IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3695 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2010 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To authorize funding for, and 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, to provide incentive grants to 

help facilitate reporting to such systems, 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 ‘‘Help Find the Missing 

5 Act’’ or ‘‘Billy’s Law’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF THE NATIONAL MISSING AND 

7 UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS SYSTEM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, through 

9 the Director of the National Institute of Justice, is author10 ized to maintain public databases, known as the ‘‘National 

11 Missing and Unidentified Persons System’’ or ‘‘NamUs’’, 

12 to contain missing persons records and unidentified re13 mains cases for purposes of assisting to identify missing 

14 people and solve cases of unidentified human remains. All 

15 functions, personnel, assets, liabilities, and administrative 

16 actions applicable to the National Missing and Unidenti17 fied Persons System carried out by the National Institute 

18 of Justice on the date before the date of the enactment 

19 of this Act shall be transferred to the National Missing 

20 and Unidentified Persons System authorized under this 

21 section as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $2,400,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

25 2016. 


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1 SEC. 3. SHARING OF INFORMATION BETWEEN NCIC AND 

2 NAMUS. 

3 (a) SHARING OF INFORMATION.—Not later than the 

4 end of the 30-day period beginning on the date the online 

5 data entry format is updated under subsection (c), the At6 torney General shall, in accordance with this section, pro7 vide for information on missing persons and unidentified 

8 human remains contained in the NCIC database (as de9 fined in section 7) to be transmitted to, entered in, and 

10 otherwise shared with the NamUs databases (as defined 

11 in such section) and for such information contained in the 

12 NamUs databases to be transmitted to, entered in, and 

13 otherwise shared with the NCIC database. 

14 (b) RULES ON CONFIDENTIALITY.— 

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

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

17 General, in consultation with the Director of the 

18 Federal Bureau of Investigation (in this Act referred 

19 to as the ‘‘FBI’’), shall promulgate rules pursuant 

20 to notice and comment that specify the information 

21 the Attorney General may provide from the NCIC 

22 files to the NamUs databases for purposes of this 

23 Act. Such rules shall— 

24 (A) provide for the protection of law en25 forcement sensitive, confidential, and private in26 formation contained in the NCIC files; 


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1 (B) be promulgated only after the Director 

2 approves recommendations by the Advisory Pol3 icy Board of the Criminal Justice Information 

4 Services Division of the FBI; 

5 (C) specify the circumstances in which por6 tions of information may be withheld from 

7 transfer, entry, or sharing from the NCIC data8 base to the NamUs databases; and 

9 (D) provide that once an authorized agen10 cy provides an authorization to permit the 

11 transmission, entering, or sharing of informa12 tion (or portions of information) from the 

13 NCIC database to the NamUs databases, such 

14 authorization shall be deemed to apply to any 

15 updates made to such information, unless other16 wise specified by the agency. 

17 (2) SUBMISSIONS PRIOR TO ONLINE DATA

18 ENTRY FORMAT UPDATE.—With respect to informa19 tion submitted to the NCIC database before the end 

20 of the 30-day period specified in subsection (a), the 

21 Attorney General may solicit from appropriate au22 thorized agencies authorization to transmit, enter, or 

23 share such information. 

24 (c) UPDATES.— 


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

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

3 General shall update the online data entry format 

4 for the NCIC database and NamUs databases to 

5 provide State criminal justice agencies, offices of 

6 medical examiners, and offices of coroners with the 

7 option to authorize the submission of new informa8 tion and data that is reported to and entered into 

9 the NCIC database to simultaneously be submitted 

10 to and entered into the NamUs databases. 

