To require Federal agencies to establish procedures to facilitate the safe recovery of children reported missing within a public building.

April 7, 2003

Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To require Federal agencies to establish procedures to facilitate the safe recovery of children reported missing within a public building.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Code Adam Act'.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act, the following definitions apply:

(1) CHILD- The term `child' means an individual who is 17 years of age or younger.

(2) CODE ADAM ALERT- The term `Code Adam alert' means a set of procedures used in public buildings to alert employees and other users of the building that a child is missing.

(3) DESIGNATED AUTHORITY- The term `designated authority' means--

(A) with respect to a public building owned or leased for use by an Executive agency--

(i) except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the Administrator of General Services;

(ii) in the case of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts;

(iii) in the case of buildings under the jurisdiction, custody, and control of the Smithsonian Institution, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution; or

(iv) in the case of another public building for which an Executive agency has, by specific or general statutory authority, jurisdiction, custody, and control over the building, the head of that agency;

(B) with respect to a public building owned or leased for use by an establishment in the judicial branch of government, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts; and

(C) with respect to a public building owned or leased for use by an establishment in the legislative branch of government, the Capitol Police Board.

(4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY- The term `Executive agency' has the same meaning such term has under section 105 of title 5, United States Code.

(5) FEDERAL AGENCY- The term `Federal agency' means any Executive agency or any establishment in the legislative or judicial branches of the Government.

(6) PUBLIC BUILDING- The term `public building' means any building (or portion thereof) owned or leased for use by a Federal agency.

SEC. 3. PROCEDURES IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS REGARDING A MISSING OR LOST CHILD.

(a) IN GENERAL- Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the designated authority for a public building shall establish procedures for locating a child that is missing in the building.

(b) NOTIFICATION AND SEARCH PROCEDURES- Procedures established under this section shall provide, at a minimum, for the following:

(1) Notifying security personnel that a child is missing.

(2) Obtaining a detailed description of the child, including name, age, eye and hair color, height, weight, clothing, and shoes.

(3) Issuing a Code Adam alert and providing a description of the child, using a fast and effective means of communication.

(4) Establishing a central point of contact.

(5) Monitoring all points of egress from the building while a Code Adam alert is in effect.

(6) Conducting a thorough search of the building.

(7) Contacting local law enforcement.

(8) Documenting the incident.

END