I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8466 

To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold case murders 

at the instance of certain persons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 

Mr. SWALWELL of California (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for a system for reviewing the case files of cold 

case murders at the instance of certain persons, 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 ‘‘Homicide Victims’ 

5 Families’ Rights Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CASE FILE REVIEW. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An applicable agency shall review 

8 the case file regarding a cold case murder upon written 

9 application by a designated person to determine if a full 


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1 reinvestigation would result in probative investigative 

2 leads. 

3 (b) REVIEW.—The case file review shall include— 

4 (1) an analysis of what investigative steps or 

5 follow-up steps may have been missed in the initial 

6 investigation; 

7 (2) an assessment of whether witnesses should 

8 be interviewed or reinterviewed; 

9 (3) an examination of physical evidence to see 

10 if all appropriate forensic testing and analysis was 

11 performed in the first instance or if additional test12 ing might produce information relevant to the inves13 tigation; and 

14 (4) a modernization of the file to bring it up to 

15 current investigative standards to the extent it would 

16 help develop probative leads. 

17 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the re18 view required by subsection (a) shall not have previously 

19 investigated the murder at issue. 

20 (d) ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—The applicable agency 

21 shall confirm in writing receipt of the request provided for 

22 under subsection (a). 

23 (e) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE24 VIEWS.—Only one case review shall be undertaken at any 

25 one time with respect to the same cold case murder victim. 


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1 (f) TIME LIMIT.—No later than six months after the 

2 receipt of the written application submitted pursuant to 

3 subsection (a), the applicable agency shall conclude its 

4 case file review and reach a conclusion about whether or 

5 not a full reinvestigation under section 5 is warranted. 

6 (g) EXTENSIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency may 

8 extend the limit in subsection (f) for periods of time 

9 not to exceed six months if said agency makes a 

10 finding that the number of case files to be reviewed 

11 make it impracticable to comply with said limit with12 out unreasonably taking resources from other law 

13 enforcement activities. 

14 (2) ACTIONS SUBSEQUENT TO WAIVER.—For 

15 cases for which the time limit in subsection (f) is ex16 tended, the applicable agency shall provide notice 

17 and an explanation of its reasoning to the des18 ignated person who filed the written application pur19 suant to this section. 

20 SEC. 3. APPLICATION. 

21 Each agency shall develop a written application to be 

22 used for designated persons to request a case file review 

23 under section 2. 


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1 SEC. 4. NOTICE. 

2 Each agency shall provide notice of the rights under 

3 this Act to designated persons as soon as is reasonable 

4 after being made aware of a murder. 

5 SEC. 5. FULL REINVESTIGATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con7 duct a full reinvestigation of the cold case murder at issue 

8 if the review of the case file required by section 2 con9 cludes that a full reinvestigation of such cold case murder 

10 would result in probative investigative leads. 

11 (b) REINVESTIGATION.—A full reinvestigation shall 

12 include analyzing all evidence regarding the cold case mur13 der at issue for the purpose of developing probative inves14 tigative leads as to the perpetrator. 

15 (c) REVIEWER.—The person or persons doing the full 

16 reinvestigation required by subsection (a) shall not have 

17 previously investigated the murder at issue, except for the 

18 case file review pursuant to section 2. 

19 (d) PROHIBITION ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT RE20 VIEWS.—Only one full reinvestigation shall be undertaken 

21 at any one time with respect to the same cold case murder 

22 victim. 

23 SEC. 6. CONSULTATION AND UPDATES. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The applicable agency shall con25 sult with the designated person who filed the written appli26 cation pursuant to section 2 and provide him or her with 


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1 periodic updates during the case file review and full re2 investigation. 

3 (b) EXPLANATION OF CONCLUSION.—The applicable 

4 agency shall explain to the designated person who filed 

5 the written application pursuant to section 2 its decision 

6 whether or not to engage in the full reinvestigation pro7 vided for under section 5 at the conclusion of the case 

8 file review. 

9 SEC. 7. SUBSEQUENT REVIEWS. 

10 (a) CASE FILE REVIEW.—If a case file review is done 

11 and a conclusion is reached not to conduct a full reinves12 tigation, no additional case file review shall be undertaken 

13 for a period of five years. 

