[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H683-H687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BILLY'S LAW
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 3695) to authorize funding for, and 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, to
provide incentive grants to help facilitate reporting to such systems,
and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3695
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 ``Help Find the Missing Act''
or ``Billy's Law''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL MISSING AND
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General, through the Director
of the National Institute of Justice, is authorized to
maintain public databases, known as the ``National Missing
and Unidentified Persons System'' or ``NamUs'', to contain
missing persons records and unidentified remains cases for
purposes of assisting to identify missing people and solve
cases of unidentified human remains. All functions,
personnel, assets, liabilities, and administrative actions
applicable to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons
System carried out by the National Institute of Justice on
the date before the date of the enactment of this Act shall
be transferred to the National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System authorized under this section as of the date
of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $2,400,000 for
each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2016.
SEC. 3. SHARING OF INFORMATION BETWEEN NCIC AND NAMUS.
(a) Sharing of Information.--Not later than the end of the
30-day period beginning on the date the online data entry
format is updated under subsection (c), the Attorney General
shall, in accordance with this section, provide for
information on missing persons and unidentified human remains
contained in the NCIC database (as defined in section 7) to
be transmitted to, entered in, and otherwise shared with the
NamUs databases (as defined in such section) and for such
information contained in the NamUs databases to be
transmitted to, entered in, and otherwise shared with the
NCIC database.
(b) Rules on Confidentiality.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in
consultation with the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (in this Act referred to as the ``FBI''), shall
promulgate rules pursuant to notice and comment that specify
the information the Attorney General may provide from the
NCIC files to the NamUs databases for purposes of this Act.
Such rules shall--
(A) provide for the protection of law enforcement
sensitive, confidential, and private information contained in
the NCIC files;
(B) be promulgated only after the Director approves
recommendations by the Advisory Policy Board of the Criminal
Justice Information Services Division of the FBI;
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(C) specify the circumstances in which portions of
information may be withheld from transfer, entry, or sharing
from the NCIC database to the NamUs databases; and
(D) provide that once an authorized agency provides an
authorization to permit the transmission, entering, or
sharing of information (or portions of information) from the
NCIC database to the NamUs databases, such authorization
shall be deemed to apply to any updates made to such
information, unless otherwise specified by the agency.
(2) Submissions prior to online data entry format update.--
With respect to information submitted to the NCIC database
before the end of the 30-day period specified in subsection
(a), the Attorney General may solicit from appropriate
authorized agencies authorization to transmit, enter, or
share such information.
(c) Updates.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall update
the online data entry format for the NCIC database and NamUs
databases to provide State criminal justice agencies, offices
of medical examiners, and offices of coroners with the option
to authorize the submission of new information and data that
is reported to and entered into the NCIC database to
simultaneously be submitted to and entered into the NamUs
databases.
(2) NCIC format.--
(A) In general.--In the case of the NCIC database, an
update described in paragraph (1) shall include--
(i) an update to the NCIC database online data entry format
that States use in submitting missing persons and
unidentified remains reports, including the addition of a new
data field allowing States, on behalf of the authorized
agency that originally submitted the data, to select whether
or not to have the NCIC report, subject to the rules
promulgated under subsection (b), shared with the NamUs
databases; and
(ii) subject to subparagraph (B), a requirement that as a
condition of participating in the NCIC database, States must
update their missing persons and unidentified remains
collection processes from local and tribal law enforcement,
medical examiners, and coroners to enable the States to
acquire information on whether or not the authorized agencies
originally submitting data with respect to a missing person
or unidentified remains have provided authorization to share
the information with the NamUs databases.
(B) Exception.--Subparagraph (A)(ii) shall not apply with
respect to any State that has in effect a State law providing
for a methodology to authorize the sharing of information
between the NCIC database and NamUs databases.
(d) Amendments to Title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of
1990 to Require Reports of Missing Children to NamUs.--
(1) Reporting requirement.--Section 3701(a) of title XXXVII
of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779(a)) is
amended by striking the period and inserting the following:
``and, consistent with section 3 (including rules promulgated
pursuant to section 3(b)) 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 (as
defined in section 7 of such Act).''.
(2) State requirements.--Section 3702 of title XXXVII of
the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5780) 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 (as defined in section 7 of the Help Find the
Missing Act)'';
(B) in 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 (as so defined)''; 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 the enactment of this Act beginning on the last
day of the 30-day period described in subsection (a).