11 (2) NCIC FORMAT.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the 

13 NCIC database, an update described in para14 graph (1) shall include— 

15 (i) an update to the NCIC database 

16 online data entry format that States use in 

17 submitting missing persons and unidenti18 fied remains reports, including the addition 

19 of a new data field allowing States, on be20 half of the authorized agency that origi21 nally submitted the data, to select whether 

22 or not to have the NCIC report, subject to 

23 the rules promulgated under subsection 

24 (b), shared with the NamUs databases; 

25 and 


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1 (ii) subject to subparagraph (B), a re2 quirement that as a condition of partici3 pating in the NCIC database, States must 

4 update their missing persons and unidenti5 fied remains collection processes from local 

6 and tribal law enforcement, medical exam7 iners, and coroners to enable the States to 

8 acquire information on whether or not the 

9 authorized agencies originally submitting 

10 data with respect to a missing person or 

11 unidentified remains have provided author12 ization to share the information with the 

13 NamUs databases. 

14 (B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A)(ii) 

15 shall not apply with respect to any State that 

16 has in effect a State law providing for a meth17 odology to authorize the sharing of information 

18 between the NCIC database and NamUs data19 bases. 

20 (d) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE XXXVII OF THE CRIME

21 CONTROL ACT OF 1990 TO REQUIRE REPORTS OF MISS22 ING CHILDREN TO NAMUS.— 

23 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 

24 3701(a) of title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act 

25 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779(a)) is amended by striking 


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1 the period and inserting the following: ‘‘and, con2 sistent with section 3 (including rules promulgated 

3 pursuant to section 3(b)) of the Help Find the Miss4 ing Act, shall also report such case, either directly 

5 or through authorization described in such section to 

6 transmit, enter, or share information on such case, 

7 to the NamUs databases (as defined in section 7 of 

8 such Act).’’. 

9 (2) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—Section 3702 of 

10 title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 

11 U.S.C. 5780) is amended— 

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

13 National Crime Information Center computer 

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

15 Information Center computer database, or the 

16 NamUs databases (as defined in section 7 of 

17 the Help Find the Missing Act)’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and the 

19 National Crime Information Center computer 

20 networks’’ and inserting ‘‘, the National Crime 

21 Information Center computer networks, and the 

22 NamUs databases (as so defined)’’; and 

23 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

24 (i) in the matter preceding subpara25 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘or the NamUs 


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1 databases’’ after ‘‘National Crime Informa2 tion Center’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘and National Crime Information Center 

5 computer networks’’ and inserting ‘‘, Na6 tional Crime Information Center computer 

7 networks, and the NamUs databases’’. 

8 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

9 by this subsection shall apply with respect to reports 

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

11 of this Act beginning on the last day of the 30-day 

12 period described in subsection (a). 

13 SEC. 4. INCENTIVE GRANTS PROGRAM. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

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

16 shall establish a program to provide grants to qualifying 

17 law enforcement agencies (as defined in subsection (j)), 

18 offices of coroners, offices of medical examiners, and other 

19 authorized agencies to facilitate the process of reporting 

20 information regarding missing persons and unidentified 

21 remains to the NCIC database and NamUs databases for 

22 purposes of assisting in locating such missing persons and 

23 identifying such remains. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—As a condition of a grant 

25 under this section, a grant recipient shall, with respect to 


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1 each case reported to the agency or office of the recipient 

2 relating to a missing person described in a category under 

3 subsection (e) or relating to unidentified remains— 

4 (1) not later than 72 hours after such case is 

5 reported to the agency or office and consistent with 

6 subsection (c), submit to the NCIC database and 

7 NamUs databases— 

8 (A) in the case of a missing person de9 scribed in a category under subsection (e), at 

10 least the minimum information described in 

11 subsection (f)(1); and 

12 (B) in the case of unidentified remains, at 

13 least the minimum information described in 

14 subsection (f)(2); and 

15 (2) not later than 60 days after the original 

16 entry of the report, verify and update any original 

17 report entered into the State law enforcement sys18 tem, the NCIC database, or NamUs databases after 

19 receipt of the grant with any additional information, 

20 including, to the greatest extent possible— 

21 (A) information on the extent to which 

22 DNA samples are available, including the avail23 ability of such samples submitted to the Na24 tional DNA Index System under subsection 

25 (b)(3); 


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1 (B) fingerprints, medical and dental 

