I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1263
To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal buildings when 
a child is reported missing. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2003
Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA´ (for himself, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. FOLEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, 
Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. FROST, 
Mr. WICKER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. 
CHABOT, 
Mr. 
SHUSTER, 
Mr. 
ISAKSON, 
Mr. 
BOEHLERT, 
Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, and Mr. DUNCAN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal 
buildings when a child is reported missing.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Code Adam Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following:
(1) ‘‘Code Adam’’ is a protocol used as a pre-
ventive tool against child abductions and lost chil-
dren in certain public buildings and commercial es-
tablishments across the Nation. 
(2) ‘‘Code Adam’’ was created and promoted by 
the Wal-Mart retail stores, which developed this pro-
tocol as a child-safety program to find a child who 
has been kidnapped or is merely lost in a public 
place. 
(3) This protocol was named in memory of 6-
year-old Adam Walsh, who was murdered after being 
kidnapped from a Florida shopping mall in 1981, an 
event that brought the horror of child abduction to 
national attention. 
(4) ‘‘Code Adam’’ has proven extremely suc-
cessful in thwarting many attempted abductions 
through the issuance of a ‘‘Code Adam’’ alert in 
commercial establishments, and it continues to be 
implemented in stores across the country with the 
help of the National Center for Missing and Ex-
ploited Children. 
(5) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the 
only jurisdiction that has approved an Act to adopt 
the ‘‘Code Adam’’ in government buildings.
SEC. 3. PROCEDURES IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS REGARDING 
A MISSING OR LOST CHILD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—On and after the 180th day after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal build-
ing that is open to the public shall have in place proce-
dures described in subsection (b) for locating a child who 
is missing in a Federal building. 
(b) NOTIFICATION AND SEARCH PROCEDURES.—The 
head, Director, Commission, and Committee referred to 
in subsection (c), respectively, shall direct employees to as-
sist any parent, guardian, or teacher whose child is miss-
ing in a Federal building by instituting and enforcing pro-
cedures that include the following: 
(1) OBTAINING A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF 
THE CHILD.—When a parent, tutor, or guardian no-
tifies any employee of a Federal building that his/her 
child is lost, such employee shall obtain from the 
parent, tutor, or guardian, a detailed description of 
the child, including the name, age, color of eyes and 
hair, height, weight, and clothing description, par-
ticularly the shoes the child was wearing. Such em-
ployee shall—
(A) alert designated employees via a fast 
and effective means of communication that 
‘‘Code Adam’’ has been activated;
(B) furnish a detailed description of the 
child according to the information provided by 
the parent, tutor, or guardian; and 
(C) provide the telephone number or exten-
sion from which the alert is made. 
(2) IDENTIFICATION OF CHILD.—The employee 
shall escort the parent, tutor, or guardian to the 
main door of the Federal building to help in identi-
fying the child, while designated employees stop 
their normal work to search for the child. 
(3) 
MONITORING
EXISTS.—Employees 
des-
ignated by the head, Director, Commission, and 
Committee referred to in subsection (c), respectively, 
shall monitor all building exits to ascertain that the 
child does not leave the building without the parent, 
tutor, or guardian. 
(4) BUILDING
EGRESS.—Any person leaving 
through any of the Federal building exits accom-
panied by a child shall be asked to go through the 
main exit previously designated by the head, Direc-
tor, Commission, and Committee referred to in sub-
section (c), respectively. If once there, the person in-
sists on leaving the Federal building, the person 
shall be allowed to do so once it has been determined 
that the child who is leaving is not the one being
searched for and such person presumed to be the 
parent, tutor, or guardian, presents a government 
issued photo identification. 
(5) LOCAL
LAW
ENFORCEMENT.—Contacting 
local law enforcement agencies if a child is not found 
during the search. After the activation of ‘‘Code 
Adam’’ has been announced, designated employees 
shall search throughout the entire Federal building, 
and 2 or more of them, as may be considered nec-
essary, shall be assigned to each floor to certify that 
the child is not there. The search shall include any 
parking lots used for such building. No other em-
ployees shall be compelled to participate in the 
search. 
(6) BROAD NOTIFICATION.—If the child is not 
found within a 10-minute period, a designated em-
ployee shall call the 9–1–1 emergency phone number 
and report the situation so that state or local secu-
rity or emergency personnel may be immediately de-
ployed to the site. A designated employee shall also 
notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children. 
(7) REPORT.—Upon completion of the protocol, 
designated employees shall inform the head, Direc-
tor, Commission, and Committee referred to in sub-
section (c), and other designated employees that the 
‘‘Code Adam’’ has ended. The head, Director, Com-
mission, and Committee referred to in subsection 
(c), respectively, shall prepare a report of the inci-
dent, which shall be kept in the administrative files 
for a term of not less than 3 years. 
(c) ENFORCEMENT.—
(1) EXECUTIVE
BRANCH
BUILDINGS.—The 
head of each Executive agency shall issue regula-
tions, and take such other actions as may be nec-
essary, to institute and enforce the procedures con-
tained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply to 
Federal buildings owned or leased for use by the Ex-
ecutive Agency. 
(2) JUDICIAL BRANCH BUILDINGS.—The Direc-
tor of the Administrative Office of the United States 
Courts shall take such actions as may be necessary 
to institute and enforce the procedures contained in 
subsection (b) as such procedures apply to Federal 
buildings owned or leased for use by an establish-
ment in the judicial branch of the Government. 
(3) LEGISLATIVE BRANCH BUILDINGS.—
(A) HOUSE
OF
REPRESENTATIVES.—The 
House Office Building Commission shall take 
such actions as may be necessary to institute
and enforce the procedures contained in sub-
section (b) as such procedures apply to Federal 
buildings owned or leased for use by the House 
of Representatives. 
(B) SENATE.—The Committee on Rules 
and Administration of the Senate shall take 
such actions as may be necessary to institute 
and enforce the procedures contained in sub-
section (b) as such procedures apply to Federal 
buildings owned or leased for use by the Senate. 
(C) OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS.—The head 
of each establishment in the legislative branch 
of the Government (other than the House of 
Representatives and the Senate) shall take such 
actions as may be necessary to institute and en-
force the procedures contained in subsection (b) 
as such procedures apply to Federal buildings 
owned or leased for use by the establishment. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
apply: 
(1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 
agency’’ has the same meaning such term has under 
section 105 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) FEDERAL
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 
agency’’ means any Executive agency and any estab-
lishment in the legislative or judicial branches of the 
Government. 
(3) FEDERAL BUILDING.—The term ‘‘Federal 
building’’ means any building or other structure (or 
portion thereof) owned or leased for use by a Fed-
eral agency; except that such term does not include 
any building or other structure on a military instal-
lation or any area of a building that is used pri-
marily as living quarters. 
(4) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi-
vidual who is 17 years of age or younger.
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