioritizes cases based on race undermines the principle of equal protection under the law and risks sending the message that some lives are more worthy of government attention than others," Stitt wrote.
Tribal leaders have expressed their disappointment in his decision.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement Stitt's decision was a show of his "breathtaking ignorance" in the face of a crisis.
"HB 1137, a bipartisan amendment to Ida's Law was a housekeeping measure designed to strip an unnecessary federal funding requirement," Hoskin said in the statement.. "Gov. Stitt's veto message, issues on a day we raise awareness across the country on MMIP issues, exposes that he lacks the foggiest idea that Ida's Law is on the books, what it does on a low budget cost high impact basis, or what the simple amendment was designed to do."
Oklahoma ranked second in the nation for MMIP cases in 2024. At that time, the state had 86 missing tribal members. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of the biggest barriers to solving these cases stems from a lack of resources and collaboration among law enforcement agencies.
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