[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5230 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.5230

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two


                                 An Act


 
   To increase accessibility to the National Missing and Unidentified 
 Persons System, to facilitate data sharing between such system and the 
  National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of 
                 Investigation, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Billy's Law'' or the ``Help Find the 
Missing Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS 
SYSTEM.
    (a) In General.--The Attorney General, shall maintain the 
``National Missing and Unidentified Persons System'' or ``NamUs'', 
consistent with the following:
        (1) The NamUs shall be a national information clearinghouse and 
    resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person 
    cases across the United States administered by the National 
    Institute of Justice and managed through an agreement with an 
    eligible entity.
        (2) The NamUs shall coordinate or provide--
            (A) online database technology which serves as a national 
        information clearinghouse to help expedite case associations 
        and resolutions;
            (B) various free-of-charge forensic services to aid in the 
        identification of missing persons and unidentified remains;
            (C) investigative support for criminal justice efforts to 
        help missing and unidentified person case resolutions;
            (D) technical assistance for family members of missing 
        persons;
            (E) assistance and training by coordinating State and local 
        service providers in order to support individuals and families 
        impacted by the loss or disappearance of a loved one; and
            (F) training and outreach from NamUs subject matter 
        experts, including assistance with planning and facilitating 
        Missing Person Day events across the country.
    (b) Permissible Use of Funds.--
        (1) In general.--The permissible use of funds awarded under 
    this section for the implementation and maintenance of the 
    agreement created in subparagraph (a)(1) include the use of funds--
            (A) to hire additional personnel to provide case support 
        and perform other core NamUs functions;
            (B) to develop new technologies to facilitate timely data 
        entry into the relevant data bases;
            (C) to conduct contracting activities relevant to core 
        NamUs services;
            (D) to provide forensic analyses to support the 
        identification of missing and unidentified persons, to include, 
        but not limited to DNA typing, forensic odontology, fingerprint 
        examination, and forensic anthropology;
            (E) to train State, local, and Tribal law enforcement 
        personnel and forensic medicine service providers to use NamUs 
        resources and best practices for the investigation of missing 
        and unidentified person cases;
            (F) to assist States in providing information to the NCIC 
        database, the NamUs database, or any future database system for 
        missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases;
            (G) to report to law enforcement authorities in the 
        jurisdiction in which the remains were found information on 
        every deceased, unidentified person, regardless of age;
            (H) to participate in Missing Person Days and other events 
        to directly support family members of the missing with NamUs 
        case entries and DNA collections;
            (I) to provide assistance and training by coordinating 
        State and local service providers in order to support 
        individuals and families;
            (J) to conduct data analytics and research projects for the 
        purpose of enhancing knowledge, best practices, and training 
        related to missing and unidentified person cases, as well as 
        developing NamUs system enhancements;
            (K) to create and maintain a secure, online, nationwide 
        critical incident response tool for professionals that will 
        connect law enforcement, medico-legal and emergency management 
        professionals, as well as victims and families during a 
        critical incident; and
            (L) for other purposes consistent with the goals of this 
        section.
    (c) Amendments to the Crime Control Act of 1990 to Require Reports 
of Missing Children to NamUs.--
        (1) Reporting requirement.--Section 3701(a) of the Crime 
    Control Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 41307(a)) is amended by striking the 
    period and inserting the following: ``and, consistent with section 
    3 (including rules promulgated pursuant to section 3(c)) of the 
    Help Find the Missing Act, shall also report such case, either 
    directly or through authorization described in such section to 
    transmit, enter, or share information on such case, to the NamUs 
    databases.''.
        (2) State requirements.--Section 3702 of the Crime Control Act 
    of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 41308) is amended--
            (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``or the National Crime 
        Information Center computer database'' and inserting ``, the 
        National Crime Information Center computer database, or the 
        NamUs databases'';
            (B) in the matter following paragraph (3), by striking 
        ``and the National Crime Information Center computer networks'' 
        and inserting ``, the National Crime Information Center 
        computer networks, and the NamUs databases''; and
            (C) in paragraph (4)--
                (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
            inserting ``or the NamUs databases'' after ``National Crime 
            Information Center''; and
                (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and National 
            Crime Information Center computer networks'' and inserting 
            ``, National Crime Information Center computer networks, 
            and the NamUs databases''.
        (3) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection 
    shall apply with respect to reports made before, on, or after the 
    date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. INFORMATION SHARING.
