[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 132 (Thursday, October 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H10452-H10454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             KRISTEN'S ACT

  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 2780) to authorize the Attorney General to provide 
grants for organizations to find missing adults.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2780

       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 ``Kristen's Act''.

     SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR THE ASSISTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONS TO FIND 
                   MISSING ADULTS.

       (a) In General.--The Attorney General may make grants to 
     public agencies or nonprofit private organizations, or 
     combinations thereof, for programs--
       (1) to assist law enforcement and families in locating 
     missing adults;
       (2) to maintain a national, interconnected database for the 
     purpose of tracking missing adults who are determined by law 
     enforcement to be endangered due to age, diminished mental 
     capacity, or the circumstances of disappearance, when foul 
     play is suspected or circumstances are unknown;
       (3) to maintain statistical information of adults reported 
     as missing;
       (4) to provide informational resources and referrals to 
     families of missing adults;
       (5) to assist in public notification and victim advocacy 
     related to missing adults; and
       (6) to establish and maintain a national clearinghouse for 
     missing adults.
       (b) Regulations.--The Attorney General may make such rules 
     and regulations as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
     Act $1,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2001 through 2004.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Canady) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady).


                             General Leave

  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2780, the bill 
now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2780, Kristen's Act, which was 
introduced by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick). Each 
year about 1 million people are reported missing in the United States 
and about 42 percent of those are adults. The many Federal, State and 
local law enforcement agencies across the country dutifully enter these 
missing person reports in the FBI's national missing persons database 
and most of them are

[[Page H10453]]

quickly found within a day or two. Still, many children and adults are 
not found right away and that is one reason Congress acted to create 
the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
  The Center acts as a clearinghouse for missing child cases and 
provides much needed support to families whose children are missing. 
The Center has helped locate thousands of missing children and reunited 
them with their families. Unfortunately, there is no such clearinghouse 
for missing adults. Once the names of these missing adults are entered 
into the FBI's National Crime Information Center computer, there is 
little else the families can do but wait and hope that their loved ones 
will be found.
  Kristen's Act would establish the first national clearinghouse for 
missing adults. It would authorize grants to States to, one, assist law 
enforcement and families in locating missing adults; two, create a 
national database for the purpose of tracking missing adults who are 
determined by law enforcement to be in danger due to age, mental 
capacity or the circumstances of their disappearance; three, maintain 
statistics on missing adults; four, provide informational resources and 
referrals to families of missing adults; and five, assist in public 
notification and victim advocacy on this issue.
  Congress can and should do more to help families locate their missing 
adult relatives. Kristen's Act would provide an infrastructure that 
will supplement the existing FBI missing persons database and help 
State and local law enforcement agencies work with families to help to 
locate their loved ones.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina 
(Mrs. Myrick) for her outstanding leadership on this issue and I urge 
all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2780, also known as Kristen's 
Act. H.R. 2780 authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to public 
agencies or nonprofit private organizations to maintain a national 
database for tracking missing adults determined to be in danger due to 
age, diminished mental capacity, when foul play may be involved or when 
the circumstances of the disappearance are unknown.
  It also authorizes grants to assist law enforcement and families in 
locating missing adults; provide informational resources to families of 
missing adults and for other related purposes. The bill authorizes $1 
million each year for fiscal years 2001 through 2004 to carry out the 
purposes of this legislation. The bill is named after Kristen 
Moderfferi of Charlotte, North Carolina, who at age 18 disappeared 
after leaving her job one day. Sadly, because she was just 18 her 
family could not benefit from the great work of the National Center for 
Missing and Exploited Children.
  H.R. 2780 is designed to assist law enforcement and families of 
missing persons for those over the age of 17 in a manner similar to 
that provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children. Although we have not had hearings on this bill and I 
generally do not support consideration of legislation without hearings, 
I am familiar with the valuable services provided by the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children for which we have had 
hearings and support similar efforts for missing adults who are in 
danger due to age, diminished capacity or foul play. Accordingly, I 
urge my colleagues to vote for the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick), the 
sponsor of this legislation.
  Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady), for bringing this bill forward as 
well.
  Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of Kristen's Act. I introduced it 
because Kristen Moderfferi, who was a constituent of ours in Charlotte, 
North Carolina, disappeared in 1997. She was a very bright, hard-
working young lady and attended North Carolina State University. She 
had just finished her freshman year; and like so many other college 
students, she decided she wanted to go to another city to spend the 
summer and work and have a new experience. So she moved to San 
Francisco. She enrolled in photography class at Berkeley and got a job 
at a local coffee shop. She began settling in and making new friends.
  However, on Monday, June 23, which was just a mere 3 weeks after her 
18th birthday, she left her job at the coffee shop and headed to the 
beach for the afternoon. She has not been seen since.
  When her panicked parents called the National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children, they heard the unbelievable words, I am sorry we 
cannot help you. They were shocked to discover that because Kristen was 
18 the Center could not place her picture and story into its national 
database, or offer any assistance whatsoever. In fact, there is no 
national agency in the United States to help locate missing adults.
  Unfortunately, the Moderfferis are not alone. The families of 
thousands of missing adults have found that law enforcement and other 
agencies respond very differently when the person who has disappeared 
is not a child. So that is why I introduced Kristen's Act. It will 
provide funding to establish a national clearinghouse for missing 
adults whose disappearance is determined by law enforcement to be foul 
play. As with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
this bill will provide assistance to law enforcement and families in 
missing persons cases of those over the age of 17. It is simply unfair 
that people must cope with a missing family member, which is so 
traumatic, and I know personally what the Moderfferis have gone 
through, and have to conduct the search on their own without skills or 
resources.
  I will say that the Moderfferis literally went to the ends of the 
Earth to just exhaust every opportunity they could to try and find 
their daughter, and were completely frustrated at most every turn.
  Kristen's Act does send a message to these families that they deserve 
help to locate endangered and involuntarily missing loved ones.
  Endangered missing adults, regardless of their age, should receive 
not only the benefit of a search effort by the local law enforcement 
but also the help of an experienced national organization.
  By passing this bill today, families will never again have to hear 
they cannot be assisted because their loved one is too old.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson), who is the chairman and founder of 
the Congressional Caucus for Missing and Exploited Children and a 
leading supporter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children.
  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Scott), for yielding me this time, and I also want to thank the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick) for all the good work she 
has done on this bill, and others as well.
  Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of this bill, I rise in support of 
Kristen's Act, a bill to authorize the Attorney General to make grants 
to public agencies or nonprofit private organizations to assist law 
enforcement and families in locating missing adults and to maintain a 
national interconnected database tracking missing adults who are 
determined by law enforcement to be in danger due to age, diminished 
mental capacity or the circumstances of disappearance when foul play 
might be suspected. This bill will also maintain statistical 
information of adults reported as missing; assist in public 
notification and victim advocacy related to missing adults, and 
establish and maintain a national clearinghouse for missing adults.
  As the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) said, I am the chairman 
and founder of the Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited 
Children and I work very closely with the National Center for Missing 
and Exploited Children. I do realize, however, that specialized 
services to locate and recover missing adults are few and far between. 
While adults have a legal right to disappear without notifying friends 
and family, this does not lessen the frustration others face when 
determining whether foul play is involved.
  I met with Kristen Moderfferi's parents in 1999, and what they have 
lived

