[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12878-S12879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN

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                  HATCH (AND LEAHY) AMENDMENT NO. 3838

  Mr. LOTT (for Mr. Hatch for himself and Mr. Leahy) proposed an 
amendment to the bill (H.R. 2440) to make technical amendments to 
section 10 of title 9, United States Code; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ____. 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:

[[Page S12879]]

       ``(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.

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