[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1263 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1263

 To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal buildings 
                   when a child is reported missing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 13, 2003

 Mr. Acevedo-Vila (for himself, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Foley, Ms. Velazquez, 
  Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Frost, Mr. 
 Wicker, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Chabot, 
 Mr. Shuster, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Boehlert, Mrs. Christensen, Ms. Jackson-
Lee of Texas, and Mr. Duncan) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in 
    addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal buildings 
                   when a child is reported missing.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Code Adam Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) ``Code Adam'' is a protocol used as a preventive tool 
        against child abductions and lost children in certain public 
        buildings and commercial establishments across the Nation.
            (2) ``Code Adam'' was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart 
        retail stores, which developed this protocol as a child-safety 
        program to find a child who has been kidnapped or is merely 
        lost in a public place.
            (3) This protocol was named in memory of 6-year-old Adam 
        Walsh, who was murdered after being kidnapped from a Florida 
        shopping mall in 1981, an event that brought the horror of 
        child abduction to national attention.
            (4) ``Code Adam'' has proven extremely successful in 
        thwarting many attempted abductions through the issuance of a 
        ``Code Adam'' alert in commercial establishments, and it 
        continues to be implemented in stores across the country with 
        the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
        Children.
            (5) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the only 
        jurisdiction that has approved an Act to adopt the ``Code 
        Adam'' in government buildings.

SEC. 3. PROCEDURES IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS REGARDING A MISSING OR LOST 
              CHILD.

    (a) In General.--On and after the 180th day after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, each Federal building that is open to the public 
shall have in place procedures described in subsection (b) for locating 
a child who is missing in a Federal building.
    (b) Notification and Search Procedures.--The head, Director, 
Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection (c), respectively, 
shall direct employees to assist any parent, guardian, or teacher whose 
child is missing in a Federal building by instituting and enforcing 
procedures that include the following:
            (1) Obtaining a detailed description of the child.--When a 
        parent, tutor, or guardian notifies any employee of a Federal 
        building that his/her child is lost, such employee shall obtain 
        from the parent, tutor, or guardian, a detailed description of 
        the child, including the name, age, color of eyes and hair, 
        height, weight, and clothing description, particularly the 
        shoes the child was wearing. Such employee shall--
                    (A) alert designated employees via a fast and 
                effective means of communication that ``Code Adam'' has 
                been activated;
                    (B) furnish a detailed description of the child 
                according to the information provided by the parent, 
                tutor, or guardian; and
                    (C) provide the telephone number or extension from 
                which the alert is made.
            (2) Identification of child.--The employee shall escort the 
        parent, tutor, or guardian to the main door of the Federal 
        building to help in identifying the child, while designated 
        employees stop their normal work to search for the child.
            (3) Monitoring exists.--Employees designated by the head, 
        Director, Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection 
        (c), respectively, shall monitor all building exits to 
        ascertain that the child does not leave the building without 
        the parent, tutor, or guardian.
            (4) Building egress.--Any person leaving through any of the 
        Federal building exits accompanied by a child shall be asked to 
        go through the main exit previously designated by the head, 
        Director, Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection 
        (c), respectively. If once there, the person insists on leaving 
        the Federal building, the person shall be allowed to do so once 
        it has been determined that the child who is leaving is not the 
        one being searched for and such person presumed to be the 
parent, tutor, or guardian, presents a government issued photo 
identification.
            (5) Local law enforcement.--Contacting local law 
        enforcement agencies if a child is not found during the search. 
        After the activation of ``Code Adam'' has been announced, 
        designated employees shall search throughout the entire Federal 
        building, and 2 or more of them, as may be considered 
        necessary, shall be assigned to each floor to certify that the 
        child is not there. The search shall include any parking lots 
        used for such building. No other employees shall be compelled 
        to participate in the search.
            (6) Broad notification.--If the child is not found within a 
        10-minute period, a designated employee shall call the 9-1-1 
        emergency phone number and report the situation so that state 
        or local security or emergency personnel may be immediately 
        deployed to the site. A designated employee shall also notify 
        the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
            (7) Report.--Upon completion of the protocol, designated 
        employees shall inform the head, Director, Commission, and 
        Committee referred to in subsection (c), and other designated 
        employees that the ``Code Adam'' has ended. The head, Director, 
        Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection (c), 
        respectively, shall prepare a report of the incident, which 
        shall be kept in the administrative files for a term of not 
        less than 3 years.
    (c) Enforcement.--
            (1) Executive branch buildings.--The head of each Executive 
        agency shall issue regulations, and take such other actions as 
        may be necessary, to institute and enforce the procedures 
        contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply to Federal 
        buildings owned or leased for use by the Executive Agency.
            (2) Judicial branch buildings.--The Director of the 
        Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall take 
        such actions as may be necessary to institute and enforce the 
        procedures contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply 
        to Federal buildings owned or leased for use by an 
        establishment in the judicial branch of the Government.
            (3) Legislative branch buildings.--
                    (A) House of representatives.--The House Office 
                Building Commission shall take such actions as may be 
                necessary to institute and enforce the procedures 
                contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply to 
                Federal buildings owned or leased for use by the House 
                of Representatives.
                    (B) Senate.--The Committee on Rules and 
                Administration of the Senate shall take such actions as 
                may be necessary to institute and enforce the 
                procedures contained in subsection (b) as such 
                procedures apply to Federal buildings owned or leased 
                for use by the Senate.
                    (C) Other establishments.--The head of each 
                establishment in the legislative branch of the 
                Government (other than the House of Representatives and 
                the Senate) shall take such actions as may be necessary 
                to institute and enforce the procedures contained in 
                subsection (b) as such procedures apply to Federal 
                buildings owned or leased for use by the establishment.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Executive agency.--The term ``Executive agency'' has 
        the same meaning such term has under section 105 of title 5, 
        United States Code.
            (2) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' means any 
        Executive agency and any establishment in the legislative or 
        judicial branches of the Government.
            (3) Federal building.--The term ``Federal building'' means 
        any building or other structure (or portion thereof) owned or 
        leased for use by a Federal agency; except that such term does 
        not include any building or other structure on a military 
        installation or any area of a building that is used primarily 
        as living quarters.
            (4) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual who is 
        17 years of age or younger.
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