I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4129 

To amend the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require certification of State 

and law enforcement agency reports related to missing children and 

to require that certain information be provided to individuals reporting 

a missing child, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2009 

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. CONYERS, and 

Mr. CARDOZA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Crime Control Act of 1990 to require certification of State and law enforcement agency reports related to missing children and to require that certain 

information be provided to individuals reporting a missing child, 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 the ‘‘Runaway Reporting 

5 Improvement Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MISSING CHILDREN REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

2 Section 3701 of title XXXVII of the Crime Control 

3 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779) is amended— 

4 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘(b) GUIDELINES.—The Attorney General— 

7 ‘‘(1) may establish guidelines for the collection 

8 of such reports including procedures for carrying out 

9 the purposes of this Act; and 

10 ‘‘(2) shall establish guidelines for the format 

11 and collection of the certifications required under 

12 subsection (d).’’; 

13 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL SUMMARY.—The Attorney General 

16 shall publish in the Federal Register and make available 

17 on the website of the Department of Justice— 

18 ‘‘(1) an annual statistical summary of the re19 ports received under this section and section 3702; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(2) not later than 18 months after the date of 

22 enactment of the Runaway Reporting Improvement 

23 Act of 2009, a summary of the certifications re24 quired under subsection (d).’’; and 

25 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub26 section: 


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1 ‘‘(d) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—Not later 

2 than 18 months after the date of enactment of the Run3 away Reporting Improvement Act of 2009, each Federal, 

4 State, and local law enforcement agency reporting under 

5 the provisions of this section and section 3702 shall file 

6 a certification of the agency’s compliance with such sec7 tions, which shall be signed by an authorized representa8 tive of the agency and submitted to the Attorney Gen9 eral.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. STATE REQUIREMENTS FOR REPORTING. 

11 Section 3702 of title XXXVII of the Crime Control 

12 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5780) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘Each State reporting’’ and in14 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State reporting’’; 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the 

16 end of paragraph (2); 

17 (3) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the 

18 end of paragraph (3); 

19 (4) by striking the period at the end of para20 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

21 (5) by adding after paragraph (4) the following 

22 new paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(5) not later than one year after the date of 

24 enactment of the Runaway Reporting Improvement 

25 Act of 2009, develop, and require State and local 


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1 law enforcement officers in such State to dissemi2 nate, a written information sheet to be provided to 

3 each individual who reports a missing child to such 

4 an officer after such date, which shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be submitted to the Department of 

6 Justice for approval, and approved by the De7 partment, before such date; 

8 ‘‘(B) include, at a minimum, the 24-hour, 

9 toll-free phone numbers for the National Center 

10 for Missing and Exploited Children and the Na11 tional Runaway Switchboard; and 

12 ‘‘(C) provide a description of the services 

13 that the National Center for Missing and Ex14 ploited Children and the National Runaway 

15 Switchboard provide to the parents and guard16 ians of missing children.’’; and 

17 (6) by adding at the end the following new sub18 sections: 

19 ‘‘(b) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORTING RE20 QUIREMENT.—The Department of Justice shall meet the 

21 requirements of paragraph (5) of subsection (a), except 

22 that the Department shall not be required to meet the re23 quirements of subparagraph (A) of such paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(c) GUIDELINES.—The Attorney General shall es25 tablish guidelines for the development and dissemination 


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1 of information sheets required under subsections (a)(5) 

2 and (b).’’. 

Æ 


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