[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S9737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. OBAMA:
  S. 1630. A bill to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to 
establish the National Emergency Family Locator System; to the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, today I introduce a bill to provide some 
assistance to those tens of thousands of Americans who have found 
themselves in one of the worst nightmares I can imagine--they are 
separated from their spouses, their children, and their parents. These 
Americans are struggling to locate their loved ones displaced by the 
horrors of Hurricane Katrina. They are searching the Astrodome, combing 
the Internet, hoping that their family members have survived the storm 
and will get in touch with them. A similar plight is faced by those 
victims who have weathered the storm and want to tell their family and 
friends that they are okay.
  I have received dozens of calls to my offices in Illinois from 
constituents asking my caseworkers to help them locate their relatives 
lost in the Gulf Coast. Greta from Chicago was looking for her Aunt 
Perra Lee. John from Romeoville was looking for his children and 
grandchildren in Biloxi. The calls kept coming, but my staff could only 
point these constituents to various nonprofit organizations doing their 
best to provide locator services. There was no centralized Federal 
Government system in place to deal with this issue. Such a system 
should be in place.
  The government must provide these people with a means to let their 
families know that they are out of harm's way. Various non-profit 
organizations and news services have done a stellar job at using the 
Internet to connect displaced people with their families. Our 
government, through the Department of Homeland Security, should 
synthesize the best aspects of these services, so that after an 
emergency, displaced individuals can call one phone number or go to one 
website, and post their location and condition. Family members and law 
enforcement officials should be able use this same secure, centralized 
system to check the status of missing loved ones.
  I am introducing a bill--the National Emergency Family Locator System 
Act that will instruct the Department of Homeland Security to create 
such a system. I hope that the next time our country experiences a 
disaster like Katrina, this system will provide worried families with 
some sense of relief.
  I hope my colleagues will support this legislation and I ask 
unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follow:

                                S. 1630

       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 ``National Emergency Family 
     Locator Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
     Department of Homeland Security.
       (2) Emergency.--The term ``emergency'' has the meaning 
     given the term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 
     Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
     5122).
       (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Homeland Security.
       (4) System.--The term ``System'' means the National 
     Emergency Family Locator System established under section 
     3(a).

     SEC. 3. NATIONAL EMERGENCY FAMILY LOCATOR SYSTEM.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish within 
     the Department the National Family Locator System.
       (b) Purposes.--The purposes of the System are--
       (1) to enable individuals displaced by an emergency to 
     provide to the Department the name and location of the 
     displaced individuals and any other relevant information 
     using the telephone, the Internet, and other means determined 
     to be appropriate by the Secretary; and
       (2) to enable the Department--
       (A) to compile the information collected under paragraph 
     (1); and
       (B) to provide the information collected and compiled under 
     the System to the family members of the displaced individuals 
     and law enforcement officials.
       (c) Considerations.--In establishing the System under 
     subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into account and, to 
     the maximum extent practicable, incorporate into the System--
       (1) intermediary-based locator systems such as the National 
     Next of Kin Registry; and
       (2) information from existing family locator databases, 
     such as the Family News Network of the International 
     Committee of the Red Cross.

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
     necessary to carry out this Act.

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