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Union Calendar No. 64 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1808 

[Report No. 115–110] 

To amend and improve the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Mr. GUTHRIE (for himself and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

MAY 4, 2017 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. MITCHELL, Mr. WALBERG, 

Ms. FOXX, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. TAKANO, 

Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

SABLAN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. POLIS, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. ROKITA

MAY 4, 2017 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 30, 2017] 


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A BILL 

To amend and improve the Missing Children’s Assistance 

Act, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Improving Support for 

5 Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Section 402 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 5771) is amended— 

9 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol10 lows: 

11 ‘‘(1) each year tens of thousands of children run 

12 away, or are abducted or removed, from the control 

13 of a parent having legal custody without such par14 ent’s consent, under circumstances which immediately 

15 place the child in grave danger;’’, 

16 (2) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5), 

17 (3) in paragraph (6) by inserting ‘‘, including 

18 child sex trafficking and sextortion’’ after ‘‘exploi19 tation’’, 

20 (4) in paragraph (8) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

21 end, 

22 (5) by striking paragraph (9), 

23 (6) by amending paragraph (10) to read as fol24 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(10) a key component of such programs is the 

2 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 

3 that— 

4 ‘‘(A) serves as a nonprofit, national re5 source center and clearinghouse to provide assist6 ance to victims, families, child-serving profes7 sionals, and the general public; 

8 ‘‘(B) works with the Department of Justice, 

9 the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United 

10 States Marshals Service, the Department of the 

11 Treasury, the Department of State, the United 

12 States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 

13 the United States Secret Service, the United 

14 States Postal Inspection Service, other agencies, 

15 and nongovernmental organizations in the effort 

16 to find missing children and to prevent child vic17 timization; and 

18 ‘‘(C) coordinates with each of the missing 

19 children clearinghouses operated by the 50 

20 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 

21 and international organizations to transmit im22 ages and information regarding missing and ex23 ploited children to law enforcement, nongovern24 mental organizations, and corporate partners 


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1 across the United States and around the world 

2 instantly.’’, and 

3 (7) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), (8), 

4 and (10) as paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7), respec5 tively. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 Section 403 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 5772) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘legal custodian’’ each place 

11 it appears and inserting ‘‘parent’’, 

12 (B) in subparagraph (A) by striking 

13 ‘‘custodian’s’’ and inserting ‘‘parent’s’’, and 

14 (C) in subparagraph (C) by striking the pe15 riod and the end and inserting a semicolon, 

16 (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

17 end, 

18 (3) in paragraph (3) by striking the period at 

19 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and 

20 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(4) the term ‘parent’ includes a legal guardian 

22 or other individual standing in loco parentis (such as 

23 a grandparent or stepparent with whom the child 

24 lives, or an individual who is legally responsible for 

25 the child’s welfare).’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATOR. 

2 Section 404 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 5773) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘telephone 

6 line’’ and inserting ‘‘hotline’’, and 

7 (B) in paragraph (6)(E)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone line’’ and in9 serting ‘‘hotline’’, 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘(b)(1)(A) and’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘(b)(1)(A),’’, and 

12 (iii) by inserting ‘‘, and the number 

13 and types of reports to the tipline estab14 lished under subsection (b)(1)(K)(i)’’ before 

15 the semicolon at the end, 

16 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

17 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

18 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone line’’ each 

19 place it appears and inserting ‘‘hotline’’, 

20 and 

21 (ii) by striking ‘‘legal custodian’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘parent’’, 

23 (B) in subparagraph (C)— 

24 (i) in clause (i)— 

25 (I) by striking ‘‘restaurant’’ and 

26 inserting ‘‘food’’, and 


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1 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end, 

2 (ii) in clause (ii) by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

3 the end, and 

4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(iii) innovative and model programs, 

7 services, and legislation that benefit missing 

8 and exploited children;’’, 

9 (C) by striking subparagraphs (E), (F), and 

10 (G), 

11 (D) by amending subparagraph (H) to read 

12 as follows: 

13 ‘‘(H) provide technical assistance and 

14 training to families, law enforcement agencies, 

15 State and local governments, elements of the 

16 criminal justice system, nongovernmental agen17 cies, local educational agencies, and the general 

18 public— 

19 ‘‘(i) in the prevention, investigation, 

20 prosecution, and treatment of cases involv21 ing missing and exploited children; 

22 ‘‘(ii) to respond to foster children miss23 ing from the State child welfare system in 

24 coordination with child welfare agencies 


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1 and courts handling juvenile justice and de2 pendency matters; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) in the identification, location, 

4 and recovery of victims of, and children at 

5 risk for, child sex trafficking;’’, 

6 (E) by amending subparagraphs (I), (J), 

7 and (K) to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(I) provide assistance to families, law en9 forcement agencies, State and local governments, 

10 nongovernmental agencies, child-serving profes11 sionals, and other individuals involved in the lo12 cation and recovery of missing and abducted 

13 children, both nationally, and in cooperation 

14 with the Department of State, internationally; 

15 ‘‘(J) provide support and technical assist16 ance to child-serving professionals involved in 

17 helping to recover missing and exploited children 

18 by searching public records databases to help in 

19 the identification, location, and recovery of such 

20 children, and help in the location and identifica21 tion of potential abductors and offenders; 

22 ‘‘(K) provide forensic and direct on-site 

23 technical assistance and consultation to families, 

24 law enforcement agencies, child-serving profes25 sionals, and nongovernmental organizations in 


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1 child abduction and exploitation cases, including 

2 facial reconstruction of skeletal remains and 

3 similar techniques to assist in the identification 

4 of unidentified deceased children;’’. 