14 (b) FULL REINVESTIGATION.—If a full reinvestiga15 tion is done and a suspect is not identified at its conclu16 sion, no additional case file review or full reinvestigation 

17 shall be undertaken for a period of five years. 

18 SEC. 8. DATA COLLECTION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning three years after enact20 ment of this Act, the National Institute of Justice shall 

21 publish annually statistics on the number of cold cases. 

22 (b) MANNER OF PUBLICATION.—The statistics pub23 lished pursuant to subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be 

24 broken down by the type of crime and agency. 


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1 SEC. 9. PROCEDURES TO PROMOTE COMPLIANCE. 

2 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal 

4 agency shall promulgate regulations to enforce the rights 

5 of designated persons and to ensure compliance by respon6 sible officials with the obligations described in this Act. 

7 (b) PROCEDURES.—The regulations promulgated 

8 under subsection (a) shall— 

9 (1) designate an administrative authority within 

10 the agency to receive and investigate complaints re11 lating to the provision or violation of the rights of 

12 designated persons; 

13 (2) require a course of training for employees 

14 and offices of agencies within the agency regarding 

15 the rights under this Act; 

16 (3) contain disciplinary sanctions, including 

17 suspension or termination from employment, for em18 ployees of the agency who willfully or wantonly fail 

19 to comply with this Act; 

20 (4) establish a process for investigations into 

21 the conduct of those no longer employed by the Fed22 eral Government when a complaint is filed and a 

23 process for referrals of recommended sanctions with 

24 respect to such conduct to the appropriate State bar 

25 or other licensing body; and 


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1 (5) provide that the head of the agency, or the 

2 designee thereof, shall be the final arbiter of the 

3 complaint, and that there shall be no judicial review 

4 of the final decision of the head of the agency by a 

5 complainant. 

6 SEC. 10. WITHHOLDING INFORMATION. 

7 Nothing in this Act shall require an agency to provide 

8 information that would endanger the safety of any person, 

9 unreasonably impede an ongoing investigation, violate a 

10 court order, or violate legal obligations regarding privacy. 

11 SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY. 

12 This Act applies in the case of any murder occurring 

13 on or after January 1, 1970. 

14 SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) The term ‘‘designated person’’ means an 

17 immediate family member or someone similarly situ18 ated as defined by the Department of Justice. 

19 (2) The term ‘‘immediate family member’’ 

20 means a parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grand21 parent-in-law, sibling, spouse, child, or step-child of 

22 a murder victim. 

23 (3) The term ‘‘victim’’ means a natural person 

24 who died as a result of a murder. 


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1 (4) The term ‘‘murder’’ means any criminal of2 fense under section 1111(a) of title 18, United 

3 States Code, or any offense the elements of which 

4 are substantially identical to such section. 

5 (5) The term ‘‘agency’’ means a Federal law 

6 enforcement entity that is engaged in the detection, 

7 investigation, or prosecution of murder under Fed8 eral law. 

9 (6) The term ‘‘applicable agency’’ means an 

10 agency that is investigating or had investigated the 

11 murder of a victim. 

12 (7) The term ‘‘cold case’’ means a violent crime 

13 under Federal law committed more than three years 

14 prior and for which all probative investigative leads 

15 have been exhausted. 

16 (8) The term ‘‘cold case murder’’ means a mur17 der committed more than three years prior and for 

18 which all probative investigative leads have been ex19 hausted. 

20 SEC. 13. ANNUAL REPORT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable agency shall sub22 mit an annual report to the Senate Committee on the Ju23 diciary and the House Committee on the Judiciary de24 scribing actions taken and results achieved under this Act 

25 during such year. 


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1 (b) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report described in 

2 the preceding subsection shall include the number of writ3 ten applications filed pursuant to section 2, the number 

4 of extensions granted and an explanation of reasons pro5 vided under section 2(g), the number of full reinvestiga6 tions initiated and closed pursuant to section 5, the num7 ber of suspects identified, arrested, charged, and convicted 

8 for the cold case murder investigated under the Act. 

Æ 


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