Bill Text: NJ AJR244 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes the "Williams and Amenhotep New Jersey Task Force on Missing Persons."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-11-15 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [AJR244 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-AJR244-Introduced.html
No. 244
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED NOVEMBER 15, 2021
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman BRITNEE N. TIMBERLAKE
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes "Williams and Amenhotep New Jersey Task Force on Missing Persons."
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Joint Resolution establishing the "Williams and Amenhotep New Jersey Task Force on Missing Persons."
Be It Resolved by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established the "Williams and Amenhotep New Jersey Task Force on Missing Persons."
b. The task force shall consist of nine members as follows:
(1) the Attorney General, ex officio, or a designee:
(2) the Commissioner of Children and Families, ex officio, or a designee;
(3) the Commissioner of Human Services, ex officio, or a designee;
(4) one member of the Missing Person's Unit of the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety, designated by the Attorney General;
(5) one member of the New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force established within the Department of Law and Public Safety, designated by the Attorney General;
(6) two public members appointed by the Governor representing a local law enforcement agency, one each based upon the recommendation of the Senate President and the Senate Minority Leader;
(7) one public member appointed by the Governor representing a child advocacy organization concerning missing, abducted, or exploited children, based upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly; and
(8) one public member appointed by the Governor representing an organization concerning missing or trafficked persons, based upon the recommendation of the General Assembly Minority Leader.
c. The task force shall organize as soon as practicable after the appointment of a majority of its members, and may meet and hold hearings at such places and times as it shall designate.
d. The members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for travel and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the task force for its purposes.
e. The Attorney General's
Office shall provide professional and clerical staff to the task force as may
be necessary for the task force's purposes, and the task force shall also be
entitled to call upon the services of any State, county, or municipal
department, board, commission, or agency, as may be available to it for its
purposes.
2. The purposes and duties of the task force shall be to: (1) review best practices for investigating reports of missing persons; (2) examine on a Statewide basis the current law enforcement response to reports of missing persons by law enforcement agencies; and (3) determine whether the practices of State and local law enforcement agencies require any changes to conform to best practices.
3. a. Within 12 months after the task force's organizational meeting the task force shall submit a written report to the Governor, and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature. The report submitted pursuant to this subsection shall contain the task force's findings on best practices and the current law enforcement response to reports of missing persons in the State, and any recommendations for legislative or other action.
b. The task force shall dissolve three months after submitting the report.
4. This joint resolution shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the "Williams and Amenhotep New Jersey Task Force on Missing Persons" to (1) review best practices for investigating reports of missing persons; (2) examine on a Statewide basis the current law enforcement response to reports of missing children by law enforcement agencies; and (3) determine whether the practices of State and local law enforcement agencies require any changes to conform to best practices.
The task force membership would include: (1) the Attorney General, ex officio, or a designee: (2) the Commissioner of Children and Families, ex officio, or a designee; (3) the Commissioner of Human Services, ex officio, or a designee; (4) one member of the Missing Person's Unit of the Division of State Police in the Department of Law and Public Safety, designated by the Attorney General; (5) one member of the New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force established within the Department of Law and Public Safety, designated by the Attorney General; (6) two public members appointed by the Governor representing a local law enforcement agency, one each based upon the recommendation of the Senate President and the Senate Minority Leader; (7) one public member appointed by the Governor representing a child advocacy organization concerning missing, abducted, or exploited children, based upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the General Assembly; and (8) one public member appointed by the Governor representing an organization concerning missing or trafficked persons, based upon the recommendation of the General Assembly Minority Leader.
The bill provides that within 12 months after the task force's organizational meeting, it would be required to submit a written report to the Governor and to the Legislature. The report is to contain the task force's findings on best practices and the current law enforcement response to reports of missing persons in the State, and any recommendations for legislative or other action. Under the bill, the task force would dissolve three months after submitting the report.
The task force is named in honor of two missing young people: Sanaa Amenhotep the 15 year-old daughter of a New Jersey resident who went missing in Columbia, South Carolina and whose body was found three weeks later; and Yasir Williams, a 21 year-old Rutgers University student from East Orange, New Jersey whose body was found in a park pond in Orange, New Jersey two weeks after he went missing.
