Billy's Law

Floor Speech

Billy's LAW

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Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of Billy's Law. I want to thank the many tireless advocates of missing children everywhere, and I certainly want to commend Representative Murphy for sponsoring this very important piece of legislation.

Every day thousands of people are reported missing. The good news is that many of them are quickly located by our heroes in the local law enforcement agencies. What happens to those who are not found in the first few very critical days after they're reported missing? In the past, the names were noted in files of local police agencies, but without any leads, investigators were left with few options and their names lingered on this list.

Madam Speaker, in 2005, a group of people that included Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, forensic scientists, and other experts gathered in Philadelphia to discuss ways to solve missing persons cases. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System is a result of that effort.

Local and State law enforcement agencies need a central database to which they can turn, and that is why I believe NamUs is so important. NamUs has also launched a DNA initiative, which is an effort to make sure we are using DNA technology in every way possible to track down missing persons. Billy's Law provides grants to local law enforcement agencies to improve their access to DNA technology and to NamUs.

In my district, Milton and Evelyn Nerenberg have spent years trying to find out what happened to their missing daughter, Audrey. Frustrated that their daughter, too, remains missing, the Nerenbergs came to me for help. They were concerned that the Federal Government was not doing enough to make sure that information gathered in central Florida, for example, where they lived, was being shared with the right people in other parts of the country. They also wanted to make sure that the DNA technology be made available to law enforcement agencies throughout our Nation as well as in Florida. Billy's Law will make it happen. It is very similar to the legislation I previously introduced and that was named after Audrey Nerenberg.

Important progress has been made in the past 5 years, but more must be done. Forty thousand missing persons, including Audrey Nerenberg from my district, their families will certainly benefit from this legislation.

I have worked in previous Congresses to improve the Federal Government's ability to locate missing persons, and as a cosponsor, I am very pleased to see Billy's Law come to the floor, and I will be proud to vote in favor of its passage.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

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