RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
ACT 96 (HB 29) 2020 Regular Session Bacala
Prior law (R.S. 14:403.3) required any state or local law enforcement agency receiving a
report of a missing or recovered child to notify the following entities within 48 hours after
receiving the report:
(1)The Dept. of Health and Human Resources.
(2)The Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections.
(3)The office of the sheriff for the parish in which the report was received.
(4)The office of the sheriff for all parishes adjacent to the parish in which the report was
received.
(5)The National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC) database for Missing Persons.
Prior law (R.S. 40:2521) also provided that a law enforcement agency receiving an initial
report of a missing child or the recovery of a missing child shall immediately report the
missing or recovered child to national law enforcement agencies and the state law
enforcement agencies of neighboring states. Further required the notification to include entry
of the name of the child into the NCIC registry.
New law amends prior law to provide that any state or local law enforcement agency
receiving a report of a missing child or the recovery of a missing child and having reasonable
grounds to believe the report is accurate shall do all of the following immediately, instead
of within 48 hours, after receiving the report:
(1)Enter the name of the child into the NCIC database.
(2)Notify each of the following of the facts and contents of the report:
(a)The Dept. of Children and Family Services, to the extent that the reporting
is required pursuant to present law provisions relative to mandatory reporters
of child abuse and neglect.
(b)The office of state police, if it did not originally receive the report.
(c)The office of the sheriff for the parish in which the report was received, if it
did not originally receive the report.
(d)Any other local, state, or federal law enforcement agency that the law
enforcement agency receiving the report deems necessary and appropriate
depending upon the facts of each case.
New law retains the existing law provision which authorizes the law enforcement agency to
also notify any other appropriate local, state, or federal agency of the fact and contents of the
report.
New law further retains the existing law requirement that these reports be made for each
reported missing child without regard to whether the child is believed to be missing due to
stranger abduction, parental abduction, or any other cause.
Effective Aug. 1, 2020.
(Amends R.S. 14:403.3(A) and R.S. 40:2521)