II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1940 

To create a national register of cases of child abuse or neglect. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 31, 2005 

Mr. KYL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To create a national register of cases of child abuse or 

neglect. 

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 the ‘‘Childhelp National 

5 Registry Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL REGISTER OF CASES OF CHILD ABUSE 

7 OR NEGLECT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in con9 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv10 ices, shall create a national register of cases of child abuse 

11 or neglect. 
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1 (b) INFORMATION.— 

2 (1) COLLECTION.—The information in the reg3 ister described in subsection (a) shall be supplied by 

4 States and Indian tribes, or, at the option of a 

5 State, by political subdivisions of such State, to the 

6 Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

7 (2) TYPE OF INFORMATION.—The register de8 scribed in subsection (a) shall collect in a central 

9 electronic database information on children reported 

10 to a State, Indian tribe, or political subdivision of a 

11 State as abused or neglected. 

12 (c) SCOPE OF INFORMATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

14 (A) TREATMENT OF REPORTS.—The infor15 mation to be provided to the Secretary of 

16 Health and Human Services under this Act 

17 shall relate to substantiated reports of child 

18 abuse or neglect. Except as provided in sub19 paragraph (B), each State and Indian tribe, or, 

20 at the option of a State, each political subdivi21 sion of such State, shall determine whether the 

22 information to be provided to the Secretary of 

23 Health and Human Services under this Act 

24 shall also relate to reports of suspected in-
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1 stances of child abuse or neglect that were un2 substantiated or determined to be unfounded. 

3 (B) EXCEPTION.—If a State, Indian tribe, 

4 or political subdivision of a State has an elec5 tronic register of cases of child abuse or neglect 

6 equivalent to the register established under this 

7 Act that it maintains pursuant to a requirement 

8 or authorization under any other provision of 

9 law, the information provided to the Secretary 

10 of Health and Human Services under this Act 

11 shall be coextensive with that in such register. 

12 (2) FORM.—Information provided to the Sec13 retary of Health and Human Services under this 

14 Act— 

15 (A) shall be in a standardized electronic 

16 form determined by the Secretary of Health 

17 and Human Services; and 

18 (B) shall contain case-specific identifying 

19 information, except that, at the option of the 

20 entity supplying the information, the confiden21 tiality of identifying information concerning an 

22 individual initiating a report or complaint re23 garding a suspected or known instance of child 

24 abuse or neglect may be maintained. 
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1 (d) CONSTRUCTION.—This Act shall not be construed 

2 to require a State, Indian tribe, or political subdivision of 

3 a State to modify— 

4 (1) an equivalent register of cases of child 

5 abuse or neglect that it maintains pursuant to a re6 quirement or authorization under any other provi7 sion of law; or 

8 (2) any other record relating to child abuse or 

9 neglect, regardless of whether the report of abuse or 

10 neglect was substantiated, unsubstantiated, or deter11 mined to be unfounded. 

12 (e) DISSEMINATION.—The Attorney General, in con13 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv14 ices, shall establish standards for the dissemination of in15 formation in the national register of cases of child abuse 

16 or neglect. Such standards shall preserve the confiden17 tiality of records in order to protect the rights of the child 

18 and the parents or guardians of the child while also ensur19 ing that Federal, local, and tribal government entities have 

20 access to such information in order to carry out their re21 sponsibilities under the law to protect children from abuse 

22 and neglect. 

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
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1 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006 and 

2 succeeding fiscal years. 

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