II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 8, 2022 

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, 

and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Billy’s Law’’ or the ‘‘Help 

5 Find the Missing Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL MISSING AND 

2 UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS SYSTEM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, shall main4 tain the ‘‘National Missing and Unidentified Persons Sys5 tem’’ or ‘‘NamUs’’, consistent with the following: 

6 (1) The NamUs shall be a national information 

7 clearinghouse and resource center for missing, un8 identified, and unclaimed person cases across the 

9 United States administered by the National Institute 

10 of Justice and managed through an agreement with 

11 an eligible entity. 

12 (2) The NamUs shall coordinate or provide— 

13 (A) online database technology which 

14 serves as a national information clearinghouse 

15 to help expedite case associations and resolu16 tions; 

17 (B) various free-of-charge forensic services 

18 to aid in the identification of missing persons 

19 and unidentified remains; 

20 (C) investigative support for criminal jus21 tice efforts to help missing and unidentified 

22 person case resolutions; 

23 (D) technical assistance for family mem24 bers of missing persons; 

25 (E) assistance and training by coordi26 nating State and local service providers in order 


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1 to support individuals and families impacted by 

2 the loss or disappearance of a loved one; and 

3 (F) training and outreach from NamUs 

4 subject matter experts, including assistance 

5 with planning and facilitating Missing Person 

6 Day events across the country. 

7 (b) PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The permissible use of funds 

9 awarded under this section for the implementation 

10 and maintenance of the agreement created in sub11 paragraph (a)(1) include the use of funds— 

12 (A) to hire additional personnel to provide 

13 case support and perform other core NamUs 

14 functions; 

15 (B) to develop new technologies to facili16 tate timely data entry into the relevant data 

17 bases; 

18 (C) to conduct contracting activities rel19 evant to core NamUs services; 

20 (D) to provide forensic analyses to support 

21 the identification of missing and unidentified 

22 persons, to include, but not limited to DNA 

23 typing, forensic odontology, fingerprint exam24 ination, and forensic anthropology; 


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1 (E) to train State, local, and Tribal law 

2 enforcement personnel and forensic medicine 

3 service providers to use NamUs resources and 

4 best practices for the investigation of missing 

5 and unidentified person cases; 

6 (F) to assist States in providing informa7 tion to the NCIC database, the NamUs data8 base, or any future database system for miss9 ing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases; 

10 (G) to report to law enforcement authori11 ties in the jurisdiction in which the remains 

12 were found information on every deceased, un13 identified person, regardless of age; 

14 (H) to participate in Missing Person Days 

15 and other events to directly support family 

16 members of the missing with NamUs case en17 tries and DNA collections; 

18 (I) to provide assistance and training by 

19 coordinating State and local service providers in 

20 order to support individuals and families; 

21 (J) to conduct data analytics and research 

22 projects for the purpose of enhancing knowl23 edge, best practices, and training related to 

24 missing and unidentified person cases, as well 

25 as developing NamUs system enhancements; 


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1 (K) to create and maintain a secure, on2 line, nationwide critical incident response tool 

3 for professionals that will connect law enforce4 ment, medico-legal and emergency management 

5 professionals, as well as victims and families 

6 during a critical incident; and 

7 (L) for other purposes consistent with the 

8 goals of this section. 

9 (c) AMENDMENTS TO THE CRIME CONTROL ACT OF

10 1990 TO REQUIRE REPORTS OF MISSING CHILDREN TO

11 NAMUS.— 

12 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 

13 3701(a) of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (34 

14 U.S.C. 41307(a)) is amended by striking the period 

15 and inserting the following: ‘‘and, consistent with 

16 section 3 (including rules promulgated pursuant to 

17 section 3(c)) of the Help Find the Missing Act, shall 

18 also report such case, either directly or through au19 thorization described in such section to transmit, 

20 enter, or share information on such case, to the 

21 NamUs databases.’’. 

22 (2) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—Section 3702 of 

23 the Crime Control Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 41308) 

24 is amended— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or the 

2 National Crime Information Center computer 

3 database’’ and inserting ‘‘, the National Crime 

4 Information Center computer database, or the 

5 NamUs databases’’; 

6 (B) in the matter following paragraph (3), 

7 by striking ‘‘and the National Crime Informa8 tion Center computer networks’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘, the National Crime Information Center com10 puter networks, and the NamUs databases’’; 

11 and 

12 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

13 (i) in the matter preceding subpara14 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘or the NamUs 

15 databases’’ after ‘‘National Crime Informa16 tion Center’’; and 

17 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

18 ‘‘and National Crime Information Center 

19 computer networks’’ and inserting ‘‘, Na20 tional Crime Information Center computer 

21 networks, and the NamUs databases’’. 

22 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

23 by this subsection shall apply with respect to reports 

24 made before, on, or after the date of enactment of 

25 this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. INFORMATION SHARING. 

2 (a) ACCESS TO NCIC.—Not later than 1 year after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

4 shall, in accordance with this section, provide access to 

5 the NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Files 

6 to the National Institute of Justice or its designee admin7 istering the NamUs program as a grantee or contractor, 

8 for the purpose of reviewing missing and unidentified per9 son records in NCIC for case validation and NamUs data 

10 reconciliation. 

11 (b) ELECTRONIC DATA SHARING.—Not later than 6 

12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attor13 ney General shall, in accordance with this section, have 

14 completed an assessment of the NCIC and NamUs system 

15 architectures and governing statutes, policies, and proce16 dures and provide a proposed plan for the secure and auto17 matic data transmission of missing and unidentified per18 son records that are reported to and entered into the 

19 NCIC database, with the following criteria, to be electroni20 cally transmitted to the NamUs system. 

21 (1) Missing Person cases with an MNP (Miss22 ing Person) code of CA (Child Abduction) or AA 

23 (Amber Alert) within 72 hours of entry into NCIC; 

24 (2) Missing Person cases with an MNP code 

25 EME (Endangered) or EMI (Involuntary) within 30 

26 days of entry into NCIC; 


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1 (3) All other Missing Person cases that have 

2 been active (non-cancelled) in NCIC for 180 days; 

3 (4) Unidentified person cases that have been 

4 active (non-cancelled) in NCIC for 60 days; 

5 (5) Once case data are transmitted to NamUs, 

6 cases are marked as such within NCIC, and any up7 dates to such cases will be transmitted to NamUs 

8 within 24 hours. 

9 (c) RULES ON CONFIDENTIALITY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen12 eral, in consultation with the Director of the FBI, 

13 shall promulgate rules pursuant to notice and com14 ment that specify the information the Attorney Gen15 eral may allow NamUs to access from the NCIC 

16 Missing Person and Unidentified Person files or be 

17 transmitted from the NCIC database to the NamUs 

18 databases for purposes of this Act. Such rules 

19 shall— 

20 (A) provide for the protection of confiden21 tial, private, and law enforcement sensitive in22 formation contained in the NCIC Missing Per23 son and Unidentified Person files; and 

24 (B) specify the circumstances in which ac25 cess to portions of information in the Missing 


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1 Person and Unidentified Person files may be 

2 withheld from the NamUs databases. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES. 

4 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act, the Attorney General shall issue a report to 

6 offices of forensic medicine service providers, and Federal, 

7 State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies describ8 ing the best practices for the collection, reporting, and 

9 analysis of data and information on missing persons and 

10 unidentified human remains. Such best practices shall— 

11 (1) provide an overview of the NCIC database 

12 and NamUs databases; 

13 (2) describe how local law enforcement agen14 cies, and offices of forensic medicine service pro15 viders should access and use the NCIC database and 

16 NamUs databases; 

17 (3) describe the appropriate and inappropriate 

18 uses of the NCIC database and NamUs databases; 

19 and 

20 (4) describe the standards and protocols for the 

21 collection, reporting, and analysis of data and infor22 mation on missing persons and unidentified human 

23 remains. 


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1 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act and biennially thereafter, 

4 the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on 

5 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the 

6 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a report de7 scribing the status of the NCIC database and NamUs 

8 databases. 

9 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required by subsection 

10 (a) shall describe, to the extent available, information on 

11 the process of information sharing between the NCIC 

12 database and NamUs databases. 

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) AUTHORIZED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘author16 ized agency’’ means a Government agency with an 

17 originating agency identification (ORI) number and 

18 that is a criminal justice agency, as defined in sec19 tion 20.3 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations. 

20 (2) FBI.—The term ‘‘FBI’’ means the Federal 

21 Bureau of Investigation. 

22 (3) FORENSIC MEDICINE SERVICE PROVIDER.— 

23 The term ‘‘forensic medicine service provider’’ means 

24 a State or unit of local government forensic medicine 

25 service provider having not fewer than 1 part-time 

26 or full-time employed forensic pathologist, or forenVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Dec 09, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5230.CPS S5230

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1 sic pathologist under contract, who conducts 

2 medicolegal death investigations, including examina3 tions of human remains, and who provides reports or 

4 opinion testimony with respect to such activity in 

5 courts of law within the United States. 

6 (4) FORENSIC SCIENCE SERVICE PROVIDER.— 

7 The term ‘‘forensic science service provider’’ means 

8 a State or unit of local government agency having 

9 not fewer than 1 full-time analyst who examines 

10 physical evidence in criminal or investigative matters 

11 and provides reports or opinion testimony with re12 spect to such evidence in courts in the United 

13 States. 

14 (5) NAMUS DATABASES.—The term ‘‘NamUs 

15 databases’’ means the National Missing and Uniden16 tified Persons System Missing Persons database and 

17 National Missing and Unidentified Persons System 

18 Unidentified Decedents database maintained by the 

19 National Institute of Justice of the Department of 

20 Justice, which serves as a clearinghouse and re21 source center for missing, unidentified, and un22 claimed person cases. 

23 (6) NCIC DATABASE.—The term ‘‘NCIC data24 base’’ means the National Crime Information Center 

25 Missing Person File and National Crime InformaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Dec 09, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5230.CPS S5230

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1 tion Center Unidentified Person File of the National 

2 Crime Information Center database of the FBI, es3 tablished pursuant to section 534 of title 28, United 

4 States Code. 

5 (7) QUALIFYING LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

6 DEFINED.—The term ‘‘qualifying law enforcement 

7 agency’’ means a State, local, or Tribal law enforce8 ment agency. 

9 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

10 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

11 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is12 lands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Common13 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

Æ 


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