PROTECT Our Children Reauthorization Act of 2025

The bill would reauthorize the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 through FY2028 with several substantive updates. It would change the schedule for updating the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction from every two years to every four years and consolidate the strategy's required elements from 19 into 9, including current and future trend analyses, resource estimates for investigative agencies, and statistical reviews of child pornography trafficking. For the ICAC Task Force Program — the national network supporting state and local child exploitation investigations — the bill would add child victim identification as an explicit mission, require task forces to include victim identification numbers in annual reports, and grant task forces limited immunity from civil claims or criminal charges arising from how they prioritize leads (with exceptions for intentional misconduct, actual malice, or gross negligence). It would also authorize $70 million, $80 million, and $90 million for FY2026, FY2027, and FY2028, respectively, and require the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to provide supplemental data when it refers a report of online child sexual exploitation to law enforcement.

The bill would repeal Title II of the PROTECT Our Children Act (which addressed additional regional computer forensic labs) and make the establishment of the National Internet Crimes Against Children Data System discretionary rather than mandatory. At least 20 percent of grant funds would be reserved for training, technology, research, and wellness support for task force members.

State and local law enforcement agencies that participate in ICAC task forces across the country, which would receive continued federal grant funding and new liability protections. Child victims of online sexual exploitation, who would benefit from increased investigative focus on identification and rescue. Online service providers already required to report child sexual exploitation content would face updated reporting requirements. DOJ, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and other federal agencies would be subject to updated National Strategy requirements.

Without reauthorization, the ICAC Task Force Program's funding authorization lapses, jeopardizing the operational capacity of task forces in all 50 states. The new liability shield addresses concerns that prioritization decisions — triage of the thousands of CyberTipline leads task forces receive — could expose agencies to lawsuits, potentially deterring enforcement. Requiring victim identification reporting creates accountability for one of the program's core but previously undertracked goals: rescuing children, not just arresting offenders.

DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention would administer grants to ICAC task forces across the country, with at least 20 percent of appropriated funds reserved for training, technology, research, and wellness support. Task forces would submit annual reports to DOJ that must now include child victim identification counts. DOJ would update the National Strategy every four years. The liability shield for lead-prioritization decisions would take effect upon enactment. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children would be required to attach supplemental data when referring CyberTipline reports to law enforcement.