[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5475 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5475
To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal buildings
when a child is reported missing.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 26, 2002
Mr. Acevedo-Vila (for himself, Mr. Foley, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Gutierrez,
Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Duncan, and
Mr. Wicker) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as
fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require that certain procedures are followed in Federal buildings
when a child is reported missing.
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. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) ``Code Adam'' is a protocol used as a preventive tool
against child abductions and lost children in certain public
buildings and commercial establishments across the Nation.
(2) ``Code Adam'' was created and promoted by the Wal-Mart
retail stores, which developed this protocol as a child-safety
program to find a child who has been kidnapped or is merely
lost in a public place.
(3) This protocol was named in memory of 6-year-old Adam
Walsh, who was murdered after being kidnapped from a Florida
shopping mall in 1981, an event that brought the horror of
child abduction to national attention.
(4) ``Code Adam'' has proven extremely successful in
thwarting many attempted abductions through the issuance of a
``Code Adam'' alert in commercial establishments, and it
continues to be implemented in stores across the country with
the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children.
(5) The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the only
jurisdiction that has approved an Act to adopt the ``Code
Adam'' in government buildings.
SEC. 3. PROCEDURES IN FEDERAL BUILDINGS REGARDING A MISSING OR LOST
CHILD.
(a) In General.--On and after the 180th day after the date of the
enactment of this Act, each Federal building that is open to the public
shall have in place procedures described in subsection (b) for locating
a child who is missing in a Federal building.
(b) Notification and Search Procedures.--The head, Director,
Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection (c), respectively,
shall direct employees to assist any parent, guardian, or teacher whose
child is missing in a Federal building by instituting and enforcing
procedures that include the following:
(1) Obtaining a detailed description of the child.--When a
parent, tutor, or guardian notifies any employee of a Federal
building that his/her child is lost, such employee shall obtain
from the parent, tutor, or guardian, a detailed description of
the child, including the name, age, color of eyes and hair,
height, weight, and clothing description, particularly the
shoes the child was wearing. Such employee shall--
(A) alert designated employees via a fast and
effective means of communication that ``Code Adam'' has
been activated;
(B) furnish a detailed description of the child
according to the information provided by the parent,
tutor, or guardian; and
(C) provide the telephone number or extension from
which the alert is made.
(2) Identification of child.--The employee shall escort the
parent, tutor, or guardian to the main door of the Federal
building to help in identifying the child, while designated
employees stop their normal work to search for the child.
(3) Monitoring exists.--Employees designated by the head,
Director, Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection
(c), respectively, shall monitor all building exits to
ascertain that the child does not leave the building without
the parent, tutor, or guardian.
(4) Building egress.--Any person leaving through any of the
Federal building exits accompanied by a child shall be asked to
go through the main exit previously designated by the head,
Director, Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection
(c), respectively. If once there, the person insists on leaving
the Federal building, the person shall be allowed to do so once
it has been determined that the child who is leaving is not the
one being searched for and such person presumed to be the
parent, tutor, or guardian, presents a government issued photo
identification.
(5) Local law enforcement.--Contacting local law
enforcement agencies if a child is not found during the search.
After the activation of ``Code Adam'' has been announced,
designated employees shall search throughout the entire Federal
building, and 2 or more of them, as may be considered
necessary, shall be assigned to each floor to certify that the
child is not there. The search shall include any parking lots
used for such building. No other employees shall be compelled
to participate in the search.
(6) Broad notification.--If the child is not found within a
10-minute period, a designated employee shall call the 9-1-1
emergency phone number and report the situation so that state
or local security or emergency personnel may be immediately
deployed to the site. A designated employee shall also notify
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
(7) Report.--Upon completion of the protocol, designated
employees shall inform the head, Director, Commission, and
Committee referred to in subsection (c), and other designated
employees that the ``Code Adam'' has ended. The head, Director,
Commission, and Committee referred to in subsection (c),
respectively, shall prepare a report of the incident, which
shall be kept in the administrative files for a term of not
less than 3 years.
(c) Enforcement.--
(1) Executive branch buildings.--The head of each Executive
agency shall issue regulations, and take such other actions as
may be necessary, to institute and enforce the procedures
contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply to Federal
buildings owned or leased for use by the Executive Agency.
(2) Judicial branch buildings.--The Director of the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall take
such actions as may be necessary to institute and enforce the
procedures contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply
to Federal buildings owned or leased for use by an
establishment in the judicial branch of the Government.
(3) Legislative branch buildings.--
(A) House of representatives.--The House Office
Building Commission shall take such actions as may be
necessary to institute and enforce the procedures
contained in subsection (b) as such procedures apply to
Federal buildings owned or leased for use by the House
of Representatives.
(B) Senate.--The Committee on Rules and
Administration of the Senate shall take such actions as
may be necessary to institute and enforce the
procedures contained in subsection (b) as such
procedures apply to Federal buildings owned or leased
for use by the Senate.
(C) Other establishments.--The head of each
establishment in the legislative branch of the
Government (other than the House of Representatives and
the Senate) shall take such actions as may be necessary
to institute and enforce the procedures contained in
subsection (b) as such procedures apply to Federal
buildings owned or leased for use by the establishment.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
(1) Executive agency.--The term ``Executive agency'' has
the same meaning such term has under section 105 of title 5,
United States Code.
(2) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' means any
Executive agency and any establishment in the legislative or
judicial branches of the Government.
(3) Federal building.--The term ``Federal building'' means
any building or other structure (or portion thereof) owned or
leased for use by a Federal agency; except that such term does
not include any building or other structure on a military
installation or any area of a building that is used primarily
as living quarters.
(4) Child.--The term ``child'' means an individual who is
17 years of age or younger.
<all>