S. 1038 — TRACE Act

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including "(1) Attorney General," meaning the Attorney General acting through the Director of the National Institute of Justice; "(2) Federal land," meaning land owned by the United States under the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior (except land held in trust for an Indian Tribe), or the Secretary of Defense solely for land and water resources projects administered by the Corps of Engineers; and "(3) Territorial waters of the United States," meaning all waters of the territorial sea of the United States, 12 nautical miles wide, adjacent to the U.S. coast and seaward of the territorial baseline as described in Presidential Proclamation 5928 of December 27, 1988.

This section requires the Attorney General to add to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)—a Department of Justice database linking missing persons cases with unidentified human remains—a data field indicating whether a missing person's last known location was confirmed or suspected to be on federal land or in U.S. territorial waters, including specific details on the federal land unit or territorial waters area involved.

This section directs the Attorney General to submit to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, by January 15 of the second calendar year after enactment and annually thereafter, a report on the number of cases in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) for the previous calendar year in which the missing person's last known location was confirmed or suspected to be on federal land or in U.S. territorial waters.