As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 217
2025-2026
Representatives Cockley, Ritter
Cosponsors: Representatives Grim, Denson, Sigrist, Gross, Abdullahi, Miller, J.,
Brennan, Isaacsohn, Newman, Workman, White, E., Daniels, Odioso, Jarrells,
Brewer, Synenberg, Rader
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
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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
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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
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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.
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(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.
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(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,
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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 :
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(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
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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.
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(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
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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.
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