Cold Case AdvocacyHub · Legislative Tracker
State Homicide Victims' Families' Rights & Cold Case Review Legislation
This cold case legislation tracker follows state laws modeled on the federal Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021 — laws that give families of unsolved homicide victims a formal right to request review or reinvestigation of a cold case. A growing number of states have introduced bills, and a few have already passed them: Georgia's Coleman-Baker Act (2023) was the first in the nation. Click a highlighted state below for bill details and direct links to the legislature.
Interactive Map: Cold Case Legislation Tracker
Colors reflect the status of state-level cold case / homicide victims' families' rights legislation as of the date below. States in gray have no known bill of this kind tracked here.
Click or tap a colored state to see its bill number, status, summary, and links to the official legislature and bill text. You can also use the table below — it lists the same information for every tracked state.
All Tracked States in the Cold Case Legislation Tracker
A text-based version of the map data for accessibility and quick reference.
| State | Status | Bill | Summary | Links |
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Help Bring Cold Case Reform to New York
New York has recorded more than 10,000 unsolved homicides since 1993, according to Murder Accountability Project data — yet unlike Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and the federal government, the state has no dedicated cold case review process and no legal right for families to request reinvestigation. Cold Case AdvocacyHub is backing the proposed NYS Cold Case Justice Act — modeled on the federal Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act — in honor of Kristin O'Connell and the New York families still waiting for answers.
Support NY Cold Case Reform →Federal background
The state bills tracked here follow the model of the federal Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021 (H.R. 3359), which was signed into law by President Biden on August 3, 2022 as Public Law 117-164. The federal law lets families of victims in federal cold-case homicides petition for a case review — but it only applies to cases investigated by federal agencies. Because the vast majority of homicides are investigated by state and local police, advocates have pushed state legislatures to pass parallel laws covering cases in their own jurisdictions. Georgia's Coleman-Baker Act (2023) was the first, and Oklahoma and West Virginia have since followed; several more states have bills pending or have seen recent attempts fail.
Read the federal Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act of 2021 on Congress.gov →