As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 217

2025-2026

To amend sections 2901.30, 2901.41, and 2901.42 of the Revised Code to enact the Finding and Identifying with NamUs Data (FIND) Act to require law enforcement agencies to enter information relating to a report of a missing person in the national missing and unidentified persons system (NamUs).

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 2901.30, 2901.41, and 2901.42 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 2901.30. (A) As used in sections 2901.30 to 2901.32 of the Revised Code:

(1) "Information" means information that can be integrated into the computer system and that relates to the physical or mental description of a minor including, but not limited to, height, weight, color of hair and eyes, use of eyeglasses or contact lenses, skin coloring, physical or mental disabilities, special medical conditions or needs, abnormalities, problems, scars and marks, and distinguishing characteristics, and other information that could assist in identifying a minor including, but not limited to, full name and nickname, date and place of birth, age, names and addresses of parents and other relatives, fingerprints, dental records, photographs, social security number, driver's license number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and clothing.

(2) "Minor" means a person under eighteen years of age.

(3) "Missing children" or "missing child" means either of the following:

(a) A minor who has run away from or who otherwise is missing from the home of, or the care, custody, and control of, the minor's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having responsibility for the care of the minor;

(b) A minor who is missing and about whom there is reason to believe the minor could be the victim of a violation of section 2905.01, 2905.02, 2905.03, or 2919.23 of the Revised Code or of a violation of section 2905.04 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to July 1, 1996.

(4) "NamUs" means the national missing and unidentified persons system created by the United States department of justice.

(B) When a law enforcement agency in this state that has jurisdiction in the matter is informed that a minor is or may be a missing child and that the person providing the information wishes to file a missing child report, the law enforcement agency shall take that report. Upon taking the report, the law enforcement agency shall take prompt action upon it, including, but not limited to, concerted efforts to locate the missing child. No law enforcement agency in this state shall have a rule or policy that prohibits or discourages the filing of or the taking of action upon a missing child report, within a specified period following the discovery or formulation of a belief that a minor is or could be a missing child.

(C) If a missing child report is made to a law enforcement agency in this state that has jurisdiction in the matter, the law enforcement agency shall gather readily available information about the missing child and integrate it into the national crime information center computer immediately following the making of the report. The law enforcement agency shall make reasonable efforts to acquire additional information about the missing child following the transmittal of the initially available information, and promptly integrate any additional information acquired into such computer systems.

Whenever a law enforcement agency integrates information about a missing child into the national crime information center computer, the law enforcement agency promptly shall notify the missing child's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, or legal custodian, or any other person responsible for the care of the missing child, that it has so integrated the information.

The parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, legal custodian, or other person responsible for the care of the missing child shall provide available information upon request, and may provide information voluntarily, to the law enforcement agency during the information gathering process. The law enforcement agency also may obtain available information about the missing child from other persons, subject to constitutional and statutory limitations.

(D) Upon the filing of a missing child report, the law enforcement agency involved may notify the public or nonpublic school in which the missing child is or was most recently enrolled, as ascertained by the agency, that the child is the subject of a missing child report and that the child's school records are to be marked in accordance with section 3313.672 of the Revised Code.

(E) Upon the filing of a missing child report, the law enforcement agency involved promptly shall make a reasonable attempt to notify other law enforcement agencies within its county and, if the agency has jurisdiction in a municipal corporation or township that borders another county, to notify the law enforcement agency for the municipal corporation or township in the other county with which it shares the border, that it has taken a missing child report and may be requesting assistance or cooperation in the case, and provide relevant information to the other law enforcement agencies. The agency may notify additional law enforcement agencies, or appropriate public children services agencies, about the case, request their assistance or cooperation in the case, and provide them with relevant information.

Upon request from a law enforcement agency, a public children services agency shall grant the law enforcement agency access to all information concerning a missing child that the agency possesses that may be relevant to the law enforcement agency in investigating a missing child report concerning that child. The information obtained by the law enforcement agency shall be used only to further the investigation to locate the missing child.

(F) Upon request, law enforcement agencies in this state shall provide assistance to, and cooperate with, other law enforcement agencies in their investigation of missing child cases. The assistance and cooperation under this paragraph shall be pursuant to any terms agreed upon by the law enforcement agencies, which may include the provision of law enforcement services or the use of law enforcement equipment or the interchange of services and equipment among the cooperating law enforcement agencies. Chapter 2744. of the Revised Code, insofar as it applies to the operation of law enforcement agencies, shall apply to the cooperating political subdivisions and to the law enforcement agency employees when they are rendering services pursuant to this paragraph outside the territory of the political subdivision by which they are employed. Law enforcement agency employees rendering services outside the territory of the political subdivision in which they are employed, pursuant to this paragraph, shall be entitled to participate in any indemnity fund established by their employer to the same extent as if they were rendering service within the territory of their employing political subdivision. Those law enforcement agency employees also shall be entitled to all the rights and benefits of Chapter 4123. of the Revised Code to the same extent as if rendering services within the territory of their employing political subdivision.

The information in any missing child report made to a law enforcement agency shall be made available, upon request, to law enforcement personnel of this state, other states, and the federal government when the law enforcement personnel indicate that the request is to aid in identifying or locating a missing child or the possible identification of a deceased minor who, upon discovery, cannot be identified.

~~(G)~~(G)(1) When a missing child has not been located within thirty days after the date on which the missing child report pertaining to the child was filed with a law enforcement agency, that law enforcement agency shall request the missing child's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, or legal custodian, or any other person responsible for the care of the missing child, to provide written consent for the law enforcement agency to contact the missing child's dentist and request the missing child's dental records. Upon receipt of such written consent, the dentist shall release a copy of the missing child's dental records to the law enforcement agency and shall provide and encode the records in such form as requested by the law enforcement agency. The law enforcement agency then shall integrate information in the records into the national crime information center computer in order to compare the records to those of unidentified deceased persons. This division does not prevent a law enforcement agency from seeking consent to obtain copies of a missing child's dental records, or prevent a missing child's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, or legal custodian, or any other person responsible for the care of the missing child, from granting consent for the release of copies of the missing child's dental records to a law enforcement agency, at any time.

