[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 30, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S770-S771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. Moran, Mr. Blunt, and Mrs. 
        Fischer):
  S. 273. A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require 
providers of a covered service to provide location information 
concerning the telecommunications device of a user of such service to 
an investigative or law enforcement officer or an employee or other 
agent of a public safety answering point in an emergency situation 
involving risk of death or serious physical harm or in order to respond 
to the user's call for emergency services; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about an important 
piece of legislation I just filed, aptly named after the young Kansan 
whose life and bright future was cut short by a senseless act of 
violence and whose case now is the inspiration for why we desperately 
need to update the law.
  Almost 12 years ago, on June 2, 2017, 18-year-old Kelsey Smith was 
abducted in broad daylight from an Overland Park, KS, parking lot. 
Kelsey's abduction was captured on the store's closed-circuit security 
camera, which left little doubt about the emergency sense of the 
situation. This was an emergency.
  Here is the tragedy. Four days after Kelsey disappeared, authorities 
were able to locate her body after a wireless provider finally released 
the call information from her cell phone--4 critical days. Providing 
location information as fast as possible is absolutely critical to 
ensure that law enforcement officials can rescue victims in imminent 
danger of death or serious physical harm and hopefully prevent future 
fates similar to Kelsey's.
  This legislation is the culmination of years of work among 
legislators at both the Federal and State levels, including industry 
stakeholders, privacy advocates, and, most importantly, Kelsey's brave 
parents, who spearheaded this initiative and have advocated to create 
commonsense reforms that properly balance the needs of law enforcement 
with Fourth Amendment protections for all of our citizens.
  Through their advocacy and tireless efforts, Missey and Greg Smith 
have helped enact laws, oftentimes with unanimous support, in 23 
States, including my home State of Kansas. This law provides law 
enforcement with the necessary tools to rescue individuals in emergency 
situations where the threat of death or serious bodily injury is 
imminent.
  The impact of this law at the State level has been real and 
measurable. For example, in May 2012, one month after the enactment of 
its State's version of the Kelsey Smith Act, local authorities in 
Tennessee were successful in saving the life of a child who had been 
abducted by a suspected child rapist. Because the child was believed to 
be in imminent danger, the police were able to successfully receive the 
location of the suspect's cell phone in a window of time that led to 
the safe recovery of the child alive and before she was assaulted.
  In February of 2015, Kelsey's Law helped save the life of a 5-month-
old Lenexa, KS, girl when a car with a baby in the back seat was stolen 
from its mother. Through Kelsey's Law, police were able to ping that 
mother's phone, which was left in the car, and, within an hour, the 
baby was reunited with her parents.
  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
the first 3 hours are critical to recovering a child alive. That is why 
it is necessary that in these narrowly defined, isolated instances in 
which a person's very life is at stake, an exemption should be made to 
allow wireless carriers to immediately ping an individual's phone and 
release to law enforcement the whereabouts of that individual.
  Understanding this, my legislation would provide law enforcement with 
the ability to recover the location of children, other missing 
individuals, and only in very specific emergency situations; namely, 
where there is risk of death or serious bodily injury.
  Don't just take it from Pat Roberts. Public safety professionals with 
experience in the field support this lifesaving legislation. According 
to the retired Johnson County sheriff, Frank Denning:

       Time is of the essence in these types of incidents and the 
     narrow exception for law enforcement to act with immediacy is 
     key here. For this not to be a Federal law seems unjust to 
     those who have loved ones in harm's way and this type of 
     intervention can and will save lives.

  Major Scott Boden with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office in Kansas 
says:

       Over my 22-year law enforcement career with the Johnson 
     County Sheriff's Office, 17 years have been spent in our 
     dispatch/911 center. During that time, the Kelsey Smith Law 
     has been the single most important piece of legislation 
     related to potentially saving the lives of suicidal subjects, 
     assisting endangered children, and addressing live threats 
     when cell phone location is necessary and seconds count. The 
     difference this law has made cannot be overstated and I look 
     forward to the day it becomes available all across this 
     country as a resource to assist first responders in their 
     most critical service saving lives.

