BILL NUMBER:  S7987A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the identification
of unknown dead and missing persons

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of this legislation amends subsection 1 of section 838 of
the Executive Law, creating a requirement that, upon receipt of
unidentified remains, all county medical examiners will be required to
report identifying information of those remains to the National
Missing and Unidentified Persons System. This legislation also updates
the language of the existing section regarding copies of fingerprints
to include "or the equivalent digital image", an option currently
utilized by medical examiners.

Section 2 specifies that this act shall take effect on the sixtieth
day after it shall become law.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Nationwide, medical examiners and coroners handle approximately 4,400
unidentified human decedent cases annually, nearly a quarter of which
remain unidentified after one year. Many remains are buried without
              

identification. It is estimated that only 15% of unidentified remains
are reported to federal databases. To remedy this situation, the US
Department of Justice established and maintains the National Missing
and Unidentified Remains System (NamUs) that serves as a national
database of information pertaining to unidentified remains. The
identifying information, which is entered online by medical examiners,
can then be accessed by law enforcement agencies and family members
who are trying to find their missing loved ones.

The staggering number of missing and unidentified remains in the
United States signals the need for every state to improve their
requirements for sharing this information with federal and other state
authorities.

Under current law, all county medical examiners in the state are
required to report information about unidentified remains to the NYS
Division of Criminal Justice Services. Some, but not all, medical
examiner offices voluntarily report identifying information of these
remains to the NamUs System. However, there is presently no state law
requirement that they convey this information to the national NamUs
database.

This legislation would promote more comprehensive sharing of
identifying information by including reporting to NamUs in the state
statute that covers the reporting of unidentified remains by coroners
and medical examiners.

By requiring all medical examiners in the state to report all
identifying information on unidentified remains to NamUs, there will
be a greater chance that a law enforcement agency or family member
will be able to identify the remains as those of a specific missing
person. This legislation will strengthen the probability of
identifying remains, help to solve crimes and, perhaps most
importantly, bring closure to families of missing individuals.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None to the State of New York

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become law.