The Oklahoma legislature overrode Gov. Kevin Stitt's veto on a bill allowing state funding for the OSBI's Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons on Thursday.
The Oklahoma House of Representatives overrode the veto on House Bill 1137 91-1, while the Oklahoma Senate rejected it 40-4.
State Rep. Ronald Stewart, D-Tulsa, who authored HB 1137, released a press statement celebrating the override.
"This vote is more than a legislative victory – it is a moral affirmation that missing and murdered Indigenous persons will not be forgotten or ignored in Oklahoma," Stewart wrote. "I want to especially thank the families, advocates, and tribal leaders who have fought tirelessly to ensure this moment became possible. Your voices were heard."
Members of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma wrote they were grateful for the bipartisan support. Margo Gray, executive director of UINO, said the bill was important due to Oklahoma's number of open MMIP cases.
The state had 86 missing tribal members in January 2024, ranking second in the nation, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
"The MMIP crisis is not just a Native issue, it's an Oklahoma issue … we now look forward to working with the OSBI and our partners in law enforcement and Tribal communities to ensure this office is fully resourced and operational and that families finally get the answers they deserve," Gray wrote in a press release.
The office was created by Ida's Law, which Stitt signed in 2021. However, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was unable to secure federal funding included in the measure's language. This meant it was unable to formally open. Instead, the OSBI hired two special agents to oversee MMIP cases.
House Bill 1137 allows the Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons to be established through state funding, though the source of that money remains unclear.
Both chambers approved HB 1137 earlier this year. Most of the Senate and House voted in favor of it.
Stitt then vetoed the bill on May 6, when Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day was observed at the Capitol. He said allocating an office to MMIP would be discriminatory.
Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. called out Stitt's decision to veto the bill on May 6 in a statement released Friday.
"The Governor's decision to veto the Ida's law amendment – both his shifting and flimsy reasoning and timing to coincide with national MMIP Awareness Day – was as heartless as it was thoughtless," Hoskin wrote. "Thankfully, the legislature did the right thing, and turned this meaningful act into law."
The bill will become effective in November.
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