Members of Montana’s American Indian Caucus say the 2025 legislative session may have been the group’s most successful yet.

The state’s American Indian Caucus is an organized group of about a dozen Native American lawmakers who work together to advance legislation they say is good for Indian Country, guided by the principle that what’s good for tribal communities is good for Montana as a whole. In the Republican dominated Legislature, the mostly Democratic caucus operates as a minority within a minority. The group, then, must work across the aisle to advance priority bills or kill legislation they say is harmful.

In an April caucus meeting, Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, who chairs the group, said this year was “the most productive American Indian Caucus I’ve ever been part of.”

Rep. Thedis Crowe, a freshman lawmaker from Browning, at a May town hall event said the caucus “became a force to be reckoned with.”

After a decade of trying, caucus members made history this year when they successfully advanced legislation establishing Indigenous Peoples Day as a state-recognized holiday. The caucus passed legislation that extends the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act, bolsters the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Advisory Council and establishes financial accountability mechanisms for the state’s commitment to Native American education. One new law, supported by most caucus members, offers a path towards resolving a long-standing law enforcement dispute between the state, Lake County and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

In a victory for the American Indian Caucus, Montana’s Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte also signed a law that continues Montana’s Medicaid expansion program. A 2025 Montana Healthcare Foundation report found that Medicaid expansion improved access to care in Indian Country. It also revealed that about 13,000 to 18,000 Native Americans in the state would be uninsured without the expansion program. Another new law will allow licensed doulas to bill Medicaid for their services, which supporters say could improve maternal and child health outcomes, particularly in rural and tribal areas.

And while it has not yet been signed into law, House Bill 2, which determines the state’s budget, includes several new investments for Indian Country — a historic increase in funding for tribal colleges and money to support repatriation efforts at University of Montana. The governor could issue line-item vetoes in that bill when he acts on it.

Caucus members attributed some of their success to the makeup of the Legislature this year. While Republicans held a supermajority in the 2023 session, margins this year were slimmer. GOP infighting, caucus members told Montana Free Press and ICT, also contributed to some of the group’s early achievements. Chaos plagued the Senate this legislative session, with former Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and current Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, at the center of two scandals. After a dispute regarding committee assignments, a group of nine moderate Republican senators began voting with Democrats on some issues, at times to the benefit of American Indian Caucus priorities.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, told MTFP in March that dynamics in the Senate made it easier for caucus members to work across the aisle with moderate Republicans. Rep. Donavon Hawk, D-Butte and vice-chair of the caucus, said Republican turmoil meant that more lawmakers who needed support for their bills approached American Indian Caucus members.

“You know, we had some Republican legislators in here asking for support for their legislation, which, you know, I didn’t ever think I’d see,” he said in an April caucus meeting.

American Indian Caucus wins

Though similar legislation failed last legislative session, this year Senate Bill 311 — which aims to improve lawmakers’ understanding of state-tribal relations — became law May 8.

The bill, brought by Sen. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, makes available to lawmakers an optional educational training on topics like Indian law, the history of federal Indian policy and the legal rights of tribal members. The law, effective July 1, requires the state director of Indian affairs, a position within the governor’s office, to provide information and training to lawmakers.

In his testimony, Morigeau said not all lawmakers know about tribes or their unique sovereign political status. Educational opportunities, he argued, could help lawmakers make more informed decisions.

“All I want is the Legislature to be afforded the opportunity to learn about tribal-state relations and know the tribal nations that are here,” he said in a March committee hearing.

After a similar bill failed in 2023, Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, successfully carried Senate Bill 303, which requires state agencies to report on certain financial assistance. While tribes receive funds from the federal government, that money sometimes flows through state agencies, which are charged with disbursing it. Windy Boy said he wanted to require state agencies to submit publicly available financial reports on those funds to bring accountability and transparency to that process.

Caucus members also helped defeat House Bill 216, which would have allowed the Fish and Wildlife Commission to issue deer and elk hunting licenses to private landowners on the Flathead Reservation. While supporters argued they should be able to hunt their own land, tribal leaders and caucus members said the bill would violate treaty rights and jeopardize state-tribal relations.

Lawmakers tabled HB 216 after its first committee debate on a 17-3 vote.

Moments of contention

Some of the caucus’ biggest battles this session surrounded the reinstatement of a position within the state health department.

When a long-time employee who served as tribal relations manager retired in 2023, the department quietly eliminated the position. Tribes have since pushed for the reinstatement of the role, saying it’s critical they have a point of contact in the department to ensure tribes have a say in important health policy decisions. American Indian Caucus members this session pushed lawmakers to reestablish the role, through proposed legislation and in meetings with state health department officials. State health department leaders, however, argued that the tribal relations position was duplicative of other roles. While lawmakers ultimately added an amendment to the state budget bill indicating support for reestablishing the role, the amendment does not have funding attached and the decision will ultimately be up to the state health department.

Two bills recently signed into law by Gianforte to allow uranium and nuclear storage facilities in the state also signify places where the caucus’ power didn’t extend.

Rep. Jade Sooktis, D-Lame Deer, Northern Cheyenne, said both policies could harm the Northern Cheyenne community. In an April letter to Montana senators, Northern Cheyenne President Gene Small condemned the House Bill 696 and House Bill 623, saying neither bill “acknowledges or recognizes the sovereignty of Montana’s federally recognized tribes.”

“Historically, American Indians have experienced a disproportionate impact from uranium mining, processing and storage near their lands,” Small wrote. “When such facilities are sited in or near tribal communities, those communities should have a say in whether or not such facilities are desirable.”

Proposed amendments to the bills that would’ve required tribal consultation ultimately failed.

While caucus members successfully extended the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act, they opposed several other child welfare bills they said would harm Indian Country.

House Bill 655, brought by Rep. Greg Oblander, R-Billings, prohibits religious discrimination against individuals who provide adoption or foster care services. Supporters said the bill would allow more people to become foster and adoptive parents. American Indian Caucus members, however, argued the legislation would allow foster parents to override the belief system of a child and their biological parents. They also said the bill could compromise Montana’s Indian Child Welfare Act, which generally prioritizes Native families and tribes in certain adoption proceedings.

Windy Boy stood twice to speak against the bill in an April Senate debate and was stopped from speaking out a third time due to rules of decorum. He argued the legislation was unconstitutional and harkened back to the boarding school era where Indigenous children were taken from their parents and forced to attend government run Christian boarding schools.

“Lot of those kids had no choices,” he said. “The parents had no choices. But yet at the same time, those kids were spanked. They were abused. Mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse. Is that the kind of system that we’re going to continue pushing in this era? I should hope not.”

Despite caucus opposition, Gianforte signed HB 655 into law May 1.

Key players

Windy Boy, a citizen of the Chippewa Cree Tribe who has served in the Legislature for 22 years, was one of the most effective caucus members in the session that adjourned in late April session, with seven of his 11 proposed bills passing both the House and Senate.

Webber joked at a caucus meeting that Windy Boy must use some kind of “Cree magic” to get his bills across the finish line. But Windy Boy said his strategy has always been to work across the aisle. This session, he said he worked with the nine moderate Republicans to advance priority legislation.

“Got to know how to work the system,” he told Montana Free Press and ICT in April. “I learned early on how to get stuff passed. I target those potential allies that can do it.”

Windy Boy, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2003, will serve as dean of the Senate next session, an honorary title for the longest-serving member.

What’s next?

Two American Indian Caucus members will retire this year — Rep. Frank Smith, D-Poplar, who was first elected to the Legislature in 1999, and Webber, who has served in the body for 10 years.

In a goodbye speech on the Senate floor, Webber said her experience in the Legislature was “exhilarating and at times exasperating.”

“I’m so glad to turn this over to our young guns here,” she said. “I know we’re leaving our good caucus in good hands.”

In the interim, caucus members said they plan to focus on legislation that improves education, child welfare and health care. While the caucus advanced several priority bills this session, Hawk said other legislation passed without tribal consultation.

“That was one thing that really hit me this session,” he said. “So there’s a lot more to do.”

(This story is co-published by Montana Free Press and ICT, a news partnership that covers the Montana American Indian Caucus during the state’s 2025 legislative session.)

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