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HB 26

Public Safety - Missing Person Reports - Collection and Publication

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Anne Healey

The bill would require the Maryland State Police to collect and publish standardized, disaggregated missing-person data from local agencies to the public.

Withdrawn by Sponsor
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Bill Summary · HB 26

Summary — HB 26: Public Safety — Missing Person Reports — Collection and Publication

Status: Withdrawn by sponsor (withdrawn 2025‑02‑17)
Introduced: January 8, 2025 (Prefiled Oct 28, 2024)
Primary sponsor: Delegate Healey
Code reference (proposed): Adds §3‑609 to Article — Public Safety (Annotated Code of Maryland)
Proposed effective date: July 1, 2026 (if enacted)

Purpose / intent

The bill would have required the Maryland Department of State Police (DSP) to collect standardized information about missing person reports from local law‑enforcement agencies and to publish that information on DSP’s website. The stated intent is to improve public transparency and produce consistent, disaggregated data about missing‑person cases to inform policymakers and the public.

Key provisions

  • DSP collection and publication duty:
    • DSP must collect information on missing person reports statewide and publish the data on its website.
    • DSP must adopt procedures necessary to collect the information from local agencies.
  • Data elements required (as specified in the bill):
    • Data published must be disaggregated by age, race, and reporting county.
    • The published information must include the number of resolved missing‑person reports in the preceding month.
  • Local law‑enforcement reporting requirement:
    • Each local law‑enforcement agency must provide DSP with information regarding any missing person within the agency’s jurisdiction, in the form and frequency required by DSP.
  • Annual summary:
    • On or before December 31 each year, DSP must publish a summary of all required missing‑person information for the preceding calendar year.
  • Drafting detail:
    • The new statutory section would be codified as §3‑609 in the Public Safety article.
  • Effective date if enacted: July 1, 2026.

Who would be affected

  • Department of State Police: new responsibilities to design collection procedures, receive and compile data, and publish monthly and annual information.
  • Local law‑enforcement agencies: obligation to provide missing‑person information to DSP according to DSP procedures.
  • Public, families, researchers, and policymakers: would gain public access to standardized, disaggregated missing‑person statistics that could be used for oversight, resource allocation, and research.

Potential impacts and open issues

  • Transparency: Would increase publicly available, disaggregated data on missing‑person reports and resolutions.
  • Administrative burden and costs: DSP and local agencies would face additional reporting, data‑management, and website‑publication tasks. The bill does not specify funding, staffing, or enforcement mechanisms; implementation costs and resource needs are not estimated in the bill text.
  • Data specificity and privacy: The bill requires aggregated, disaggregated counts (age, race, county, resolved counts). It does not require publication of personally identifying information, but the bill leaves important technical details — precise data fields, reporting intervals, definitions of “resolved,” and privacy safeguards — to DSP procedures.
  • Utility: Standardized, statewide reporting could improve policymaking and cross‑jurisdiction coordination, highlight demographic patterns, and track clearance/resolution trends.

Procedural/timeline notes

  • If enacted as written, DSP would begin collecting/publishing data pursuant to procedures it adopts and would publish an annual summary by December 31 each year (first report would depend on adoption of procedures and any implementation schedule).
  • Current status: Withdrawn by the sponsor on 2025‑02‑17; no enacted law resulted from this filing. If stakeholders want this policy pursued, the bill would need to be refiled or reintroduced in a future session.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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