[[Page H10454]]

through is tragic. Their daughter disappeared 3 weeks after her 18th 
birthday and while the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children was able to refer them to other assisting organizations, the 
center was unable to work directly on the case as its mandate is for 
children under the age of 18. A congressionally authorized 
clearinghouse for missing adults is necessary to assist people like 
Kristen's parents. I do not want to look into the faces of any more 
parents whose grown-up children are missing or some place where they 
should not be. The tragedy is too difficult to live with.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage all of my colleagues to support 
Kristen's Act.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina 
(Mrs. Myrick) for her leadership on this issue and also the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Lampson) for his leadership.
  I would also like to take the opportunity to say a word about the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady), with whom I served as ranking 
member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution for 2 years. We 
considered a lot of very contentious and controversial issues. And we 
did not agree very often, but as we disagreed we were able to do that, 
I think, in a constructive and conscientious way of being able to 
disagree without being disagreeable.
  I know the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady) is not seeking 
reelection, and I wanted to wish him well in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) 
for his very gracious remarks and express to him my gratitude for the 
good working relationship we have had as members of the Committee on 
the Judiciary.
  Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2780--``Kristen's 
Act''--which was introduced by the Gentlelady from North Carolina, Sue 
Myrick. Today, there are approximately 100,000 people who have been 
reported as missing to the FBI's National Crime Information Center. 
About 42,000 of them are adults. The families of missing children can--
and often do--turn to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
the very successful national clearinghouse for missing child cases. The 
Center has helped locate thousands of missing children and provides 
much needed support to the bereaved families who are searching for 
them.
  Kristen's Act would establish the first national clearinghouse for 
missing adults. It would authorize grants to states to (1) assist law 
enforcement and families in locating missing adults; (2) create a 
national database for the purpose of tracking missing adults who are 
determined by law enforcement to be endangered due to age, mental 
capacity, or the circumstances of their disappearance; (3) maintain 
statistics on missing adults; (4) provide informational resources and 
referrals to families of missing adults; and (5) assist in public 
notification and victim advocacy of this issue.
  The need for this legislation was brought home to me by the case of 
Brian Welzien, a 21-year-old student at Northern Illinois University, 
who disappeared without a trace after celebrating at a restaurant in 
Chicago last New year's Eve. His disappearance was inexplicable. He was 
a good student and good son. He was immediately reported missing by his 
family, but they had nowhere to turn for help and support beyond 
reporting that he was missing. Tragically, his body washed ashore 
three-and-half months later on a Lake Michigan beach near Gary, Ind. 
Had there been a national center for missing adults, perhaps more could 
have been done to find him before he died.
  Congress can and should do more to help families locate their missing 
husbands, wives, brothers and sisters. Kristen's Act will go a long way 
in providing the infrastructure to help locate them before tragedy 
happens.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Myrick for her leadership on this issue, 
and I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2780.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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