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United States · Law · S

S. 5230 (117th)

Billy's Law

enactedUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

8 December 2022

Last action

27 December 2022 · Became law

Status

Became Public Law No: 117-327.

Sponsors

Christopher Murphy, John Cornyn, John Hoeven, Richard Blumenthal, Thomas Tillis

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

10 January 2026

Official sourceDownload fileView documentsShare

Summary

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.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 8 December 2022

    Introduced

    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)

    Source: Floor

  2. 8 December 2022

    Introduced

    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)

    Source: Floor

  3. 8 December 2022

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

  4. 9 December 2022

    Floor

    Message on Senate action sent to the House.

    Source: Floor

  5. 12 December 2022

    Floor

    Held at the desk.

    Source: Floor

  6. 12 December 2022

    Floor

    Received in the House.

    Source: Floor

  7. 14 December 2022

    Passed

    Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.

    Source: Floor

  8. 14 December 2022

    Vote

    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)

    Source: Floor

  9. 14 December 2022

    Vote

    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).

    Source: Floor

  10. 14 December 2022

    Floor

    Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H9828-9831)

    Source: Floor

  11. 14 December 2022

    Vote

    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.

    Source: Floor

  12. 14 December 2022

    Floor

    DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 5230.

    Source: Floor

  13. 14 December 2022

    Floor

    Mr. Nadler moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.

    Source: Floor

  14. 23 December 2022

    Floor

    Presented to President.

    Source: Floor

  15. 23 December 2022

    President

    Presented to President.

    Source: President

  16. 27 December 2022

    President

    Signed by President.

    Source: President

  17. 27 December 2022

    Became law

    Became Public Law No: 117-327.

    Source: President

  18. 27 December 2022

    Became law

    Signed by President.

    Source: BecameLaw

Votes

15 December 2022 · passed · On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass · Passed · Official source

Yes 422 · No 4 · Abstain — · Absent/not voting 4

Showing the first 8 recorded positions. Vote totals above are complete.

Versions

Documents

12 official files

Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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