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119th Congress

S. 539

PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act of 2025

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Passed Senate
  4. Passed House
  5. To President
  6. Became law
Sponsor
John Cornyn(R-TX)
Introduced
Feb 12, 2025
Policy area
Crime and Law Enforcement
Committees
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Official text
Reported to Senate · Congress.gov page

Cosponsors (12)

Original cosponsors (5)

Added later (7)

Summary

Summary by the Congressional Research Service· describes the “Introduced in Senate” version

PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act of 2025 This bill reauthorizes through FY2028 and updates (1) the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction (National Strategy), and (2) the National Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. With respect to the National Strategy, current law requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to update the strategy every two years and include 19 specific elements in the strategy (e.g., long-range goals, annual measurable objectives, and future trends). This bill requires DOJ to update the National Strategy every four years. The bill also revises and consolidates the 19 required elements into 9 required elements, including an analysis of current trends and challenges as well as the overall magnitude of the threat of child exploitation. The ICAC Task Force Program is a national network of task forces that support state and local efforts to investigate and prosecute the online sexual exploitation of children. This bill requires ICAC task forces to increase the investigative capacity of law enforcement to identify child victims and report the number of child victims identified in their annual reports. The bill also limits the liability of ICAC task forces for civil claims or criminal charges in federal or state court arising from decisions with respect to leads related to internet crimes against children. Finally, the bill requires the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to provide additional information to law enforcement agencies when it refers a report of online sexual exploitation of children for investigation.

Roll-call votes

No recorded votes on this bill.

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