  Jennifer Lanter, the 9-1-1 director for Loudon County, TN, says:

       In Tennessee, we have had the privilege of having Kelsey's 
     Law enacted for several years. There are multiple examples of 
     how utilizing this law has resulted in lives being saved that 
     otherwise would have been lost.
       This law enables the men and women that have dedicated 
     their lives to the protection of others to ensure they are 
     able to do everything possible to locate someone that needs 
     help. The benefits of this law being passed at the Federal 
     level will be far-reaching, and countless lives will be 
     saved.

  It is not just these individual law enforcement officials who support 
this bill. The bill is also supported by the National District 
Attorneys Association, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers 
Association, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the International 
Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major County Sheriffs of America, 
the National Association of Police Organizations, the Fraternal Order 
of Police,

[[Page S771]]

and the National Sheriffs' Association. I don't know of any law 
enforcement organization that has been left out, and if it has been 
left out, it would certainly support the bill. CTIA, the wireless 
association, also supports this commonsense legislation.
  Just this morning, I received a letter of support from John Walsh, 
who is the cofounder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children and was the well-known host of the television show, 
``America's Most Wanted.'' Mr. Walsh has dedicated his life to 
advocating for victims' rights. It began with his fight for the passage 
of the Missing Children's Assistance Act following the abduction and 
subsequent murder of his son Adam.
  Fortunately, for my colleagues, voting for this bill will not take a 
blind leap of faith. Kelsey's Law is already saving lives in States 
like Kansas, New Jersey, Nebraska, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North 
Dakota, Tennessee, Hawaii, Missouri, Utah, West Virginia, Colorado, 
Nevada, Rhode Island, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Iowa, Washington, 
Louisiana, Delaware, Indiana, and Alabama. Yes, I wanted to repeat all 
23.
  Oftentimes, the approval by State legislatures has been unanimous, 
and that is because Kelsey's Law strikes the appropriate balance 
between ensuring that law enforcement has the tools it needs to help 
individuals who are in grave danger and ensuring that the proper checks 
are in place to guard against government overreach.
  My legislation requires all law enforcement agencies to maintain a 
record of all requests made under the Kelsey Smith Act. This record 
will include the name of the officer who is requesting location 
information from a wireless carrier, a description of the request that 
explains the need for the disclosure of location information, and a 
declaration that an individual's location information is needed in 
order to offer him life assistance during an emergency situation that, 
again, involves a risk of death or serious physical harm.
  I stress that nothing--absolutely nothing--in the Kelsey Smith Act 
prohibits wireless carriers from continuing to operate the robust law 
enforcement verification systems that they use today in order to make 
absolutely certain that when a request is made, it is coming from an 
authorized law enforcement official.
  Kelsey was never given the opportunity to attend college or to get 
married or to have children and experience the American dream that many 
of us take for granted every day. Yet what she did do was to inspire 
her mother and her father to make it their mission in life to help 
educate and empower communities and children in order to help prevent 
another case like this from ever happening again.
  Kelsey's father, Greg, who is a former law enforcement officer 
himself and a Kansas State senator, said it best when he quoted 
President Abraham Lincoln to describe what Kelsey had accomplished:

       In the end, it is not the years in your life that count. It 
     is the life in your years.

  I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to speak on the floor today 
and to offer what, I think, is a commonsense bill that will help 
prevent tragedies like Kelsey's. I also thank Senator Moran, Senator 
Fischer, and Senator Blunt for their strong support and cosponsoring of 
this bill. I welcome the President's support as well.
  I ask every colleague in this body to consider one question: If it 
were your children, your grandchildren, your spouses, would you not 
want law enforcement to have immediate access to information that could 
potentially save their lives and bring them home?
  Let's honor Kelsey's memory by passing this legislation in Congress. 
I see no reason why it could not pass by unanimous consent.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.
                                 ______