[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S616-S617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 2055. A bill to establish the Katie Poirier Abduction Emergency 
Fund, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


                              KATIE'S LAW

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a piece of 
legislation that I hope will be called Katie's Law. This past year, 
colleagues, in Carlton County, we lost a young, beautiful woman who 
worked at a convenience store. She was abducted. Everybody in the 
community helped the family. Tragically, later her body was recovered. 
A suspect has been arrested for her murder.
  I have, along with Sheila, stayed in close touch with Katie's family. 
We have talked quite often with her mother Pam, her dad Steve, and her 
brother Patrick.
  When I went to the service, I couldn't even stand it, just to see the 
pain. This never should have happened.
  I thought about what I could do as a Senator to make a difference. I, 
therefore, started talking to a lot of our rural law enforcement 
people. They told me that whatever we could do in Congress, the key 
would be to enhance their ability to respond quickly and aggressively 
to such crimes, that that would make a difference.
  So there are two pieces to this piece of legislation. I hope I will 
get tremendous bipartisan support.
  The first is an abduction emergency fund called the Katie Poirier 
Abduction Emergency Fund. Basically, what I am saying, colleagues, is 
that for rural law enforcement, especially in the critical first 72 
hours, they should never have to worry about whether they will have the 
resources and what the cost will be. This will be an emergency fund 
they can draw upon from the Attorney General, to State agencies, down 
to the local level. For our rural law enforcement community, this is 
critically important.
  Then the second piece is to provide local law enforcement officers 
with resources to use the latest identification systems to solve and 
prevent crime. In our metropolitan areas we have the technology, but in 
our rural communities quite often our local law enforcement communities 
do not have the capacity to link up with systems such as the FBI's very 
sophisticated fingerprint identification system. This can be the 
difference between 2 hours and 2 months. There will be money that will 
go to local law enforcement, rural law enforcement so they can be able 
to take advantage of this technology.
  Altogether, with the abduction emergency fund, we are talking about 
$10 million over 3 years, for $30 million; and on the technology 
upgrade for rural law enforcement, we are talking about $20 million 
over 3 years, for $60 million--total cost for 3 years, $90 million.
  This is incredibly important to rural America. It is an investment we 
should make. While I know no piece of legislation can ever provide 100 
percent safety for our children, I do know this piece of legislation 
will make a difference for rural law enforcement and will provide some 
protection for our children and will provide some protection for our 
rural citizens.
  I have never been more determined to pass any piece of legislation 
than this small step. It is something I think I should do as a Senator. 
I think as Senators talk to their rural communities from around the 
country, they will find this does meet a very critical need.

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