Sponsors (6)
The bill injects substantial funding, training, and accountability measures to strengthen ICAC investigations and victim services, but it also loosens centralized data requirements and expands liability protections while risking disruption to existing programs and disadvantaging smaller or newer jurisdictions.
Children and youth: provides a significant funding increase for ICAC investigations and services — $70M (FY2026), $80M (FY2027), $90M (FY2028) — expanding resources for prevention, investigations, and victim support.
Law enforcement: requires national training programs and mandates at least 20% of grant funds support wellness training, improving investigator skills, evidence-handling, and officer wellbeing across ICAC task forces.
Children and victims: grant reporting must include the number of child victims identified, increasing transparency and enabling better planning and delivery of victim services.
Children and victims: making the National Data System permissive rather than mandatory could reduce centralized data sharing, weakening coordinated identification of victims and cross-jurisdiction investigations.
Children and law enforcement: grants broad limited-liability protection for ICAC task forces, which could reduce legal accountability and oversight for misconduct short of intentional/reckless/malicious acts, limiting victims' recourse.
Local governments and law enforcement: removing references to existing tools (e.g., Operation Fairplay) and deleting Title II risks disrupting established forensic lab networks and program continuity during transition.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Reauthorizes and updates the PROTECT Our Children Act, expands ICAC duties and participants, adjusts data and grant rules, adds limited liability protections, and authorizes increased funding through FY2028.
Official title: To reauthorize the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Debbie Wasserman Schultz · Last progress February 12, 2025
Reauthorizes and updates the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 by extending and expanding the National Strategy, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force program, related grants, data provisions, and authorized funding for FY2026–FY2028. The bill shifts the strategy submission schedule, strengthens program duties (including victim identification and law-enforcement participation), adds limited liability protection for ICAC task forces, makes changes to the national data system and grant reporting, and authorizes increased appropriations while creating regional computer forensic lab authority.