[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2440 Engrossed Amendment Senate (EAS)]

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

                  In the Senate of the United States,

                         October 21 (legislative day, October 2), 1998.
      Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 
2440) entitled ``An Act to make technical amendments to section 10 of 
title 9, United States Code.'', do pass with the following

                               AMENDMENT:

    Page 2, after line 17 insert:

SEC. 2. NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN.

    (a) Findings.--Section 402 of the Missing Children's Assistance Act 
(42 U.S.C. 5771) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) for 14 years, the National Center for Missing and 
        Exploited Children has--
                    ``(A) served as the national resource center and 
                clearinghouse congressionally mandated under the 
                provisions of the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 
                1984; and
                    ``(B) worked in partnership with the Department of 
                Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
                Department of the Treasury, the Department of State, 
                and many other agencies in the effort to find missing 
                children and prevent child victimization;
            ``(10) Congress has given the Center, which is a private 
        non-profit corporation, access to the National Crime 
        Information Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and 
        the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System;
            ``(11) since 1987, the Center has operated the National 
        Child Pornography Tipline, in conjunction with the United 
        States Customs Service and the United States Postal Inspection 
        Service and, beginning this year, the Center established a new 
        CyberTipline on child exploitation, thus becoming `the 911 for 
        the Internet';
            ``(12) in light of statistics that time is of the essence 
        in cases of child abduction, the Director of the Federal Bureau 
        of Investigation in February of 1997 created a new NCIC child 
        abduction (`CA') flag to provide the Center immediate 
        notification in the most serious cases, resulting in 642 `CA' 
        notifications to the Center and helping the Center to have its 
        highest recovery rate in history;
            ``(13) the Center has established a national and 
        increasingly worldwide network, linking the Center online with 
        each of the missing children clearinghouses operated by the 50 
        States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as 
        with Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom, the Royal Canadian 
        Mounted Police, INTERPOL headquarters in Lyon, France, and 
        others, which has enabled the Center to transmit images and 
        information regarding missing children to law enforcement 
        across the United States and around the world instantly;
            ``(14) from its inception in 1984 through March 31, 1998, 
        the Center has--
                    ``(A) handled 1,203,974 calls through its 24-hour 
                toll-free hotline (1-800-THE-LOST) and currently 
                averages 700 calls per day;
                    ``(B) trained 146,284 law enforcement, criminal and 
                juvenile justice, and healthcare professionals in child 
                sexual exploitation and missing child case detection, 
                identification, investigation, and prevention;
                    ``(C) disseminated 15,491,344 free publications to 
                citizens and professionals; and
                    ``(D) worked with law enforcement on the cases of 
                59,481 missing children, resulting in the recovery of 
                40,180 children;
            ``(15) the demand for the services of the Center is growing 
        dramatically, as evidenced by the fact that in 1997, the Center 
        handled 129,100 calls, an all-time record, and by the fact that 
        its new Internet website (www.missingkids.com) receives 
        1,500,000 `hits' every day, and is linked with hundreds of 
        other websites to provide real-time images of breaking cases of 
        missing children;
            ``(16) in 1997, the Center provided policy training to 256 
        police chiefs and sheriffs from 50 States and Guam at its new 
        Jimmy Ryce Law Enforcement Training Center;
            ``(17) the programs of the Center have had a remarkable 
        impact, such as in the fight against infant abductions in 
        partnership with the healthcare industry, during which the 
        Center has performed 668 onsite hospital walk-throughs and 
        inspections, and trained 45,065 hospital administrators, 
        nurses, and security personnel, and thereby helped to reduce 
        infant abductions in the United States by 82 percent;
            ``(18) the Center is now playing a significant role in 
        international child abduction cases, serving as a 
        representative of the Department of State at cases under The 
        Hague Convention, and successfully resolving the cases of 343 
        international child abductions, and providing greater support 
        to parents in the United States;
            ``(19) the Center is a model of public/private partnership, 
        raising private sector funds to match congressional 
        appropriations and receiving extensive private in-kind support, 
        including advanced technology provided by the computer industry 
        such as imaging technology used to age the photographs of long-
        term missing children and to reconstruct facial images of 
        unidentified deceased children;
            ``(20) the Center was 1 of only 10 of 300 major national 
        charities given an A+ grade in 1997 by the American Institute 
        of Philanthropy; and
            ``(21) the Center has been redesignated as the Nation's 
        missing children clearinghouse and resource center once every 3 
        years through a competitive selection process conducted by the 
        Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the 
        Department of Justice, and has received grants from that Office 
        to conduct the crucial purposes of the Center.''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 403 of the Missing Children's Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 5772) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) the term `Center' means the National Center for 
        Missing and Exploited Children.''.
    (c) Duties and Functions of the Administrator.--Section 404 of the 
Missing Children's Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5773) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Annual Grant to National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator shall annually make a 
        grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
        Children, which shall be used to--
                    ``(A)(i) operate a national 24-hour toll-free 
                telephone line by which individuals may report 
                information regarding the location of any missing 
                child, or other child 13 years of age or younger whose 
                whereabouts are unknown to such child's legal 
                custodian, and request information pertaining to 
                procedures necessary to reunite such child with such 
                child's legal custodian; and
                    ``(ii) coordinate the operation of such telephone 
                line with the operation of the national communications 
                system referred to in part C of the Runaway and 
                Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5714-11);
                    ``(B) operate the official national resource center 
                and information clearinghouse for missing and exploited 
                children;
                    ``(C) provide to State and local governments, 
                public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals, 
                information regarding--
                            ``(i) free or low-cost legal, restaurant, 
                        lodging, and transportation services that are 
                        available for the benefit of missing and 
                        exploited children and their families; and
                            ``(ii) the existence and nature of programs 
                        being carried out by Federal agencies to assist 
                        missing and exploited children and their 
                        families;
                    ``(D) coordinate public and private programs that 
                locate, recover, or reunite missing children with their 
                families;
                    ``(E) disseminate, on a national basis, information 
                relating to innovative and model programs, services, 
                and legislation that benefit missing and exploited 
                children;
                    ``(F) provide technical assistance and training to 
                law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, 
                elements of the criminal justice system, public and 
                private nonprofit agencies, and individuals in the 
                prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment 
                of cases involving missing and exploited children; and
                    ``(G) provide assistance to families and law 
                enforcement agencies in locating and recovering missing 
                and exploited children, both nationally and 
                internationally.
            ``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this 
        subsection, $8,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, 
        2001, 2002, and 2003.
    ``(c) National Incidence Studies.--The Administrator, either by 
making grants to or entering into contracts with public agencies or 
nonprofit private agencies, shall--
            ``(1) periodically conduct national incidence studies to 
        determine for a given year the actual number of children 
        reported missing each year, the number of children who are 
        victims of abduction by strangers, the number of children who 
        are the victims of parental kidnapings, and the number of 
        children who are recovered each year; and
            ``(2) provide to State and local governments, public and 
        private nonprofit agencies, and individuals information to 
        facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth 
        certificates to identify and locate missing children.''.
    (d) National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.--Section 
405(a) of the Missing Children's Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5775(a)) is 
amended by inserting ``the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children and with'' before ``public agencies'',
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 408 of the Missing 
Children's Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5777) is amended by striking 
``1997 through 2001'' and inserting ``1999 through 2003''.
    (f) Repeal of Obsolete Reporting Requirements.--Section 409 of the 
Missing Children's Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5778) is repealed.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
105th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2440

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                               AMENDMENT