Topic: Law and Crime — Child Abuse
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Date: 2013-09-12 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it passed the House on September 17, 2013. The summary of that version is repeated here.) E. Clay Shaw, Jr. Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013 - (Sec. 2) Amends the Missing Children's Assistance to declare that many missing children are runaways. Requires the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to send the Office's annual report to the President and Congress specifically to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate.

Requires the Administrator also to coordinate with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to ensure that homeless services professionals are aware of educational resources and assistance provided by the Center regarding child sexual exploitation.

Adds to the authorized uses of the annual grant to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: (1) giving technical assistance and training to state and local law enforcement agencies and statewide clearinghouses to coordinate with state and local educational agencies in identifying and recovering missing children; (2) assisting the efforts of law enforcement agencies in coordinating with child welfare agencies to respond to foster children missing from the state welfare system; and (3) giving technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and first responders in identifying, locating, and recovering victims of, and children at risk for, child sex trafficking.

Prohibits the use of federal funds to pay the compensation of any Center employee exceeding 110% of the maximum annual salary payable to a member of the federal government's Senior Executive Service (SES) for that year. Allows the Center to compensate an employee at a higher rate provided the amount exceeding this limitation is paid with non-federal funds. Excludes from the meaning of such compensation any health, medical, or life insurance payments, disability or retirement pay, or pensions benefits.

Requires the Administrator to conduct national incidence studies triennially (currently, periodically) to determine for a given year the actual number of children reported missing, the number who are victims of abduction by strangers, the number who are the victims of parental kidnappings, and the number who are recovered each year.

Requires that the Administrator's duty to provide to state and local governments, public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals information to facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth certificates to identify and locate missing children be performed in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.

Authorizes the Administration to make grants or enter into contracts with the Center and with public agencies or nonprofit private organizations for research, demonstration projects, or service programs designed to: (1) educate schools, school leaders, teachers, state and local educational agencies, homeless shelters, and service providers in ways to prevent the abduction and sexual exploitation of children; and (2) aid schools in the collection of materials useful to parents in assisting others in the identification of missing children.

(Sec. 3) Authorizes appropriations for FY2014-FY2018, including specified funds each year for the annual grant to the Center.

(Sec. 4) Subjects grant recipients to audits by the DOJ Inspector General for two of the fiscal years between FY2014 and FY2018.

Bars eligibility to receive grant funds for two fiscal years for any grant recipient found to have an unresolved audit finding that it has used grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost that is not closed or resolved within 12 months after the final audit report is issued. Requires the Attorney General to seek repayment from a debarred grantee of any grant funds awarded during the two-fiscal year debarment.

Prohibits the Attorney General from awarding a grant to a nonprofit organization that holds money in off-shore accounts to avoid paying the tax on unrelated business income of charitable and other tax-exempt organizations.

Prohibits the use of more than $20,000 of authorized funds to host or support any expenditure for conferences without prior written authorization by the Deputy Attorney General or a specified designee. Prohibits the use of authorized funds by any grant recipient to lobby: (1) any DOJ representative regarding the award of any grant funding; or (2) any representative of a federal, state, local, or tribal government regarding the award of grant funding. Requires any recipient violating this prohibition to repay the grant in full, and denies the recipient eligibility for another grant for five years.