[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9491 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9491
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 12, 2022
Mrs. Hayes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
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,
medicolegal 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 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.
<all>
Help Find the Missing Act
#9491 | HR Congress #117
Policy Area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects:
Last Action: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. (12/12/2022)
Bill Text Source: Congress.gov
Summary and Impacts
Original Text