I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3940

To provide funds for postage for mailing of information on active stranger

abduction investigations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 2, 1994

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself and Mr. DICKEY) introduced the following bill;

which was referred jointly to the Committees on Post Office and Civil

Service, the Judiciary, and House Administration

A BILL

To provide funds for postage for mailing of information

on active stranger abduction investigations.

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 ‘‘Polly Klaas Child Res5 cue Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) stranger abductions of children are a tragic

9 reality in the United States, and the story of Polly
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1 Hannah Klaas is yet another frightening example of

2 the presence of child abduction in our society;

3 (2) the leads that have resulted in the success4 ful recovery of children have often been the result of

5 the distribution of pictures of and information about

6 abducted children or their abductors;

7 (3) sophisticated and comprehensive mailing

8 lists have been compiled by abduction experts, but

9 the ability to utilize the lists to distribute pertinent

10 information in a prompt manner is often imperiled

11 by an initial lack of funds for postage;

12 (4) the necessary costs to mail information

13 about abducted children nationwide are often too

14 great for families and their communities to provide

15 in a prompt manner; therefore, there is often a delay

16 in mailing out crucial information which could suc17 cessfully lead to the recovery of the child; and

18 (5) the Federal Bureau of Investigation does

19 not use its resources to post information in public

20 places, such as hospitals, community centers, etc.,

21 about children abducted by strangers.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR POST2 AGE FOR MAILING OF INFORMATION ON AC3 TIVE STRANGER ABDUCTION INVESTIGA4 TIONS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro6 priated for each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year

7 1995, for the purpose described in subsection (b), an

8 amount equal to two percent of the amount appropriated

9 for official mail costs of the House of Representatives for

10 fiscal year 1994, adjusted for any increase in first-class

11 postage rates.

12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose referred to in subsection

13 (a) is the payment of first-class postage for mailing of in14 formation on active investigations of children abducted by

15 strangers.

16 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds may be used by the Fed17 eral Bureau of Investigation to pay the Postal Service for

18 postage to be used by any local entity engaged in the

19 search for a child abducted by a stranger. In the event

20 that no local entity exists, the Federal Bureau of Inves21 tigation may use postage.

22 (d) RESTRICTION OF FUNDS.—Funds shall not be

23 used unless the Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves24 tigation determines, to the best of the Director’s ability,

25 that—

26 (1) a stranger abduction has occurred;
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1 (2) the stranger abduction involved occurred

2 not more than one year before the date of the deter3 mination;

4 (3) the mailing will benefit the investigation;

5 (4) an accurate and appropriate mailing list is

6 available for the mailing; and

7 (5) funds are not immediately available and a

8 delay in the mailing would be harmful to the inves9 tigation.

10 (e) LIMITATION.—The amount that may be spent on

11 mailings is limited to $15,000 per abducted child.

12 SEC. 4. EMERGENCY FISCAL YEAR 1994 FUNDING.

13 Two percent of the amount appropriated for official

14 mail costs of the House of Representatives for fiscal year

15 1994 shall be made available for that fiscal year to the

16 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the

17 purpose described in section 3(b).

18 SEC. 5. FUNDING LEVEL FOR LATER FISCAL YEARS.

19 If, for any fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 1995,

20 the amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization in

21 section 3 is less than the authorized amount, the dif22 ference may be paid from the amount appropriated for of23 ficial mail costs of the House of Representatives for the

24 fiscal year involved.
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1 SEC. 6. PROMPT IMPLEMENTATION OF MAILINGS.

2 In instances in which the Director of the Federal Bu3 reau of Investigation makes the determination defined in

4 section 3(d), the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall

5 transfer immediately the necessary funds for mailing to

6 the Postal Service. Upon receiving the necessary funds

7 from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Postal Serv8 ice will expedite the mailing.

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