California Sen. Alex Padilla is joining with a colleague from across the aisle in pushing for new legislation to improve data sharing related to people who go missing on federal lands or waters.

The Tracking and Reporting Absent Community-Members Everywhere (TRACE) Act, authored by the Democratic senator and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, passed the Senate last week.

What Is Senator Alex Padilla’s TRACE Act?

The proposed legislation, also known as Senate Bill 1038, seeks to make changes to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems, or NamUs.

Specifically, it would require officials to add a new category to the database “so that the public and law enforcement can denote cases where a person went missing or was identified on federal land or U.S. territorial waters — including the specific location details of the incident,” according to a statement from Padilla’s office.

“For too long, law enforcement officials have faced unnecessary barriers in tracking down people who go missing on federal lands,” he said. “The Senate’s passage of the TRACE Act brings us one step closer to saving lives and bringing peace of mind to affected families. I’m committed to working with my colleagues across the aisle to make sure this bill is signed into law.”

In addition to the new data tracking requirement, the TRACE Act would also mandate that the DOJ issue an annual report to Congress on the number of people known or suspected to have gone missing on public lands or in U.S. territorial waters.

How Many People Have Disappeared on Public Lands?

It is estimated that more than 1,600 people have vanished on America’s roughly 640 million acres of federal lands, including national parks and forests, “though the true number is likely much higher,” the statement said. “Isolated or rugged terrain, limited cell coverage, and underreporting make it especially difficult to track these cases. Yet there is no functional system to identify when someone has gone missing on public lands, making coordinated search and rescue operations even harder.”

The goal of the TRACE Act is to improve the flow of information in an effort to better locate missing people, Tillis said.

“Every year, people go missing on public lands without being recorded in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System,” he said. “This oversight is impeding law enforcement from keeping track of those who go missing to help search and rescue efforts.”

“I applaud the Senate for passing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation so these cases can be added to the database and potentially save hundreds of lives in the future, and I urge my colleagues in the House to swiftly pass this critical legislation to ensure no missing person falls through the cracks,” Tillis added.

Sponsors of the bill include the Public Lands Solution, the Jewish Women’s Institute, the Major County Sheriffs Association, the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, the National District Attorney’s Association, Raven, the National Association to End Sexual Violence and the Outdoor Industry Association.

The full text of the bill can be accessed online at congress.gov.

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This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Senator Alex Padilla pushes for better tracking of missing persons cases on federal land
Reporting by Brian Day, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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