Bill Text: HI HR8 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 8

Introduced

Bill Title: Urging The United States Department Of Justice To Include Hawaii In The Missing Or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-28 - Offered [HR8 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2025-HR8-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	8
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

urging the united states department of justice to INCLUDE HAWAII IN THE MISSING OR MURDERED INDIGENOUS PERSONS REGIONAL OUTREACH PROGRAM.

WHEREAS, indigenous persons, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, are frequently victims of violence; and

WHEREAS, the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center describes the high incidence of missing and murdered indigenous women as being part of a "spectrum of violence" that many indigenous women experience, including domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual violence; and

WHEREAS, according to the National Institute of Justice, there were eight hundred seventy-five missing indigenous persons cases in the United States as of July 2024; and

WHEREAS, in 2021, President Biden's Executive Order No. 14053 recognized the need to "address the crisis of ongoing violence against Native Americans - and of missing or murdered indigenous people"; and

WHEREAS, in response to the president's order, the United States Department of Justice established the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach program, to help prevent, solve, and prosecute missing or murdered indigenous person cases; and

WHEREAS, for purposes of the program, United States Attorneys' Offices in Alaska, Arizona, Eastern Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Western Michigan were each assigned five assistant United States Attorneys and five Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinators; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii has the eighth highest rate of missing persons per capita in the nation, with 7.5 missing persons per hundred thousand residents; and

WHEREAS, a disproportionate number of the missing persons in Hawaii are indigenous, specifically Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii would greatly benefit from dedicated federal resources to help address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous persons in the State; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2025, that the United States Department of Justice is requested to include Hawaii in the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the United States Attorney General and United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii.