YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityCases of people missing on federal land would be marked and counted each year.
Transparency & Accountability
The new field would mark if someone was last seen on federal land or in U.S. coastal waters. It would name the exact park or water, but would leave out land held in trust for a tribe.
Each January, the Attorney General would send Congress a count of these cases from the year before. The first count is due about two years after the law takes effect.
More about this bill
If someone goes missing in a national park, forest, or federal waterway, no national count exists today. The Justice Department would add one field to the national missing persons database. The field would mark whether a person was last seen on federal land or in U.S. coastal waters. It covers both confirmed and suspected locations. It would also record the specific park, forest, or stretch of water. Most people would see no change in daily life. This reaches families of missing people and the investigators helping them. About two years after it becomes law, the Attorney General would begin sending Congress a yearly count of these cases. Land the government holds in trust for a tribe does not count as federal land here.
Congressional Summary
Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere Act or the TRACE ActThis bill requires the National Institute of Justice to include in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) an additional data field for information about whether the last known location of a missing person was on federal land or in the territorial waters of the United States.NamUs is a national information clearinghouse and resource center for cases involving missing persons and unidentified or unclaimed remains.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Action Date
- Date Added
- 2026-04-02
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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