The state would provide a toolkit for families when someone goes missing under a bill waiting awaiting Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature.
Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, introduced House Bill 1512, which is also known as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Persons and Lucian Act. The House and Senate approved the legislation this session.
The bill was recommended by a state task force working to find solutions to the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous people, and the attorney general’s office.
The bill is also named after 4-year-old Lucian Munguia, who was age 4 when he was reported missing Sept. 10 from Sarg Hubbard Park in Yakima. After extensive searches, Lucian’s body was discovered Dec. 29 in the Yakima River about seven miles from where he disappeared.
The bill would require the state to publish and maintain an online missing persons toolkit that contains regularly updated information related to locating and recovering missing persons.
It would provide an explanation of how to report a missing person to a law enforcement agency and an overview of the kinds of information that may be helpful to provide when reporting a missing person.
It would also include a list of counseling resources and assistance to family members, friends and community members of missing persons.
The missing persons toolkit would have resources available to the public about immediate actions that should take place when someone vanishes, such as writing down every detail family or friends remember, and uploading photos of the missing person to 911 databases, such as the Travis Alert System, Mosbrucker said. It would also include information about accessing the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, commonly known as NamUs.
The first version of the missing persons toolkit would be published by Nov. 1 on the attorney general’s website, according to a news release.
