TRACE Act
Sponsored By: Representative Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]
Introduced
Summary
Flags when missing people or unidentified remains were on Federal land. This bill would add a new field to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NMUS) that records whether a missing person’s last known location or unidentified remains were confirmed or suspected to be on Federal land and would name the specific Federal land unit involved. It would also require an annual report, due each January 15, to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees with counts for the previous year broken down by the Federal land management agency. The bill defines “Federal land” to include land owned by the United States under the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior and certain Army Corps of Engineers projects, with an exception for Tribal trust lands.
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- Families and the public: Would get clearer NMUS records when cases involve Federal land, including which Federal land unit was involved. This could make it easier to know which agency to contact.
- Law enforcement and medical examiners: Would see standardized, location-specific data that could improve coordination across Federal and local jurisdictions during investigations.
- Federal land managers: Would appear in agency-disaggregated counts when missing persons or remains are tied to their lands, giving agencies clearer visibility into incidents on their holdings.
- Congress and policy analysts: Would receive yearly, agency-level statistics to track trends and inform oversight or policy work related to missing persons on Federal land.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Better tracking for missing persons on federal land
If enacted, the Attorney General, through the National Institute of Justice, would add a new field to the national missing persons database. It would mark whether the last known location was confirmed or suspected to be on federal land, and do the same for unidentified remains, with unit-level details when available. “Federal land” would exclude land held in trust for an Indian Tribe and would cover Defense only for Army Corps projects. Starting in the second calendar year after enactment, a report would be due each January 15 to Congress. The report would count these cases and show which federal land agency had jurisdiction.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]
CO • D
Cosponsors
Rep. Burchett, Tim [R-TN-2]
TN • R
Sponsored 3/14/2025
Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2]
IL • D
Sponsored 3/14/2025
Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17]
NY • R
Sponsored 3/14/2025
Johnson (GA)
GA • D
Sponsored 3/14/2025
Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]
PA • R
Sponsored 3/14/2025
Kiley (CA)
CA • I
Sponsored 3/31/2025
Rep. Huffman, Jared [D-CA-2]
CA • D
Sponsored 6/5/2025
Randall
WA • D
Sponsored 6/9/2025
Nehls
TX • R
Sponsored 7/21/2025
Van Drew
NJ • R
Sponsored 7/21/2025
Rutherford
FL • R
Sponsored 7/25/2025
McBath
GA • D
Sponsored 2/23/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov