I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3361 

To direct the Attorney General to design and implement a procedure to 

permit enhanced searches of the National DNA Index System. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2011 

Mr. SCHIFF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to design and implement 

a procedure to permit enhanced searches of the National 

DNA Index System. 

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 ‘‘Utilizing DNA Tech5 nology to Solve Cold Cases Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENHANCED SEARCHES. 

7 (a) FAMILIAL SEARCHES.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 


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1 General shall adopt policies and procedures in ac2 cordance with this section to ensure that— 

3 (A) the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

4 may conduct familial searches for DNA samples 

5 collected from crime scenes in Federal inves6 tigations; 

7 (B) subject to paragraph (5), a CODIS 

8 State administrator or State attorney general 

9 may request that the Federal Bureau of Inves10 tigation conduct familial searches for DNA 

11 samples collected from crime scenes in State in12 vestigations; and 

13 (C) the privacy interests of persons identi14 fied in familial searches are carefully protected. 

15 (2) SEARCH REQUIREMENTS.—Familial 

16 searches conducted by the Federal Bureau of Inves17 tigation under this section shall be conducted only 

18 under the following circumstances: 

19 (A) No identical match for the DNA sam20 ple collected from a crime scene can be identi21 fied in the offender index. 

22 (B) The investigation for which DNA sam23 ples are collected at a crime scene involves one 

24 or more of the following offenses under Federal 

25 or State law: 


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1 (i) An offense of murder, voluntary 

2 manslaughter, kidnapping, or any attempt 

3 to commit murder, voluntary man4 slaughter, or kidnapping. 

5 (ii) A specified offense against a 

6 minor (as such term is defined in section 

7 111(7) of the Sex Offender Registration 

8 and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 16911(7))), or an attempt to commit such 

10 a specified offense. 

11 (iii) An offense for which an offender 

12 would be required, under the Sex Offender 

13 Registration and Notification Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.), to register as a tier 

15 III sex offender (as defined in section 

16 111(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16911(4))), 

17 or an attempt to commit such an offense. 

18 (3) REQUESTS BY STATES.—A CODIS State 

19 administrator or State attorney general making a re20 quest for a familial search under this section shall— 

21 (A) before making such request, have in 

22 place a written policy that— 

23 (i) establishes the criteria and proce24 dures for requesting a familial search and 

25 for evaluating a familial match; 


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1 (ii) is consistent with any regulations 

2 issued by the Attorney General pursuant to 

3 this section; and 

4 (iii) ensures that the privacy interests 

5 of persons identified in familial searches 

6 are carefully protected; and 

7 (B) each time a familial search request is 

8 made, make such policy available to the Attor9 ney General. 

10 (4) STATE ASSURANCES REQUIRED.—A CODIS 

11 State administrator or a State attorney general may 

12 request from the Federal Bureau of Investigation fa13 milial searches for DNA samples collected from 

14 crime scenes in State investigations only if the re15 questing State has provided an assurance to the At16 torney General that— 

17 (A) the requesting State will take such 

18 steps as the Attorney General determines to be 

19 necessary and appropriate to facilitate the in20 vestigation of familial matches from other 

21 States; and 

22 (B) the requesting State will investigate 

23 possible familial matches in the State before re24 questing assistance from other States. 


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1 (5) REPORTING OF MATCHES.—Any familial 

2 match resulting from a request for a familial search 

3 that complies with the requirements of this section 

4 shall be reported to the CODIS State administrator 

5 or State attorney general requesting information re6 lated to such match. 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the At9 torney General shall submit to the chair and ranking 

10 member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 

11 of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary 

12 of the Senate a report on compliance with this section. 

13 Each such report shall contain the following information: 

14 (1) The number of familial searches requested 

15 by CODIS State administrators or State attorney 

16 generals. 

17 (2) The number of familial searches conducted 

18 under this section. 

19 (3) The number of familial matches found as a 

20 result of such searches. 

21 (4) The status of any case in which such a fa22 milial match was found. 

23 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than one year after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

25 issue regulations to carry out this section. 


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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) The term ‘‘CODIS State administrator’’ 

3 means the individual designated by a State to co4 ordinate and communicate with local CODIS admin5 istrators in the State and to be responsible for enter6 ing data from the State in the National DNA Index 

7 System, in accordance with the procedures estab8 lished by the National DNA Index System Proce9 dures Board and published by the Federal Bureau 

10 of Investigation in the NDIS Policies and Proce11 dures. 

12 (2) The term ‘‘familial search’’ means a search 

13 of the offender index in which a DNA sample from 

14 an unknown source collected from a crime scene is 

15 compared to such offender index to determine if a 

16 familial match exists between the DNA profile con17 tained in such index and the DNA sample collected 

18 from the crime scene. 

19 (3) The term ‘‘familial match’’ means a genetic 

20 association determined by the Attorney General to 

21 present a high probability of familial relation be22 tween a DNA profile in the offender index and a 

23 DNA sample collected at a crime scene. 

24 (4) The term ‘‘offender index’’ means the data25 base containing information on individuals convicted 


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1 of sex offenses and other violent crimes in the Na2 tional DNA Index System established under section 

3 210304 of the Violent Crime Control and Law En4 forcement Act of 1994 (Public Law 103–322, 108 

5 Stat. 1796). 

6 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

7 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

8 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

9 American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 

10 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

Æ 


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