AMBER Alert Nationwide Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4614 To amend the PROTECT Act to expand the national AMBER Alert system to territories of the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 4, 2019 Mr. SABLAN (for himself and Mrs. RADEWAGEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the PROTECT Act to expand the national AMBER Alert system to territories of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AMBER Alert Nation- 4 wide Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4614 IH SEC. 2. COOPERATION WITH DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 1 SECURITY. 2 Subtitle A of title III of the PROTECT Act (34 3 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) is amended— 4 (1) in section 301— 5 (A) in subsection (b)— 6 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting 7 ‘‘(including airports, maritime ports, bor- 8 der crossing areas and checkpoints, and 9 ports of exit from the United States)’’ 10 after ‘‘gaps in areas of interstate travel’’; 11 and 12 (ii) in paragraphs (2) and (3), by in- 13 serting ‘‘, territories of the United States, 14 and tribal governments’’ after ‘‘States’’; 15 and 16 (B) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘, the 17 Secretary of Homeland Security,’’ after ‘‘Sec- 18 retary of Transportation’’; and 19 (2) in section 302— 20 (A) in subsection (b), in paragraphs (2), 21 (3), and (4) by inserting ‘‘, territorial, tribal,’’ 22 after ‘‘State’’; and 23 (B) in subsection (c)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4614 IH (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, 1 the Secretary of Homeland Security,’’ after 2 ‘‘Secretary of Transportation’’; and 3 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, 4 territorial, tribal,’’ after ‘‘State’’. 5 SEC. 3. AMBER ALERTS ALONG MAJOR TRANSPORTATION 6 ROUTES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 303 of the PROTECT 8 Act (34 U.S.C. 20503) is amended— 9 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘AND 10 MAJOR TRANSPORTATION ROUTES’’ after 11 ‘‘ALONG HIGHWAYS’’; 12 (2) in subsection (a)— 13 (A) by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this sec- 14 tion as the ‘Secretary’)’’ after ‘‘Secretary of 15 Transportation’’; and 16 (B) by inserting ‘‘and at airports, mari- 17 time ports, border crossing areas and check- 18 points, and ports of exit from the United 19 States’’ after ‘‘along highways’’; 20 (3) in subsection (b)— 21 (A) in paragraph (1)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘other motorist infor- 23 mation systems to notify motorists’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘other information systems to no- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4614 IH tify motorists, aircraft passengers, ship 1 passengers, and travelers’’; and 2 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, aircraft passengers, 3 ship passengers, and travelers’’ after ‘‘nec- 4 essary to notify motorists’’; and 5 (B) in paragraph (2)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 7 ‘‘other motorist information systems to no- 8 tify motorists’’ and inserting ‘‘other infor- 9 mation systems to notify motorists, air- 10 craft passengers, ship passengers, and 11 travelers’’; 12 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 13 ‘‘, aircraft passengers, ship passengers, 14 and travelers’’ after ‘‘support the notifica- 15 tion of motorists’’; 16 (iii) in subparagraph (E), by inserting 17 ‘‘, aircraft passengers, ship passengers, 18 and travelers’’ after ‘‘motorists’’, each 19 place it appears; 20 (iv) in subparagraph (F), by inserting 21 ‘‘, aircraft passengers, ship passengers, 22 and travelers’’ after ‘‘motorists’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4614 IH (v) in subparagraph (G), by inserting 1 ‘‘, aircraft passengers, ship passengers, 2 and travelers’’ after ‘‘motorists’’; 3 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘other motor- 4 ist information systems to notify motorists’’, each 5 place it appears, and inserting ‘‘other information 6 systems to notify motorists, aircraft passengers, ship 7 passengers, and travelers’’; 8 (5) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol- 9 lows: 10 ‘‘(d) FEDERAL SHARE.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 12 graph (2), the Federal share of the cost of any ac- 13 tivities funded by a grant under this section may not 14 exceed 80 percent. 15 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—If the Secretary determines 16 that American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana 17 Islands, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands of the 18 United States is unable to comply with the require- 19 ment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall waive 20 such requirement.’’; 21 (6) in subsection (g)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘In this section’’ and in- 23 serting ‘‘In this subtitle’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4614 IH (B) by striking ‘‘or Puerto Rico’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, 2 the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Is- 3 lands of the United States, and any other terri- 4 tory of the United States’’; and 5 (7) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 6 2004’’ and inserting ‘‘each of fiscal years 2019 7 through 2023’’. 