On July 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, 15-4, H.R. 1933, the A Child is Missing Alert and Recovery Center Act. The House cleared the measure last year (see The Source, 7/24/09).
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL), would authorize grants for FY2010-2015 for the A Child is Missing Alert and Recovery Center to assist federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in locating missing children more quickly. Specifically, the bill would require that the grants be used to expand the Center’s services, establish and maintain regional centers that would train and distribute information to law enforcement agencies, and share information with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the coordinators of AMBER and Silver Alerts, among other provisions.
Expressing his concern about creating a permanent authorization for one organization, Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) offered an amendment to strike funding for the Center and replace it with a competitive grant program that would achieve the same goals within the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants program. The amendment was rejected, 6-13.