BILL REQ. #:  H-1544.1 

Read first time 02/11/2005.   Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to missing persons; amending RCW 68.50.320; adding a new section to chapter 68.50 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 43.43 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that there were over forty-six thousand reports of persons missing nationwide and over five hundred missing persons in the state of Washington.
     The legislature has learned that the federal bureau of investigation has a data base where law enforcement can send DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing samples of unidentified remains and have it analyzed. The federal bureau of investigation also accepts DNA samples that are known to come from a missing person in the hopes to match those records with those remains that are found in the future. The legislature further finds that there is a poor record nationwide in regards to persons submitting DNA samples of a known missing person to the federal bureau of investigation or a local crime lab in a timely manner before the evidence disappears. There is much work to be done in the areas of unidentified remains and missing persons in helping families to put closure to the loss of a loved one.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 68.50 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) When a person reported missing has not been found and criminal activity is suspected to be the basis of the victim being missing, the sheriff, chief of police, county coroner, or county medical examiner, or other law enforcement authority initiating and conducting the investigation for the missing person shall, within forty-eight hours of suspecting the criminal activity immediately file a report, collect DNA samples from the known missing person, and ask the missing person's family or next of kin to give written consent to contact the dentist or dentists of the missing person and request the person's dental records.
     (2) No later than forty-eight hours after collecting the DNA evidence and after conferring with the county coroner or medical examiner, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement authority shall submit the missing person's report, the DNA samples taken, and the missing person's dental records to the state patrol identification, child abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, and criminal history section on forms supplied by the state patrol for such purpose.
     (3) The state patrol identification, child abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, and criminal history section shall store the evidence collected from the known missing person in a missing person data base. The missing person data base shall be a separate and distinct data base from the other DNA data bases maintained by the agency.
     (4) The state patrol identification, child abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, and criminal history section shall forward copies of the DNA samples and dental records to the federal bureau of investigation within seventy-two hours upon receipt of the evidence of the known missing person.

Sec. 3   RCW 68.50.320 and 2001 c 223 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     When a person reported missing has not been found within thirty days of the report, the sheriff, chief of police, county coroner or county medical examiner, or other law enforcement authority initiating and conducting the investigation for the missing person shall ask the missing person's family or next of kin to give written consent to contact the dentist or dentists of the missing person and request the person's dental records.
     When a person reported missing has not been found within thirty days, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement authority initiating and conducting the investigation for the missing person shall confer with the county coroner or medical examiner prior to the preparation of a missing person's report. After conferring with the coroner or medical examiner, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement authority shall submit a missing person's report and the dental records received under this section to the dental identification system of the state patrol identification, child abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, and criminal history section on forms supplied by the state patrol for such purpose.
     In cases where criminal activity is suspected, the state patrol shall immediately submit the DNA samples and the dental records in the missing person data base and shall forward copies of the DNA samples and dental records to the federal bureau of investigation within seventy-two hours upon receipt of the evidence of the known missing person.
     When a person reported missing has been found, the sheriff, chief of police, coroner or medical examiner, or other law enforcement authority shall report such information to the state patrol.
     The dental identification system shall maintain a file of information regarding persons reported to it as missing. The file shall contain the information referred to in this section and such other information as the state patrol finds relevant to assist in the location of a missing person.
     The files of the dental identification system shall, upon request, be made available to law enforcement agencies attempting to locate missing persons.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 43.43 RCW to read as follows:
     Any biological sample taken from a known missing person pursuant to section 2 of this act shall be forwarded to the federal bureau of investigation within seventy-two hours upon receipt of the DNA samples.