(2) When a missing child is not located within thirty days after the date on which the missing child report pertaining to the child is filed with a law enforcement agency, that law enforcement agency shall integrate the information in the report and other relevant information into NamUs. The law enforcement agency may choose to integrate the information after the process described in division (G)(1) of this section is completed, unless the process becomes unduly burdensome or time consuming.

(H) A missing child's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, or legal custodian, or any other persons responsible for the care of a missing child, immediately shall notify the law enforcement agency with which they filed the missing child report whenever the child has returned to their home or to their care, custody, and control, has been released if the missing child was the victim of an offense listed in division (A)(3)(b) of this section, or otherwise has been located. Upon such notification or upon otherwise learning that a missing child has returned to the home of, or to the care, custody, and control of the missing child's parents, parent who is the residential parent and legal custodian, guardian, legal custodian, or other person responsible for the missing child's care, has been released if the missing child was the victim of an offense listed in division (A)(3)(b) of this section, or otherwise has been located, the law enforcement agency involved promptly shall ~~integrate~~ do the following:

(1) Integrate the fact that the minor no longer is a missing child into the national crime information center computer;

(2) If the missing child's information was integrated into NamUs, report to NamUs that the missing child has been found ~~and shall inform~~;

(3) Inform any school that was notified under division (D) of this section that the minor is no longer a missing child.

Sec. 2901.41. (A) As used in this section and section 2901.42 of the Revised Code~~, "missing~~ :

(1) "Missing person" means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older, whose temporary or permanent residence is in Ohio, and who meets one of the following characteristics:

~~(1)~~(a) The individual has a physical or mental disability.

~~(2)~~(b) The individual is missing under circumstances indicating that the individual's safety may be in danger.

~~(3)~~(c) The individual is missing under circumstances indicating that the individual's disappearance was not voluntary.

(2) "NamUs" means the national missing and unidentified persons system created by the United States department of justice.

(B) The attorney general shall publish and distribute to all law enforcement agencies in this state a best practices protocol for addressing reports of missing persons. Each best practices protocol shall require all law enforcement agencies to enter information relating to a report of a missing person into NamUs if a missing child is not located within thirty days following the making of the report. Upon receipt of the best practices protocol from the attorney general, each law enforcement agency in this state shall develop and adopt a written policy establishing reasonable procedures to be followed by the law enforcement agency when the agency is informed that a person is or may be a missing person.

(C) After a law enforcement agency adopts a written policy as required by division (B) of this section, the peace officers that are employed by that agency shall make a good faith effort to follow the procedures contained in the policy.

(D) The requirements of this section do not create a private cause of action for damages against the state or any law enforcement agency, political subdivision, peace officer, or other person who fails to comply with the requirements of this section.

Sec. 2901.42. (A) If a law enforcement agency receives an initial report or receives additional information for the report that a person who is at least eighteen but less than twenty-one years of age is missing, the law enforcement agency shall ~~make~~ do both of the following:

(1) Make available through the national crime information center all information contained in the report immediately after the law enforcement agency receives the report or additional information. ;

(2) Make available through NamUs information contained in the report if a missing person is not located within thirty days after the law enforcement agency receives the report or additional information.

(B)(1) If a law enforcement agency receives a report that a person who is twenty-one years of age or older is missing and if there is evidence that the person was a victim of foul play at the time the victim is reported missing, the law enforcement agency shall make available through the national crime information center all information contained in the report not later than seven days after the law enforcement agency receives the report. If there is no evidence that the person was a victim of foul play, and no evidence to the contrary is received, the law enforcement agency shall make the information available through the national crime information center not later than thirty days after receiving the report that the person is missing.

(2) If a law enforcement agency receives a report that a person who is twenty-one years of age or older is missing and there is no evidence of foul play at the time the agency receives the report and if the agency discovers after the law enforcement agency receives the report but before the end of the seven-day period under division (B)(1) of this section evidence that the person who is missing was a victim of foul play, the law enforcement agency shall make available through the national crime information center all information contained in the report by the end of that seven-day period. If a law enforcement agency receives a report that a person who is twenty-one years of age or older is missing and there is no evidence of foul play at the time the agency receives the report and if the agency discovers after the end of the seven-day period under division (B)(1) of this section evidence that the person who is missing was a victim of foul play, the law enforcement agency shall make available through the national crime information center all information contained in the report not later than forty-eight hours after discovering the evidence that the person was a victim of foul play.

(3) If a law enforcement agency receives a report that a person who is twenty-one years of age or older is missing, the law enforcement agency shall make available through NamUs information contained in the report if the missing person is not located within thirty days after the law enforcement agency receives the report or additional information.

(C) If a law enforcement agency pursuant to divisions (A) and (B) of this section made available through the national crime information center and NamUs information contained in a report that a person is missing and the missing person is found, the agency shall promptly remove that information from the law enforcement automated data system and report to NamUs that the person has been found.

(D) As used in this section, indicators that a person was a victim of "foul play" include, but are not limited to, evidence that the person's home or car is in disarray, evidence of a struggle between the person and another person, or evidence a law enforcement agency determines to be foul play through the written policy the law enforcement agency develops and adopts pursuant to division (B) of section 2901.41 of the Revised Code.

Section 2. That existing sections 2901.30, 2901.41, and 2901.42 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. This act shall be known as the Finding and Identifying with NamUs Data (FIND) Act.