Bill
HB 698
Move the NC Center for Missing Persons from DPS to the State Highway Patrol, centralizing leadership, rules, and data-sharing to improve alerts and enforcement.
Status (as of documents provided)
- Introduced early April 2025. Committee substitute reported favorably (House) 4/30/2025. Pending further legislative action.
Purpose
- Move the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons (the Center) out of its current location in the Department of Public Safety organizational structure and place it administratively and operationally within the State Highway Patrol. The change is effected by a Type I transfer under G.S. 143A‑6 and by recodifying the Center’s statutory provisions.
Key provisions
- Transfer and recodification
- All functions, powers, duties, and obligations of the Center are transferred to and consolidated within the State Highway Patrol by a Type I transfer.
- Existing statutory provisions (former Part 5/Subpart B of Article 13, Ch. 143B; e.g., G.S. 143B‑1010 to ‑1023) are recodified as Part 4 of Article 17 (new G.S. 143B‑1760 through ‑1773).
- Organization and control
- The Center is established “within” the Department of Public Safety — under the direction of the Secretary of DPS / Commander of the State Highway Patrol.
- The Secretary/Commander may organize the Center, adopt rules, employ authorized personnel, and determine structure needed to carry out its mission.
- Operations and data systems
- The Center continues to serve as a central repository for missing‑person information (with emphasis on missing children) and may utilize FBI/NCIC missing‑person files via the Police Information Network.
- The Secretary/Commander adopts rules for intake, dissemination, confidentiality, retention/disposition of data (noting data for persons who become 18 while still missing must be preserved), forms, and communication links with NCIC.
- The Center must provide a toll‑free line to report disappearances or sightings and will communicate such reports to the law‑enforcement agency with jurisdiction.
- AMBER Alert and reporting
- The statutory AMBER Alert criteria and dissemination responsibilities remain codified (child age threshold, danger/imminent threat, not a runaway, reported/investigated).
- Law enforcement remains required to notify the Center and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children when applicable.
- Access & confidentiality
- Authorized users (law enforcement, approved researchers subject to restrictions, others authorized by the Secretary/Commander) may query/receive Center data; names/addresses generally limited for researchers.
- Penalties
- Unauthorized release of Center data in violation of rules is made a Class 2 misdemeanor (applies to persons under specified supervision/positions).
Who is affected
- State Highway Patrol (new administrative host), Department of Public Safety leadership, Center staff, local law‑enforcement agencies, families of missing persons, the NC Department of Justice Police Information Network, FBI/NCIC interfaces, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and approved researchers. Potential operational impacts for staffing, rulemaking, data access procedures, and interagency coordination.
Potential impact and considerations
- Centralizing the Center within the State Highway Patrol may streamline law‑enforcement integration (NCIC access, alert dissemination), strengthen operational control and standardization (rules, data handling, AMBER alerts), and clarify lines of authority.
- Practical implications could include changes to governance, personnel assignments, internal procedures, and IT/data‑sharing arrangements; implementation will require administrative steps (rulemaking, system configurations, staff transitions).
- The bill preserves confidentiality protections and retention requirements while imposing penalties for improper disclosures.
Procedural / timeline notes
- Drafting/recodification language included; committee substitute reported favorably 4/30/2025. Further floor votes and any final enactment would determine the effective date and trigger the Type I transfer implementation steps.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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