[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 191 (Thursday, December 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7080-S7081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HELP FIND THE MISSING ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 5230, which was
introduced earlier today by Senator Murphy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 5230) to 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, and for other purposes.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S7080, December 8, 2022, second column, the following
appears: A bill (S. 5230) to increase accessibility to the
National Missing and Unidentified Person System, to facilitate
data sharing between such system and the National Crime
Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and for other purposes.
The online Record has been corrected to read: A bill (S. 5230)
to 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, and for other purposes.
========================= END NOTE =========================
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I further ask that the bill be considered
read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 5230) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading,
was read the third time, and passed as follows:
S. 5230
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 ``Billy's Law'' or the ``Help Find
the Missing Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL MISSING AND
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--The Attorney General, shall maintain the
``National Missing and Unidentified Persons System'' or
``NamUs'', consistent with the following:
(1) The NamUs shall be a national information clearinghouse
and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed
person cases across the United States administered by the
National Institute of Justice and managed through an
agreement with an eligible entity.
(2) The NamUs shall coordinate or provide--
(A) online database technology which serves as a national
information clearinghouse to help expedite case associations
and resolutions;
(B) various free-of-charge forensic services to aid in the
identification of missing persons and unidentified remains;
(C) investigative support for criminal justice efforts to
help missing and unidentified person case resolutions;
(D) technical assistance for family members of missing
persons;
(E) assistance and training by coordinating State and local
service providers in order to support individuals and
families impacted by the loss or disappearance of a loved
one; and
(F) training and outreach from NamUs subject matter
experts, including assistance with planning and facilitating
Missing Person Day events across the country.
(b) Permissible Use of Funds.--
(1) In general.--The permissible use of funds awarded under
this section for the implementation and maintenance of the
agreement created in subparagraph (a)(1) include the use of
funds--
(A) to hire additional personnel to provide case support
and perform other core NamUs functions;
(B) to develop new technologies to facilitate timely data
entry into the relevant data bases;
(C) to conduct contracting activities relevant to core
NamUs services;
(D) to provide forensic analyses to support the
identification of missing and unidentified persons, to
include, but not limited to DNA typing, forensic odontology,
fingerprint examination, and forensic anthropology;
(E) to train State, local, and Tribal law enforcement
personnel and forensic medicine service providers to use
NamUs resources and best practices for the investigation of
missing and unidentified person cases;
(F) to assist States in providing information to the NCIC
database, the NamUs database, or any future database system
for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases;
(G) to report to law enforcement authorities in the
jurisdiction in which the remains were found information on
every deceased, unidentified person, regardless of age;
(H) to participate in Missing Person Days and other events
to directly support family members of the missing with NamUs
case entries and DNA collections;
(I) to provide assistance and training by coordinating
State and local service providers in order to support
individuals and families;
(J) to conduct data analytics and research projects for the
purpose of enhancing knowledge, best practices, and training
related to missing and unidentified person cases, as well as
developing NamUs system enhancements;
(K) to create and maintain a secure, online, nationwide
critical incident response tool for professionals that will
connect law enforcement, medico-legal and emergency
management professionals, as well as victims and families
during a critical incident; and
(L) for other purposes consistent with the goals of this
section.
(c) Amendments to the Crime Control Act of 1990 to Require
Reports of Missing Children to NamUs.--
(1) Reporting requirement.--Section 3701(a) of the Crime
Control Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 41307(a)) is amended by
striking the period and inserting the following: ``and,
consistent with section 3 (including rules
[[Page S7081]]
promulgated pursuant to section 3(c)) 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.''.
(2) State requirements.--Section 3702 of the Crime Control
Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 41308) 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'';
(B) in the matter following 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''; 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 enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. INFORMATION SHARING.
(a) Access to NCIC.--Not later than 1 year after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall, in
accordance with this section, provide access to the NCIC
Missing Person and Unidentified Person Files to the National
Institute of Justice or its designee administering the NamUs
program as a grantee or contractor, for the purpose of
reviewing missing and unidentified person records in NCIC for
case validation and NamUs data reconciliation.
(b) Electronic Data Sharing.--Not later than 6 months after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General
shall, in accordance with this section, have completed an
assessment of the NCIC and NamUs system architectures and
governing statutes, policies, and procedures and provide a
proposed plan for the secure and automatic data transmission
of missing and unidentified person records that are reported
to and entered into the NCIC database, with the following
criteria, to be electronically transmitted to the NamUs
system.
(1) Missing Person cases with an MNP (Missing Person) code
of CA (Child Abduction) or AA (Amber Alert) within 72 hours
of entry into NCIC;
(2) Missing Person cases with an MNP code EME (Endangered)
or EMI (Involuntary) within 30 days of entry into NCIC;
(3) All other Missing Person cases that have been active
(non-cancelled) in NCIC for 180 days;
(4) Unidentified person cases that have been active (non-
cancelled) in NCIC for 60 days;
(5) Once case data are transmitted to NamUs, cases are
marked as such within NCIC, and any updates to such cases
will be transmitted to NamUs within 24 hours.
(c) Rules on Confidentiality.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation
with the Director of the FBI, shall promulgate rules pursuant
to notice and comment that specify the information the
Attorney General may allow NamUs to access from the NCIC
Missing Person and Unidentified Person files or be
transmitted from the NCIC database to the NamUs databases for
purposes of this Act. Such rules shall--
(A) provide for the protection of confidential, private,
and law enforcement sensitive information contained in the
NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person files; and
(B) specify the circumstances in which access to portions
of information in the Missing Person and Unidentified Person
files may be withheld from the NamUs databases.
SEC. 4. 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 forensic medicine service providers, 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, and
offices of forensic medicine service providers 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. 5. 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 the process
of information sharing between the NCIC database and NamUs
databases.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) 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 in section 20.3 of title 28, Code of
Federal Regulations.
(2) FBI.--The term ``FBI'' means the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
(3) Forensic medicine service provider.--The term
``forensic medicine service provider'' means a State or unit
of local government forensic medicine service provider having
not fewer than 1 part-time or full-time employed forensic
pathologist, or forensic pathologist under contract, who
conducts medicolegal death investigations, including
examinations of human remains, and who provides reports or
opinion testimony with respect to such activity in courts of
law within the United States.
(4) Forensic science service provider.--The term ``forensic
science service provider'' means a State or unit of local
government agency having not fewer than 1 full-time analyst
who examines physical evidence in criminal or investigative
matters and provides reports or opinion testimony with
respect to such evidence in courts in the United States.
(5) 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, which serves as a clearinghouse and resource center
for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases.
(6) 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 FBI,
established pursuant to section 534 of title 28, United
States Code.
(7) Qualifying law enforcement agency defined.--The term
``qualifying law enforcement agency'' means a State, local,
or Tribal law enforcement agency.
(8) 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.
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