8 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 9 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the PROTECT 10 Act (Public Law 108–21) is amended by striking the item 11 relating to section 303 and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘Sec. 303. Grant program for notification and communications systems along highways and major transportation routes for recovery of ab- ducted children.’’. SEC. 4. AMBER ALERT COMMUNICATION PLANS IN THE 13 TERRITORIES. 14 Section 304 of the PROTECT Act (34 U.S.C. 20504) 15 is amended— 16 (1) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting ‘‘a terri- 17 torial government or’’ after ‘‘with’’; 18 (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as fol- 19 lows: 20 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL SHARE.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 22 graph (2), the Federal share of the cost of any ac- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4614 IH tivities funded by a grant under this section may not 1 exceed 50 percent. 2 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—If the Attorney General deter- 3 mines that American Samoa, Guam, the Northern 4 Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of 5 the United States, or an Indian tribe is unable to 6 comply with the requirement under paragraph (1), 7 the Attorney General shall waive such require- 8 ment.’’; and 9 (3) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘, including 10 territories of the United States’’ before the period at 11 the end. 12 SEC. 5. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after the 14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 15 shall conduct a study assessing— 16 (1) the implementation of the amendments 17 made by this Act; 18 (2) any challenges related to integrating the 19 territories of the United States into the AMBER 20 Alert system; 21 (3) the readiness, educational, technological, 22 and training needs of territorial law enforcement 23 agencies in responding to cases involving missing, 24 abducted, or exploited children; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 4614 IH (4) any other related matters the Attorney Gen- 1 eral or the Secretary of Transportation determines 2 appropriate. 3 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—The Comptroller General 4 shall submit a report on the findings of the study required 5 under subsection (a) to— 6 (1) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 7 Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 8 Senate; 9 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 10 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 11 the House of Representatives; and 12 (3) each of the delegates or resident commis- 13 sioner to the House of Representatives from Amer- 14 ican Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, 15 Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United 16 States. 17 (c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Comptroller Gen- 18 eral shall make the report required under subsection (b) 19 available on a public Government website. 20 (d) OBTAINING OFFICIAL DATA.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General 22 may secure information necessary to conduct the 23 study under subsection (a) directly from any Federal 24 agency and from any territorial government receiv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 4614 IH ing grant funding under the PROTECT Act. Upon 1 request of the Comptroller General, the head of a 2 Federal agency or territorial government shall fur- 3 nish the requested information to the Comptroller 4 General. 5 (2) AGENCY RECORDS.—Notwithstanding para- 6 graph (1), nothing in this subsection shall require a 7 Federal agency or any territorial government to 8 produce records subject to a common law evidentiary 9 privilege. Records and information shared with the 10 Comptroller General shall continue to be subject to 11 withholding under sections 552 and 552a of title 5, 12 United States Code. The Comptroller General is ob- 13 ligated to give the information the same level of con- 14 fidentiality and protection required of the Federal 15 agency or territorial government. The Comptroller 16 General may be requested to sign a nondisclosure or 17 other agreement as a condition of gaining access to 18 sensitive or proprietary data to which the Comp- 19 troller General is entitled. 20 (3) PRIVACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.— 21 The Comptroller General, and any Federal agency 22 and any territorial government that provides infor- 23 mation to the Comptroller General, shall take such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 4614 IH actions as are necessary to ensure the protection of 1 the personal information of a minor. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Oct 07, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4614.IH H4614 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS