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S 5230 117th Congress Senate Crime and Law Enforcement Computers and information technology Congressional oversight Criminal justice information and records Employee hiring Government information and archives Government studies and investigations Intergovernmental relations Law enforcement administration and funding Missing persons State and local government operations Technology assessment

Billy's Law

Introduced: December 8, 2022 Introduced by: Murphy, Christopher Democratic · Connecticut See on congress.gov
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 Everywhere this bill has been 17 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 27, 2022
Became Public Law No: 117-327.
Dec 27, 2022
Signed by President.
Dec 23, 2022
Presented to President.
Dec 14, 2022
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Dec 14, 2022
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 422 - 4 (Roll no. 526). (text: CR H9828-9829)
Dec 14, 2022
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 422 - 4 (Roll no. 526).
Dec 14, 2022
Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H9842)
Dec 14, 2022
At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.
Dec 14, 2022
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 5230.
Dec 14, 2022
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H9828-9831)
Dec 14, 2022
Mr. Nadler moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
Dec 12, 2022
Held at the desk.
Dec 12, 2022
Received in the House.
Dec 9, 2022
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Dec 8, 2022
Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S7080-7081; text: CR S7080-7081)
Dec 8, 2022
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S7080-7081; text: CR S7080-7081)
Dec 8, 2022
Introduced in Senate
 Votes taken on this bill 1
DateChamberWhat was voted onResultYes–No
Dec 15, 2022 House · vote #526 On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass Passed 422–4 See who voted →
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Billy's Law or the Help Find the Missing Act

This bill provides statutory authority for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to maintain the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) consistent with its existing purpose and structure.

NamUs is a national information clearinghouse and resource center for cases involving missing persons and unidentified or unclaimed remains. NamUs is administered by the National Institute of Justice within DOJ.

The bill also establishes new requirements.

First, it requires a law enforcement agency that submits a missing child report to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to also submit the missing child report to NamUs. The NCIC is a computerized index of criminal justice data and files for reports of missing and unidentified persons. Current law requires law enforcement agencies to submit missing child reports to the NCIC database but not to the NamUs databases.

Second, the bill establishes requirements to facilitate data sharing between the NCIC database and the NamUs databases with respect to missing and unidentified persons.

Specifically, the bill requires DOJ to give the National Institute of Justice access to the NCIC missing person and unidentified person records for the purpose of validating cases and reconciling data with NamUs.

Additionally, the bill requires DOJ to assess the NCIC and NamUs systems and governing statutes, policies, and procedures and create a plan for NCIC to automatically transmit certain records to NamUs.

Third, the bill requires DOJ to report to forensic medicine service providers and law enforcement agencies on best practices for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data and information on missing persons and unidentified human remains.

DOJ must also report to Congress biennially on the status of the NCIC database and the NamUs databases. The report must describe the process of information sharing between the NCIC database and NamUs databases.

What's happening now December 27, 2022

Became Public Law No: 117-327.

 Cosponsors 4
All 4 Democratic 1 Republican 3