H. R. 5075 
One Hundred Fifteenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen 
An Act 
To encourage, enhance, and integrate Ashanti Alert plans throughout the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ashanti Alert Act of 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF ASHANTI ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NET-
WORK. 
Kristen’s Act (Public Law 106–468; 114 Stat. 2027) is 
amended— 
(1) by inserting before section 2 (34 U.S.C. 40504) the 
following: 
‘‘TITLE I—GRANTS’’; 
(2) by redesignating sections 2 (34 U.S.C. 40504) and 3 
(34 U.S.C. 40504 note) as sections 101 and 102, respectively; 
(3) in section 101(b), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘this 
Act’’ and inserting ‘‘this title’’; 
(4) in section 102, as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘this 
Act’’ and inserting ‘‘this title’’; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘TITLE II—ASHANTI ALERT 
COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK 
‘‘SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) AMBER ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK.—The term 
‘AMBER Alert communications network’ means the AMBER 
Alert communications network established under subtitle A 
of title III of the PROTECT Act (34 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.). 
‘‘(2) ASHANTI ALERT.—The term ‘Ashanti Alert’ means an 
alert issued through the Ashanti Alert communications net-
work, related to a missing adult. 
‘‘(3) ASHANTI ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK.—The term 
‘Ashanti Alert communications network’ means the national 
communications network established by the Attorney General 
under section 202(a).
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‘‘(4) ASHANTI ALERT COORDINATOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
JUSTICE; COORDINATOR.—The term ‘Ashanti Alert Coordinator 
of the Department of Justice’ or ‘Coordinator’ means the 
employee designated by the Attorney General to act as the 
national coordinator of the Ashanti Alert communications net-
work under section 203(a). 
‘‘(5) ASHANTI ALERT PLAN.—The term ‘Ashanti Alert plan’ 
means a local element of the Ashanti Alert communications 
network. 
‘‘(6) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ means a feder-
ally recognized Indian Tribe or a Native village, Regional Cor-
poration, or Village Corporation (as those terms are defined 
in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 
U.S.C. 1602)). 
‘‘(7) MISSING ADULT.—The term ‘missing adult’ means an 
individual who— 
‘‘(A) is older than the age for which an alert may 
be issued through the AMBER Alert communications net-
work in the State or territory of an Indian Tribe in which 
the individual is identified as a missing individual; 
‘‘(B) is identified by a law enforcement agency as a 
missing individual; and 
‘‘(C) meets the requirements to be designated as a 
missing adult, as determined by the State in which, or 
the Indian Tribe in the territory of which, the individual 
is identified as a missing individual. 
‘‘(8) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
‘‘SEC. 202. ASHANTI ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall, subject to the 
availability of appropriations, establish a national communications 
network within the Office of Justice Programs of the Department 
of Justice to provide assistance to regional and local search efforts 
for missing adults through the initiation, facilitation, and promotion 
of local elements of the network, in coordination with States, Indian 
Tribes, units of local government, law enforcement agencies, and 
other concerned entities with expertise in providing services to 
adults. 
‘‘(b) INTEGRATION
WITH
EXISTING
COMMUNICATIONS
NET-
WORK.—In establishing the Ashanti Alert communications network 
under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall coordinate, when 
advisable, with missing person alert systems in existence as of 
the date of enactment of this title, such as the AMBER Alert 
communications network and Silver Alert communications net-
works. 
‘‘SEC. 203. ASHANTI ALERT COORDINATOR. 
‘‘(a) NATIONAL COORDINATOR WITHIN DEPARTMENT
OF JUS-
TICE.—The Attorney General shall designate an employee of the 
Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice to act 
as the national coordinator of the Ashanti Alert communications 
network. 
‘‘(b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—In acting as the national 
coordinator of the Ashanti Alert communications network, the 
Coordinator shall—
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‘‘(1) work with States and Indian Tribes to encourage the 
development of additional Ashanti Alert plans in the network; 
‘‘(2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and Indian 
Tribes to use in developing Ashanti Alert plans that will pro-
mote compatible and integrated Ashanti Alert plans throughout 
the United States, including— 
‘‘(A) a list of the resources necessary to establish an 
Ashanti Alert plan; 
‘‘(B) criteria for evaluating whether a situation war-
rants issuing an Ashanti Alert, taking into consideration 
the need for the use of Ashanti Alerts to be limited in 
scope because the effectiveness of the Ashanti Alert commu-
nications network may be affected by overuse, including 
criteria to determine— 
‘‘(i) whether the mental capacity of an adult who 
is missing, and the circumstances of his or her dis-
appearance, including any history of domestic violence, 
sexual assault, child abuse, or human trafficking, war-
rant the issuance of an Ashanti Alert; and 
‘‘(ii) whether the individual who reports that an 
adult is missing is an appropriate and credible source 
on which to base the issuance of an Ashanti Alert; 
‘‘(C) a description of the appropriate uses of the Ashanti 
Alert name to readily identify the nature of search efforts 
for missing adults; and 
‘‘(D) recommendations on how to protect the privacy, 
dignity, independence, autonomy, and safety of any missing 
adult who may be the subject of an Ashanti Alert; 
‘‘(3) develop proposed protocols for efforts to recover missing 
adults and to reduce the number of adults who are reported 
missing, including protocols for procedures that are needed 
from the time of initial notification of a law enforcement agency 
that the adult is missing through the time of the return of 
the adult to family, guardian, or domicile, as appropriate, 
including— 
‘‘(A) public safety communications protocol; 
‘‘(B) case management protocol; 
‘‘(C) command center operations; 
‘‘(D) reunification protocol; 
‘‘(E) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, and public 
information procedures; and 
‘‘(F) protocols for declining to issue an Ashanti Alert; 
‘‘(4) work with States and Indian Tribes to ensure appro-
priate regional coordination of various elements of the network; 
‘‘(5) establish an advisory group to assist States, Indian 
Tribes, units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 
and other entities involved in the Ashanti Alert communications 
network with initiating, facilitating, and promoting Ashanti 
Alert plans, which shall include— 
‘‘(A) to the maximum extent practicable, representation 
from the various geographic regions of the United States; 
and 
‘‘(B) members who are— 
‘‘(i) representatives of adult citizen advocacy 
groups, law enforcement agencies, victim service pro-
viders (as defined in section 40002(a) of the Violence