wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 1512 > Original Bill

HB 1512 - Missing persons

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Section 1

This act may be known and cited as the missing and murdered indigenous women and persons and Lucian act.

Section 2

  1. Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the office of the attorney general shall publish and maintain on its website a missing persons toolkit that contains regularly updated information related to locating and recovering missing persons.

  2. The missing persons toolkit must contain information and resources to help understand and engage with the process of reporting missing persons including, at minimum, the following:

    1. An explanation of how to report a missing person to an applicable law enforcement agency or other entity charged with receiving such reports;

    2. An overview of the kinds of information that may be helpful to provide when reporting a missing person;

    3. Additional steps that may be taken to assist with recovering a missing person after a report has been made;

    4. Suggestions and resources for navigating difficulties that are commonly encountered during the process of reporting and recovering a missing person, including a list of resources that may offer counseling and assistance to family members, friends, and community members of missing persons;

    5. Information, developed in consultation with the Washington state missing and murdered indigenous women and people task force, that is specifically tailored to reporting and recovering missing indigenous women and persons; and

    6. Information that is specifically tailored to reporting and recovering missing persons who are particularly vulnerable due to age, health, or mental or physical disability or condition.

  3. The office of the attorney general shall publish the missing persons toolkit in the top 10 languages spoken in Washington state and, at the discretion of the office of the attorney general, other languages.

  4. The office of the attorney general shall publish the missing persons toolkit in the following formats:

    1. A full digital version available on the office of the attorney general's website; and

    2. An abbreviated hard copy version made available to law enforcement agencies and any other relevant entities identified by the office of the attorney general, to be distributed by the applicable law enforcement agency or other entity when a person seeks to report a missing person.

  5. The office of the attorney general shall publish the first version of the missing persons toolkit in all formats specified under subsection (4) of this section by November 1, 2023, and, beginning in 2024, review the missing persons toolkit annually and publish an updated version incorporating any relevant changes by November 1st of each year thereafter.

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