March 14, 2025
Mr. Neguse (for himself, Mr. Burchett, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To direct the Attorney General to include a data field in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to indicate whether the last known location of a missing person was confirmed or was suspected to have been on Federal land, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere Act
or the TRACE Act
.
Sec. 2. Data field in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System related to Federal land
The Attorney General, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Justice, shall include in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System a data field to indicate—
(1)
whether the last known location of the missing person was confirmed or was suspected to have been on Federal land, including any specific location details about the unit of Federal land that was the last known location of the missing person; or
(2)
in the case of unidentified remains of a person, whether the remains were located on Federal land, including any specific location details about the unit of Federal land on which the remains were located.
Sec. 3. Report
Beginning in the second calendar year that begins after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, on January 15th, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Justice, shall submit to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and of the Senate a report that contains, for the previous calendar year, the number of cases in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System for which—
(1)
the missing person’s last known location was confirmed or was suspected to have been on Federal land, disaggregated by the Federal land management agency with jurisdiction of the Federal land; or
(2)
unidentified remains of a person were located on Federal land, disaggregated by the Federal land management agency with jurisdiction of the Federal land.
Sec. 4. Definition
In this Act, the term Federal land means land owned by the United States that is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior (except land held in trust for the benefit of an Indian Tribe), or the Secretary of Defense only with respect to land and water resources projects administered by the Army Corps of Engineers.