[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2073 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2073

  To authorize appropriations for the National Center for Missing and 
                          Exploited Children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 1998

  Mr. Hatch (for himself, Mr. DeWine, and Mr. Abraham) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize appropriations for the National Center for Missing and 
                          Exploited Children.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) For 14 years, the National Center for Missing and 
        Exploited Children (referred to in this section as the 
        ``Center'') 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.
            (2) Congress has given the Center, which is a private non-
        profit corporation, unique powers and resources, such as having 
        access to the National Crime Information Center of the Federal 
        Bureau of Investigation, and the National Law Enforcement 
        Telecommunications System.
            (3) 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''.
            (4) 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.
            (5) 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.
            (6) 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.
            (7) 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, helping to cause such results as a police 
        officer in Puerto Rico searching the Center's website and 
        working with the Center to identify and recover a child 
        abducted as an infant from her home in San Diego, California, 7 
        years earlier.
            (8) 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.
            (9) 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.
            (10) The Center is now playing a leading 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.
            (11) 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.
            (12) The Center was 1 of only 10 of 300 major national 
        charities given an A+ grade in 1997 by the American Institute 
        of Philanthropy.
            (13) In light of its impressive history, 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.
            (14) An official congressional authorization will increase 
        the level of scrutiny and oversight by Congress and continue 
        the Center's long partnership with the Department of Justice 
        and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
        of the Department of Justice.
            (15) The exemplary record of performance and success of the 
        Center, as exemplified by the fact that the Center's recovery 
        rate has climbed from 62 to 91 percent, justifies action by 
        Congress to formally recognize the National Center for Missing 
        and Exploited Children as the Nation's official missing and 
        exploited children's center, and to authorize a line-item 
        appropriation for the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
        Children in the Federal budget.

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

    (a) Grants.--The Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice shall annually 
make a grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
which shall be used to--
            (1) operate the official national resource center and 
        information clearinghouse for missing and exploited children;
            (2) provide to State and local governments, public and 
        private nonprofit agencies, and individuals, information 
        regarding--
                    (A) 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
                    (B) the existence and nature of programs being 
                carried out by Federal agencies to assist missing and 
                exploited children and their families;
            (3) coordinate public and private programs that locate, 
        recover, or reunite missing children with their families;
            (4) disseminate, on a national basis, information relating 
        to innovative and model programs, services, and legislation 
        that benefit missing and exploited children;
            (5) 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
            (6) provide assistance to families and law enforcement 
        agencies in locating and recovering missing and exploited 
        children, both nationally and internationally.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section, 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
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