5 (F) by striking subparagraphs (L) and (M), 

6 (G) by amending subparagraph (N) to read 

7 as follows: 

8 ‘‘(N) provide training, technical assistance, 

9 and information to nongovernmental organiza10 tions relating to non-compliant sex offenders and 

11 to law enforcement agencies in identifying and 

12 locating such individuals;’’, 

13 (H) by striking subparagraph (P), 

14 (I) by amending subparagraph (Q) to read 

15 as follows: 

16 ‘‘(Q) work with families, law enforcement 

17 agencies, electronic service providers, electronic 

18 payment service providers, technology companies, 

19 nongovernmental organizations, and others on 

20 methods to reduce the existence and distribution 

21 of online images and videos of sexually exploited 

22 children— 

23 ‘‘(i) by operating a tipline to provide 

24 to individuals and electronic service pro25 viders an effective means of reporting InterVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 May 04, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1808.RH H1808

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1 net-related and other instances of child sex2 ual exploitation in the areas of— 

3 ‘‘(I) possession, manufacture, and 

4 distribution of child pornography; 

5 ‘‘(II) online enticement of children 

6 for sexual acts; 

7 ‘‘(III) child sex trafficking; 

8 ‘‘(IV) sex tourism involving chil9 dren; 

10 ‘‘(V) extra familial child sexual 

11 molestation; 

12 ‘‘(VI) unsolicited obscene material 

13 sent to a child; 

14 ‘‘(VII) misleading domain names; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(VIII) misleading words or dig17 ital images on the Internet; 

18 and subsequently to make such reports 

19 available to the appropriate law enforce20 ment agency for its review and potential in21 vestigation; 

22 ‘‘(ii) by operating a child victim iden23 tification program to assist law enforcement 

24 agencies in identifying victims of child por25 nography and other sexual crimes to supVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:44 May 04, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1808.RH H1808

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1 port the recovery of children from sexually 

2 exploitative situations; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) by utilizing emerging tech4 nologies to provide additional outreach and 

5 educational materials to parents and fami6 lies;’’, 

7 (J) by striking subparagraph (R), 

8 (K) by amending subparagraphs (S) and 

9 (T) to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(S) develop and disseminate programs and 

11 information to families, child-serving profes12 sionals, law enforcement agencies, State and 

13 local governments, nongovernmental organiza14 tions, schools, local educational agencies, child15 serving organizations, and the general public 

16 on— 

17 ‘‘(i) the prevention of child abduction 

18 and sexual exploitation; 

19 ‘‘(ii) Internet safety, including tips for 

20 social media and cyberbullying; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) sexting and sextortion; and 

22 ‘‘(T) provide technical assistance and train23 ing to local educational agencies, schools, State 

24 and local law enforcement agencies, individuals, 

25 and other nongovernmental organizations that 


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1 assist with finding missing and abducted chil2 dren in identifying and recovering such chil3 dren.’’, and 

4 (L) by redesignating subparagraphs (H), 

5 (I), (J), (K), (N), (O), (Q), (S), (T), (U), and 

6 (V) as subparagraphs (E) through (O), respec7 tively. 

8 SEC. 5. GRANTS. 

9 Section 405 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 5775) is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (a)— 

12 (A) in paragraph (7) by striking ‘‘(as de13 fined in section 403(1)(A))’’, and 

14 (B) in paragraph (8)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘legal custodians’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘parents’’, and 

17 (ii) by striking ‘‘custodians’ ’’ and in18 serting ‘‘parents’ ’’, and 

19 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by striking ‘‘legal 

20 custodians’’ and inserting ‘‘parents’’. 

21 SEC. 6. REPORTING. 

22 The Missing Children’s Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5771 

23 et seq.) is amended— 

24 (1) by redesignating sections 407 and 408 as sec25 tion 408 and 409, respectively, and 


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1 (2) by inserting after section 406 the following: 

2 ‘‘SEC. 407. REPORTING. 

3 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED REPORTING.—As a condition of re4 ceiving funds under section 404(b), the grant recipient 

5 shall, based solely on reports received by the grantee and 

6 not involving any data collection by the grantee other than 

7 those reports, annually provide to the Administrator and 

8 make available to the general public, as appropriate— 

9 ‘‘(1) the number of children nationwide who are 

10 reported to the grantee as missing; 

11 ‘‘(2) the number of children nationwide who are 

12 reported to the grantee as victims of non-family ab13 ductions; 

14 ‘‘(3) the number of children nationwide who are 

15 reported to the grantee as victims of family abduc16 tions; and 

17 ‘‘(4) the number of missing children recovered 

18 nationwide whose recovery was reported to the grant19 ee. 

20 ‘‘(b) INCIDENCE OF ATTEMPTED CHILD ABDUC21 TIONS.—As a condition of receiving funds under section 

22 404(b), the grant recipient shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) track the incidence of attempted child ab24 ductions in order to identify links and patterns; 


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1 ‘‘(2) provide such information to law enforce2 ment agencies; and 

3 ‘‘(3) make such information available to the gen4 eral public, as appropriate.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 64 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1808 

[Report No. 115–110] 

A BILL 

To amend and improve the Missing Children’s 

Assistance Act, and for other purposes. 

MAY 4, 2017 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS