Public Safety Committee hears testimony on House Bill 217 to require NamUs reporting and speed missing-persons investigations

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 consent or a court order.

Judge Rick Roger of Union County, who served on the governor—s missing-persons working group, described the working group—s review and said H.B. 217 would implement multiple recommendations. He told members NamUs is a nationwide database that helps match missing-person reports with unidentified or unclaimed remains and said the bill—s administrative-search-warrant provision would let investigators seek electronic records earlier in a case when probable cause for a criminal warrant may not yet exist.

"That administrative search warrant allows them to get information off social media accounts, cellular telephones, text messages," Judge Roger said, explaining the change would let investigators move "quicker" in the early stages of an investigation.

Advocates from nonprofit service providers described how delays and inconsistent record-keeping have hindered investigations and fatality reviews. Paula Haynes, CEO of Freedom a la Carte, said requiring NamUs entry within 30 days would strengthen coordination across jurisdictions and increase the chances of matching remains or finding missing people quickly. She noted that many missing children are endangered runaways and emphasized the short window before traffickers can make contact.

Family members gave emotional testimony about long delays and lost records. Amy Chapman, speaking for her brother Andy Chapman (missing since 2006), said destroyed bank, court and phone records prevented early leads and that the family had to open an estate to obtain records years later. Judy Rafferty, Andy Chapman—s mother, described DNA and evidence handling problems and said mandated NamUs reporting would improve chances that unidentified remains are matched to missing-persons cases.

Committee members asked technical questions about the administrative search-warrant process and whether it already exists in Ohio statute. Judge Roger said Ohio statutes provide an administrative search-warrant procedure, typically used in civil matters, which the bill would adapt to allow earlier access to digital records in missing-persons investigations; he acknowledged the bill does not specify criminal penalties for noncompliance and said cooperation among agencies and pressure from families would be relied upon to encourage timely reporting.

The committee took no final vote on H.B. 217 at the June 11 hearing. Members were directed to written testimony on their iPads and the chair closed the second hearing; the committee adjourned with no further action recorded.

The bill is named in testimony as Andy Chapman—s Act; witnesses stressed that implementation details, interagency training and follow-through by local fatality review boards will determine whether the intended benefits are realized.