SEC. 4. INCENTIVE GRANTS PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than one year after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall
establish a program to provide grants to qualifying law
enforcement agencies (as defined in subsection (j)), offices
of coroners, offices of medical examiners, and other
authorized agencies to facilitate the process of reporting
information regarding missing persons and unidentified
remains to the NCIC database and NamUs databases for purposes
of assisting in locating such missing persons and identifying
such remains.
(b) Requirements.--As a condition of a grant under this
section, a grant recipient shall, with respect to each case
reported to the agency or office of the recipient relating to
a missing person described in a category under subsection (e)
or relating to unidentified remains--
(1) not later than 72 hours after such case is reported to
the agency or office and consistent with subsection (c),
submit to the NCIC database and NamUs databases--
(A) in the case of a missing person described in a category
under subsection (e), at least the minimum information
described in subsection (f)(1); and
(B) in the case of unidentified remains, at least the
minimum information described in subsection (f)(2); and
(2) not later than 60 days after the original entry of the
report, verify and update any original report entered into
the State law enforcement system, the NCIC database, or NamUs
databases after receipt of the grant with any additional
information, including, to the greatest extent possible--
(A) information on the extent to which DNA samples are
available, including the availability of such samples
submitted to the National DNA Index System under subsection
(b)(3);
(B) fingerprints, medical and dental records, and
photographs of any distinguishing characteristics such as
scars, marks, tattoos, piercings, and other unique physical
characteristics;
(C) in the case of unidentified remains, photographs or
digital images that may assist in identifying the decedent,
including fingerprint cards, radiographs, palmprints, and
distinctive features of the decedent's personal effects; and
(D) any other information determined to be appropriate by
the Attorney General; and
(3) not later than 60 days after the original entry of the
report, to the greatest extent possible, submit to the
National DNA Index System of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, established pursuant to section 210304 of the
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,
(either directly or through use of NamUs victims assistance
resources and DNA collection services) DNA samples and
information relating to such case.
For purposes of paragraph (2), in the case of information a
grant recipient authorizes to be transferred, entered, or
shared under section 3 between the NCIC database and NamUs
databases, any update to such information shall be
simultaneously made with respect to both databases unless
specified otherwise by the recipient.
(c) Submission of Reports.--To satisfy subsection (b)(1), a
recipient of a grant under this section shall submit
information required under such subsection--
(1) separately to the NCIC database and NamUs databases; or
(2) in accordance with section 3, simultaneously to the
NamUs databases when reporting to the NCIC database or to the
NCIC database when reporting to the NamUs databases.
(d) Permissible Use of Funds.--
(1) In general.--The permissible uses of grants awarded
under this section include the use of funds--
(A) to hire additional personnel, to acquire technology to
facilitate timely data entry into the relevant databases;
(B) to conduct contracting activities relevant to
outsourcing the processing of unidentified remains and the
reporting of the resulting information to the NCIC database
and NamUs databases;
(C) to train local law enforcement personnel, medical
examiners, and coroners to use the NCIC database and NamUs
databases;
(D) to assist States' transition into the new system under
which information is shared between the NCIC database and
NamUs databases; and
(E) for other purposes consistent with the goals of this
section.
(2) Clarification.--In no case may a recipient of a grant
under this section use funds to enter or help facilitate the
entrance of any false or misleading information about missing
persons or unidentified remains.
(e) Categories of Missing Persons.--The categories of
missing persons described in this subsection are the
following:
(1) A missing person age 21 or older who--
(A) is senile or is suffering from a proven mental or
physical disability, as documented by a source deemed
credible to an appropriate law enforcement entity; or
(B) is missing under circumstances that indicate, as
determined by an appropriate law enforcement entity--
(i) that the person's physical safety may be endangered;
(ii) that the disappearance may not have been voluntary,
such as abduction or kidnapping; or
(iii) that the disappearance may have been caused by a
natural disaster or catastrophe (such as an airplane crash or
terrorist attack).
(2) A missing person who does not meet the criteria
described in paragraph (1) but who meets one of the following
criteria:
(A) There is a reasonable concern, as determined by an
appropriate law enforcement entity, for the safety of the
missing person.
(B) The person is under age 21 and emancipated under the
laws of the person's State of residence.
(f) Minimum Information Required.--
(1) Content for missing persons.--The minimum information
described in this section, with respect to a missing person,
is the following:
(A) The name, date of birth, city and State of residence,
gender, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color of
the missing person.
(B) The date and location of the last known contact with
the missing person.
(C) The category described in subsection (e) in which the
missing person is classified.
(2) Content for unidentified human remains.--The minimum
information described in this section, with respect to
unidentified human remains, is the following:
(A) The estimated age, gender, race, height, weight, hair
color, and eye color.
(B) Any distinguishing characteristics such as scars,
marks, tattoos, piercings, and other unique physical
characteristics.
(C) A description of clothing found on the decedent.
(D) City and State where the unidentified human remains
were found.
(E) Information on how to contact the law enforcement
agency handling the investigation and the unidentified human
remains.
[[Page H685]]
(F) Information on the extent to which DNA samples are
available, including the availability of such samples
submitted to the National DNA Index System under subsection
(b)(3).
(g) Administration.--The Attorney General shall prescribe
requirements, including with respect to applications, for
grants awarded under this section and shall determine the
amount of each such grant.
(h) Confidentiality.--As a condition of a grant under this
section, the recipient of the grant shall ensure that
information reported under the grant meets the requirements
promulgated by the Attorney General under section 3(b)(1).
(i) Annual Summary.--For each of the fiscal years 2012
through 2015, the Attorney General shall publish an annual
statistical summary of the reports required by subsection
(c).
(j) Qualifying Law Enforcement Agency Defined.--For
purposes of this Act, the term ``qualifying law enforcement
agency'' means a State, local, or tribal law enforcement
agency.
(k) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for
each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015.
SEC. 5. 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 medical examiners, offices of coroners, 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, offices of
medical examiners, and offices of coroners 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. 6. 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--
(1) the process of information sharing between the NCIC
database and NamUs databases; and
(2) the programs funded by grants awarded under section 4.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions
apply:
(a) 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 for purposes of subpart A of part 20 of
title 28, Code of Federal Regulations.
(b) 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.
(c) 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 Federal
Bureau of Investigation, established pursuant to section 534
of title 28, United States Code.
(d) 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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the Help Find the Missing Act, or Billy's Law, will
help families of missing persons find their loved ones by strengthening
Federal databases about missing persons and unidentified remains.
Every year, tens of thousands of Americans go missing and are never
found. In the subcommittee we heard moving testimony from Ms. Janice
Smolinski, whose son, Billy, went missing in 2004. While she has not
found her son, she has dedicated her life to improving the system for
others, including highlighting the need to strengthen and expand access
to our missing persons databases. I thank her for her dedication to
this worthy cause.
Billy's Law will facilitate the sharing of information between the
FBI's NCIC databases and the NamUs databases recently established by
the National Institute of Justice. Facilitating information-sharing
between those two databases will assist the public, medical examiners,
and coroners in looking for missing persons and identifying remains.
Billy's Law also authorizes grants for personnel, technology, and
training to help States submit data to NCIC and NamUs. These grants
will strengthen the system by providing an incentive for States to
provide critical information to the databases shortly after missing
person cases are reported.
This bill is strongly supported by the Department of Justice. And I
would like to commend our colleagues, the gentleman from Connecticut
(Mr. Murphy) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), for their hard
work on this piece of legislation.
I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3695.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I'm proud to join my colleague, Mr. Murphy, in
supporting and sponsoring H.R. 3695, the ``Help Find the Missing Act''
or ``Billy's Law,'' as we call it.
It's my pleasure today to speak in support of a commonsense piece of
legislation that probably should have been passed years ago. I would
like to thank my colleague, Congressman Murphy, for taking this worthy
cause and asking me to work with him on it.
I'd also like to thank a citizen of our Nation, Janice Smolinski, the
mother of Billy Smolinski, for whom this bill is named. Without her
devotion and the time that she spent on this issue, Billy's Law never
would have happened. Her work, along with the response of her
representative, Congressman Murphy, to create this legislation is an
example of Congress working the way our Founders intended it to.
Janice Smolinski talked to her congressman, Mr. Murphy. He listened.
He responded. He moved quickly, and thus this piece of legislation is
brought to the House to solve this problem.
In the years since her son's disappearance, Janice Smolinski has
worked to improve our Nation's reporting system for the missing so that
other families do not have to suffer as she did. As we vote today on
Billy's Law, it is imperative for us to remember how important this
bill is to people like Janice Smolinski all over the country.
There is a great need to improve our Nation's tracking of missing
persons and identification of unknown and unidentified remains. This
bill is a big step in fulfilling both of these goals.
Every year, tens of thousands of Americans disappear. They go
missing, never to be seen by their loved ones again. In 2009, there
were more than 100,000 missing persons records active in the FBI's
National Crime Information Center.
Simultaneously, medical examiners and coroners across the country are
holding tens of thousands of unidentified remains. There are an
estimated 40,000 sets of unidentified remains being held by coroners
throughout the country.
But as of January 2009, the NCIC database contains only 7,000 records
of unidentified remains. This means that medical examiners and coroners
offices are not recording in the NCIC database many of the unidentified
remains they hold. Consequently, it is likely that many missing person
cases remain open for failure to connect missing person profiles with
unidentified remains that are being held.
There are many Federal, State, local, and nonprofit databases
designed to help, but these databases are not sufficiently accessible
to the public, and they do not do a good job of sharing information
with each other.
Billy's Law addresses all of these concerns by increasing funding for
a national, online repository and reporting system called NamUs, the
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Billy's Law provides
that the
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FBI's NCIC database share information on missing and unidentified
persons with the NamUs database system.
The goal is to have corners, medical examiners, law enforcement
agents, and the public all reporting information to and getting
information from one centralized Web site, NamUs.
Billy's Law also requires the Attorney General to establish a program
to provide grants to qualifying medical examiners, coroners and law
enforcement agencies for the purpose of facilitating better reporting
of missing persons and unidentified remains to the NCIC and NamUs
databases.
Having served as a prosecutor in Texas for over 8 years and a felony
court judge for 22 years, I know firsthand the toll that violent crime
puts on communities, but specifically on families. This pain is made
even worse when a family of a victim is not able to determine what
exactly happened to their missing loved one. Often, families have to
wait for months or years until they can find closure. Some families,
like the Smolinskis, never find out what happened to their loved one.
Shortly after I was elected to Congress, I started the Victims'
Rights Caucus. This Caucus is a bipartisan group of Members of
Congress, cochaired by myself and Mr. Costa from California, that
supports legislation and advocates for policies that will help victims
of crime in the United States and the families of victims. H.R. 3695 is
one of these bills.
Billy's Law is supported by the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, the National Organization of Police Associations,
and the National Association of Medical Examiners.
I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1530
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the sponsor of Billy's Law, the gentleman from Connecticut
(Mr. Murphy).
Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. First of all, let me extend my sincerest
thanks to the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Scott, for bringing
this bill to the floor with such speed, and then let me extend
additional thanks to the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Conyers,
and Ranking Members Gohmert and Smith for their assistance in bringing
this bill to the floor today.
Madam Speaker, when I was home over the break, I told a lot of people
that I saw that for all of the attention on the news about the things
that Republicans and Democrats disagree with, this legislation, Billy's
Law, is an example of the vast legislative underbrush that happens here
that changes lives but don't necessarily get the big headlines, places
where both parties work together to make this government work better
and to make it more compassionate.
I'd like to thank Representative Poe for sponsoring this bill with
me. This House has no stronger advocate for the rights of victims and
their families, and it has been my pleasure to work with him to move
this legislation forward.
But above all, I'd like to extend my personal thanks to Jan Smolinski
and her husband Bill, the parents of Billy Smolinski, for whom this
legislation is named. Their story is tragic, but Jan's pursuit of
justice, her desire to do something with her situation, to change it
for all of the other families who have gone through the same thing,
that is nothing less than heroic.
Madam Speaker, Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut, went
missing on August 24, 2004, at the age of 31. In their search for their
son, Jan and her husband Bill encountered a national missing persons
system that is simply broken. They were met with law enforcement that
didn't understand how to handle an adult missing persons case, and then
they ran into a national system of disconnected and inaccessible
databases that didn't allow them to be true partners in the search for
justice. To this day, they haven't found Billy.
Sadly, their story is not a unique one. Every year, thousands of
Americans go missing, often never to be seen by their loved ones again.
In fact, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are over
100,000 missing persons cases open at any time and approximately 4,400
unidentified human remains are found every single year. Now, those
numbers are too high, but just as intolerable are the roadblocks that
family members face when they're trying to help law enforcement find a
missing loved one.
That is why I am here to urge my friends to join us in supporting
Billy's Law, legislation that will begin correcting these problems that
plague our Nation's missing persons system.
My colleagues have really gone over the basics of the law so I won't
belabor the point. But this legislation for the first time provides
statutory authorization for NamUs, which is the Web-based database
created in 2007 by the Department of Justice. It's the only federally
funded database of missing persons and unidentified remains information
that is open and accessible to the public. But currently it's not a
congressionally authorized program.
Second, the bill connects NamUs with the other major Federal database
housed at the FBI, which is now only accessible to law enforcement. We
protect information that needs to stay private, but this new connected
database, which will also work with protocols that build in other
information from State and local nonprofit databases, creates a
complete and powerful national powerful database that families can use
along with law enforcement.
And third, as has been stated, it sets up a competitive grants
program to make sure that all the information that a coroner may have
in California is posted onto a national database so a family searching
for their missing loved one in Connecticut has that information in real
time.
On January 21, Madam Speaker, Jan Smolinski testified at a hearing on
the bill that Subcommittee Chairman Scott so graciously held. During
her testimony, she poignantly remarked, ``Uncertainty is a cancer that
crushes the spirit of loved ones left behind, destroys marriages, and
tears at the tissue of family bonds.''
By creating a robust, user-friendly national missing persons and
unidentified remains database, Billy's law will help heal these wounds
by finally giving parents and family members like the Smolinskis the
ability to be true partners with law enforcement in the search for
their loved ones.
I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. We owe it to
the Smolinskis and to thousands of families like them across the
country to make sure their personal nightmares are not repeated.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman
from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) who is a cosponsor of this
legislation and who has also worked in the past on similar legislation.
Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today in
support of Billy's Law. I want to thank the many tireless advocates of
missing children everywhere, and I certainly want to commend
Representative Murphy for sponsoring this very important piece of
legislation.
Every day thousands of people are reported missing. The good news is
that many of them are quickly located by our heroes in the local law
enforcement agencies. What happens to those who are not found in the
first few very critical days after they're reported missing? In the
past, the names were noted in files of local police agencies, but
without any leads, investigators were left with few options and their
names lingered on this list.
Madam Speaker, in 2005, a group of people that included Federal,
State, and local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, forensic
scientists, and other experts gathered in Philadelphia to discuss ways
to solve missing persons cases. The National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System is a result of that effort.
Local and State law enforcement agencies need a central database to
which they can turn, and that is why I believe NamUs is so important.
NamUs has also launched a DNA initiative, which is an effort to make
sure we are using DNA technology in every way possible to track down
missing persons. Billy's Law provides grants to local law enforcement
agencies to improve their access to DNA technology and to NamUs.
In my district, Milton and Evelyn Nerenberg have spent years trying
to find out what happened to their missing daughter, Audrey. Frustrated
that
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their daughter, too, remains missing, the Nerenbergs came to me for
help. They were concerned that the Federal Government was not doing
enough to make sure that information gathered in central Florida, for
example, where they lived, was being shared with the right people in
other parts of the country. They also wanted to make sure that the DNA
technology be made available to law enforcement agencies throughout our
Nation as well as in Florida. Billy's Law will make it happen. It is
very similar to the legislation I previously introduced and that was
named after Audrey Nerenberg.
Important progress has been made in the past 5 years, but more must
be done. Forty thousand missing persons, including Audrey Nerenberg
from my district, their families will certainly benefit from this
legislation.
I have worked in previous Congresses to improve the Federal
Government's ability to locate missing persons, and as a cosponsor, I
am very pleased to see Billy's Law come to the floor, and I will be
proud to vote in favor of its passage.
I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. POE of Texas. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to thank the chairman, Chairman Scott, for bringing this
legislation to the House floor as quickly as he has done, and, of
course, Mr. Murphy from Connecticut, the excellent job he has done to
bring this legislation to our attention and make sure that this House
creates a system where people can find their loved ones.
As a parent, the worst thing that any parent could hear is the fact
that their child has disappeared. That would bring terror and fear into
any parent. As a parent of four kids, I know that. I think about that
constantly.
When Janice Smolinski learned that her son, Billy, had disappeared,
she, like every mother would do, was relentless in finding out as much
as she could about his disappearance. Unfortunately, she met a lot of
stone walls in the criminal justice system. She had put posters up all
over her neighborhood. She called everybody she knew. She called the
police, and she got on the Internet trying to find out ways she could
locate Billy. She was relentless in that pursuit.
And then she came in contact with her Congressman. The old statement
``call your Congressman,'' it worked, and it should have worked in this
case and it worked well.
I commend her and other people like her who work to find their loved
ones but also to make our system better. So when people that disappear,
we are able to find out as much as we can about their disappearance and
where they are because we're all in this together.
My grandmother used to say that there is nothing more powerful than a
woman who has made up her mind. This is a perfect example of that.
Janice Smolinski, a mother, a lady, has done everything she can to find
Billy, and now it's time for Congress to do what it can to make sure
that all of these different organizations that have information are
connected through the Internet, through sophisticated technology, so
that we can keep up with all of these children who turn up missing.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut
and the gentleman from Texas for their work on this bill. I urge my
colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of
my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3695, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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