Taskforce on Missing BIPOC Women.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 560

Short Title: Taskforce on Missing BIPOC Women. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators Murdock, Smith, and Applewhite (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
March 26, 2025
*S560-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A TASK FORCE ON MISSING WOMEN AND GIRLS WHO ARE 2
BLACK, INDIGENOUS, A ND PEOPLE OF COLOR ( BIPOC) TO DEVELOP PO LICY 3
CHANGES THAT WILL WORK TO ADDRESS THE LACK OF CARE AND CONCERN 4
FOR MISSING AND MURD ERED BIPOC WOMEN AND GIRLS WITH STATE 5
GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES. 6
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 7
SECTION 1. Findings. – The General Assembly finds all of the following: 8
(1) According to a 2020 report by the Women's Media Center there are 9
64,000-75,000 missing black women and girls across the United States. 10
(2) Cases involving black women and girls often do not receive the attention they 11
need and there are often barriers to families reporting a loved one, such as 12
mistrust of police, and racial disparities in how law enforcement treat 13
disappearances. 14
(3) The tens of thousands of black women and girls who are missing include 15
abductees, sex trafficking victims, and runaways. Black women and girls exist 16
at the intersection of racism and sexism, and often face worse h ealth, wealth, 17
housing, education, and employment outcomes. 18
(4) Black girls comprise over forty percent (40%) of domestic sex trafficking 19
victims in the United States. 20
(5) Law enforcement often categorize missing black girls as runaways and fail to 21
treat their cases with urgency. 22
(6) According to a 2020 report by the Sovereign Bodies Institute, a nonprofit, 23
indigenous-led research organization, at least 2,306 missing Native American 24
women and girls have gone missing in the last 40 years in the United States , 25
about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished. 26
(7) Systemic vulnerability and compounding suppressions have resulted in mass 27
amounts of disappeared indigenous peoples, with the National Congress of 28
American Indians finding that an estimated forty percent ( 40%) of women 29
who are victims of sex trafficking identify as American Indian, Alaska Native, 30
or First Nations. 31
(8) Families of Native American women and girls who have gone missing report 32
a lack of cultural awareness, systemic racism and sexism, and widesp read 33
apathy by law enforcement and express frustration that their cases are not 34
pursued. 35
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 560-First Edition
(9) There is not comprehensive state or federal data about missing and murdered 1
Native Americans. Advocates argue that poor record keeping, racial 2
misclassification, a dverse relationships between tribal governments and 3
outside law enforcement have led to an underreporting of cases. 4
(10) Latinx individuals are underrepresented or misclassified in crime and missing 5
person statistics because they are often categorized as " White" in official 6
reporting systems. This classification issue has major implications for 7
visibility, resource allocation, and data accuracy regarding missing persons. 8
SECTION 2. Establishment. – There is established a Task Force on Missing Women 9
and Girls who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). 10
SECTION 3. Composition. – The Task Force established in Section 2 of this act 11
shall consist of the following members: 12
(1) The Senior Director for Child, Family, and Adult Services of the Department 13
of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services, or the Director's 14
designee. 15
(2) The Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, or the Secretary's designee. 16
(3) The Director of the State Bureau of Investigation, or the Director's designee. 17
(4) Two members at large appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. 18
(5) Two members at large appointed by the Speaker of the House of 19
Representatives. 20
(6) One member at large appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate. 21
(7) One member at large appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of 22
Representatives. 23
SECTION 4. At Large Member Requirements. – At large members appointed in 24
accordance with Section 3 of this act shall be representative of the communities experiencing the 25
crisis described i n Section 1 of this act, including directly impacted individuals, reflect the 26
diversity of this State, and have experience in cultural competency. 27
SECTION 5. Duties. – The Task Force shall have all of the following duties: 28
(1) Develop policy changes that will work to address the lack of care and concern 29
for missing and murdered BIPOC women and girls with State governmental 30
agencies, including identifying policies to ensure first responders are 31
culturally competent. 32
(2) Advance the knowledge of communities on the severity of BIPOC women and 33
girls who are missing and murdered. 34
(3) Ensure BIPOC communities are educated and trained on the prevention, 35
protection, and protocols relating to missing BIPOC women and girls as it 36
relates to social media. 37
(4) Develop a strategy to collect statistics, demographics, surveys, oral histories, 38
and data analysis. 39
(5) Recommend preventive programming and ideas to advance the safety of 40
women and girls, including policies that address the overlapping forms of 41
oppression faced by BIPOC women and girls. 42
(6) Identify major traffic hubs, highways, and resource extraction sites that lead 43
to or are responsible for the facilitation of the abduction of BIPOC women 44
and girls. 45
(7) Create a Statewide awareness campaign. 46
SECTION 6. Public Input. – In carrying out the duties set forth in Section 5 of this 47
act, the Task Force shall seek public input by holding public hearings in each region of the State 48
and accepting public input in writing. 49
SECTION 7. Meeting Location; Expenses. – The Task Force may meet at various 50
locations around the State in order to promote greater public participation in its deliberations and 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Senate Bill 560-First Edition Page 3
to accommodate the travel considerations of the members. The Legislative Services Commission 1
shall grant adequate meeting space to the Task Force in the State Legislative Building or the 2
Legislative Office Building. The Legislative Services Commission shall allocate from a portion 3
of the funds appropriated to the General Assembly sufficient funds for the operation of the Task 4
Force. The Task Force may contract for professional, clerical, or consultant services as provided 5
by G.S. 120-32.02. Members of the Task Force shall receive subsistence and travel expenses at 6
the rates provided in G.S. 120-3.1, 138-5, or 138-6, as appropriate. 7
SECTION 8. Report. – On or before two years after the effective date of this act, the 8
Task Force shall submit to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of 9
Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House of 10
Representatives a report containing its findings and recommendations. The report required under 11
this section shall be made available to the public. 12
SECTION 9. Effective and Termination Dates. – This act is effective when it 13
becomes law. The Task Force shall terminate three years after the effective date of this act. 14