    (a) Access to NCIC.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall, in accordance with 
this section, provide access to the NCIC Missing Person and 
Unidentified Person Files to the National Institute of Justice or its 
designee administering the NamUs program as a grantee or contractor, 
for the purpose of reviewing missing and unidentified person records in 
NCIC for case validation and NamUs data reconciliation.
    (b) Electronic Data Sharing.--Not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall, in 
accordance with this section, have completed an assessment of the NCIC 
and NamUs system architectures and governing statutes, policies, and 
procedures and provide a proposed plan for the secure and automatic 
data transmission of missing and unidentified person records that are 
reported to and entered into the NCIC database, with the following 
criteria, to be electronically transmitted to the NamUs system.
        (1) Missing Person cases with an MNP (Missing Person) code of 
    CA (Child Abduction) or AA (Amber Alert) within 72 hours of entry 
    into NCIC;
        (2) Missing Person cases with an MNP code EME (Endangered) or 
    EMI (Involuntary) within 30 days of entry into NCIC;
        (3) All other Missing Person cases that have been active (non-
    cancelled) in NCIC for 180 days;
        (4) Unidentified person cases that have been active (non-
    cancelled) in NCIC for 60 days;
        (5) Once case data are transmitted to NamUs, cases are marked 
    as such within NCIC, and any updates to such cases will be 
    transmitted to NamUs within 24 hours.
    (c) Rules on Confidentiality.--
        (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
    enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation with 
    the Director of the FBI, shall promulgate rules pursuant to notice 
    and comment that specify the information the Attorney General may 
    allow NamUs to access from the NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified 
    Person files or be transmitted from the NCIC database to the NamUs 
    databases for purposes of this Act. Such rules shall--
            (A) provide for the protection of confidential, private, 
        and law enforcement sensitive information contained in the NCIC 
        Missing Person and Unidentified Person files; and
            (B) specify the circumstances in which access to portions 
        of information in the Missing Person and Unidentified Person 
        files may be withheld from the NamUs databases.
SEC. 4. REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.
    Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Attorney General shall issue a report to offices of forensic 
medicine service providers, and Federal, State, local, and Tribal law 
enforcement agencies describing the best practices for the collection, 
reporting, and analysis of data and information on missing persons and 
unidentified human remains. Such best practices shall--
        (1) provide an overview of the NCIC database and NamUs 
    databases;
        (2) describe how local law enforcement agencies, and offices of 
    forensic medicine service providers should access and use the NCIC 
    database and NamUs databases;
        (3) describe the appropriate and inappropriate uses of the NCIC 
    database and NamUs databases; and
        (4) describe the standards and protocols for the collection, 
    reporting, and analysis of data and information on missing persons 
    and unidentified human remains.
SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and biennially thereafter, the Attorney General 
shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a 
report describing the status of the NCIC database and NamUs databases.
    (b) Contents.--The report required by subsection (a) shall 
describe, to the extent available, information on the process of 
information sharing between the NCIC database and NamUs databases.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
    In this Act:
        (1) Authorized agency.--The term ``authorized agency'' means a 
    Government agency with an originating agency identification (ORI) 
    number and that is a criminal justice agency, as defined in section 
    20.3 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.
        (2) FBI.--The term ``FBI'' means the Federal Bureau of 
    Investigation.
        (3) Forensic medicine service provider.--The term ``forensic 
    medicine service provider'' means a State or unit of local 
    government forensic medicine service provider having not fewer than 
    1 part-time or full-time employed forensic pathologist, or forensic 
    pathologist under contract, who conducts medicolegal death 
    investigations, including examinations of human remains, and who 
    provides reports or opinion testimony with respect to such activity 
    in courts of law within the United States.
        (4) Forensic science service provider.--The term ``forensic 
    science service provider'' means a State or unit of local 
    government agency having not fewer than 1 full-time analyst who 
    examines physical evidence in criminal or investigative matters and 
    provides reports or opinion testimony with respect to such evidence 
    in courts in the United States.
        (5) Namus databases.--The term ``NamUs databases'' means the 
    National Missing and Unidentified Persons System Missing Persons 
    database and National Missing and Unidentified Persons System 
    Unidentified Decedents database maintained by the National 
    Institute of Justice of the Department of Justice, which serves as 
    a clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and 
    unclaimed person cases.
        (6) NCIC database.--The term ``NCIC database'' means the 
    National Crime Information Center Missing Person File and National 
    Crime Information Center Unidentified Person File of the National 
    Crime Information Center database of the FBI, established pursuant 
    to section 534 of title 28, United States Code.
        (7) Qualifying law enforcement agency defined.--The term 
    ``qualifying law enforcement agency'' means a State, local, or 
    Tribal law enforcement agency.
        (8) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the United 
    States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
    the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 
    the Northern Mariana Islands.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.