2 records, and photographs of any distinguishing 

3 characteristics such as scars, marks, tattoos, 

4 piercings, and other unique physical character5 istics; 

6 (C) in the case of unidentified remains, 

7 photographs or digital images that may assist 

8 in identifying the decedent, including finger9 print cards, radiographs, palmprints, and dis10 tinctive features of the decedent’s personal ef11 fects; and 

12 (D) any other information determined to 

13 be appropriate by the Attorney General; and 

14 (3) not later than 60 days after the original 

15 entry of the report, to the greatest extent possible, 

16 submit to the National DNA Index System of the 

17 Federal Bureau of Investigation, established pursu18 ant to section 210304 of the Violent Crime Control 

19 and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, (either directly 

20 or through use of NamUs victims assistance re21 sources and DNA collection services) DNA samples 

22 and information relating to such case. 

23 For purposes of paragraph (2), in the case of information 

24 a grant recipient authorizes to be transferred, entered, or 

25 shared under section 3 between the NCIC database and 


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1 NamUs databases, any update to such information shall 

2 be simultaneously made with respect to both databases un3 less specified otherwise by the recipient. 

4 (c) SUBMISSION OF REPORTS.—To satisfy subsection 

5 (b)(1), a recipient of a grant under this section shall sub6 mit information required under such subsection— 

7 (1) separately to the NCIC database and 

8 NamUs databases; or 

9 (2) in accordance with section 3, simultaneously 

10 to the NamUs databases when reporting to the 

11 NCIC database or to the NCIC database when re12 porting to the NamUs databases. 

13 (d) PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The permissible uses of 

15 grants awarded under this section include the use of 

16 funds— 

17 (A) to hire additional personnel, to acquire 

18 technology to facilitate timely data entry into 

19 the relevant databases; 

20 (B) to conduct contracting activities rel21 evant to outsourcing the processing of unidenti22 fied remains and the reporting of the resulting 

23 information to the NCIC database and NamUs 

24 databases; 


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1 (C) to train local law enforcement per2 sonnel, medical examiners, and coroners to use 

3 the NCIC database and NamUs databases; 

4 (D) to assist States’ transition into the 

5 new system under which information is shared 

6 between the NCIC database and NamUs data7 bases; and 

8 (E) for other purposes consistent with the 

9 goals of this section. 

10 (2) CLARIFICATION.—In no case may a recipi11 ent of a grant under this section use funds to enter 

12 or help facilitate the entrance of any false or mis13 leading information about missing persons or un14 identified remains. 

15 (e) CATEGORIES OF MISSING PERSONS.—The cat16 egories of missing persons described in this subsection are 

17 the following: 

18 (1) A missing person age 21 or older who— 

19 (A) is senile or is suffering from a proven 

20 mental or physical disability, as documented by 

21 a source deemed credible to an appropriate law 

22 enforcement entity; or 

23 (B) is missing under circumstances that 

24 indicate, as determined by an appropriate law 

25 enforcement entity— 


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1 (i) that the person’s physical safety 

2 may be endangered; 

3 (ii) that the disappearance may not 

4 have been voluntary, such as abduction or 

5 kidnapping; or 

6 (iii) that the disappearance may have 

7 been caused by a natural disaster or catas8 trophe (such as an airplane crash or ter9 rorist attack). 

10 (2) A missing person who does not meet the cri11 teria described in paragraph (1) but who meets one 

12 of the following criteria: 

13 (A) There is a reasonable concern, as de14 termined by an appropriate law enforcement en15 tity, for the safety of the missing person. 

16 (B) The person is under age 21 and eman17 cipated under the laws of the person’s State of 

18 residence. 

19 (f) MINIMUM INFORMATION REQUIRED.— 

20 (1) CONTENT FOR MISSING PERSONS.—The 

21 minimum information described in this section, with 

22 respect to a missing person, is the following: 

23 (A) The name, date of birth, city and 

24 State of residence, gender, race, height, weight, 

25 eye color, and hair color of the missing person. 


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1 (B) The date and location of the last 

2 known contact with the missing person. 

3 (C) The category described in subsection 

4 (e) in which the missing person is classified. 

5 (2) CONTENT FOR UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN RE6 MAINS.—The minimum information described in this 

7 section, with respect to unidentified human remains, 

8 is the following: 

9 (A) The estimated age, gender, race, 

10 height, weight, hair color, and eye color. 

11 (B) Any distinguishing characteristics such 

12 as scars, marks, tattoos, piercings, and other 

13 unique physical characteristics. 

14 (C) A description of clothing found on the 

15 decedent. 

16 (D) City and State where the unidentified 

17 human remains were found. 

18 (E) Information on how to contact the law 

19 enforcement agency handling the investigation 

20 and the unidentified human remains. 

21 (F) Information on the extent to which 

22 DNA samples are available, including the avail23 ability of such samples submitted to the Na24 tional DNA Index System under subsection 

25 (b)(3). 


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1 (g) ADMINISTRATION.—The Attorney General shall 

2 prescribe requirements, including with respect to applica3 tions, for grants awarded under this section and shall de4 termine the amount of each such grant. 

5 (h) CONFIDENTIALITY.—As a condition of a grant 

6 under this section, the recipient of the grant shall ensure 

7 that information reported under the grant meets the re8 quirements promulgated by the Attorney General under 

9 section 3(b)(1). 

10 (i) ANNUAL SUMMARY.—For each of the fiscal years 

11 2012 through 2015, the Attorney General shall publish 

12 an annual statistical summary of the reports required by 

13 subsection (c). 

14 (j) QUALIFYING LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY DE15 FINED.—For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘qualifying 

16 law enforcement agency’’ means a State, local, or tribal 

17 law enforcement agency. 

18 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

20 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 

21 2015. 

22 SEC. 5. REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES. 

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

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

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1 eral, State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies de2 scribing the best practices for the collection, reporting, 

3 and analysis of data and information on missing persons 

4 and unidentified human remains. Such best practices 

5 shall— 

6 (1) provide an overview of the NCIC database 

7 and NamUs databases; 

8 (2) describe how local law enforcement agen9 cies, offices of medical examiners, and offices of 

10 coroners should access and use the NCIC database 

11 and NamUs databases; 

12 (3) describe the appropriate and inappropriate 

13 uses of the NCIC database and NamUs databases; 

14 and 

15 (4) describe the standards and protocols for the 

16 collection, reporting, and analysis of data and infor17 mation on missing persons and unidentified human 

18 remains. 

19 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

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

22 the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on 

23 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the 

24 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate a report deVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:19 Feb 24, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.RFS H3695

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1 scribing the status of the NCIC database and NamUs 

2 databases. 

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

4 (a) shall describe, to the extent available, information 

5 on— 

6 (1) the process of information sharing between 

7 the NCIC database and NamUs databases; and 

8 (2) the programs funded by grants awarded 

9 under section 4. 

10 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

11 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

12 apply: 

13 (a) AUTHORIZED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘authorized 

14 agency’’ means a government agency with an originating 

15 agency identification (ORI) number and that is a criminal 

16 justice agency, as defined for purposes of subpart A of 

17 part 20 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations. 

18 (b) NAMUS DATABASES.—The term ‘‘NamUs data19 bases’’ means the National Missing and Unidentified Per20 sons System Missing Persons database and National Miss21 ing and Unidentified Persons System Unidentified Dece22 dents database maintained by the National Institute of 

23 Justice of the Department of Justice. 

24 (c) NCIC DATABASE.—The term ‘‘NCIC database’’ 

25 means the National Crime Information Center Missing 


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1 Person File and National Crime Information Center Un2 identified Person File of the National Crime Information 

3 Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 

4 established pursuant to section 534 of title 28, United 

5 States Code. 

6 (d) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any State of 

7 the United States, the District of Columbia, the Common8 wealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American 

9 Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

10 Mariana Islands. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 23, 

2010. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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