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Public Safety Committee hears testimony on House Bill 217 to require NamUs reporting and speed missing-persons investigations
Summary
At a June 11 Public Safety Committee hearing, advocates, a judge and family members urged passage of H.B. 217 (the FIND Act/Andy Chapman—s Act) to require law enforcement to enter missing-person records into NamUs within 30 days, permit administrative search warrants for data, and digitize case files to aid cross-jurisdictional matches.
The House Public Safety Committee heard extensive proponent testimony on June 11 for House Bill 217, known in testimony as the FIND Act and referred to by witnesses as Andy Chapman—s Act. Supporters told the committee the bill would require law enforcement to enter missing-persons reports into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) within 30 days, authorize administrative search warrants for certain records, and create digital repositories of unresolved case files to improve cross-jurisdictional investigations.
"Survivors of domestic violence are among the most vulnerable to go missing," Maria York, policy director for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, told the committee. York urged use of NamUs as a trauma-informed, family-centered reporting option and warned that federal confidentiality laws under the Violence Against Women Act and VOCA limit what programs may confirm without…
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