By Hugh T. Ferguson, CQ Roll Call -

For advocates of people with autism, the 114th Congress (2015-16) left some unfinished business on the docket, and potential for bipartisanship.

Bills to help prevent wandering, a characteristic of some individuals with autism and adults with Alzheimer’s who impulsively leave their caregivers, gained support from members as diverse as GOP Rep. Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey and Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, but never reached the president’s desk.

Both the House and Senate advanced versions of Kevin and Avonte’s law, named for 9-year-old Kevin Curtis Wills, who wandered from home and drowned in Iowa’s Raccoon River in 2008, and 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo, who left his school and drowned in New York City’s East River in 2013.  

The bills by Smith and Schumer would have reauthorized the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program and provided grants to local communities to train police or public safety officers to prevent wandering.

Some House Republicans who opposed it said they worried the bill could make it easier for the government to track citizens who aren’t at risk. Texas’ Louie Gohmert, for example, said the bill was “well intentioned” but that it would have “opened another door for the federal government to become even more of an Orwellian big brother.”

But nearly 3 in 4 House Republicans backed it. And Stuart Spielman, a senior policy adviser at Autism Speaks, an advocacy group, is optimistic that congressional supporters will renew their efforts.

“I think that the ultimate challenge was time,” Spielman says. “The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent. It passed the House by an overwhelming margin.” 

Differences over how best to protect the privacy rights of the people whom the bills sought to help held up final passage. But Spielman and other autism advocacy groups continue to lobby on the bill and he thinks the differences can be overcome considering what’s at stake. “Nothing can be more basic for a parent than not knowing where your kid is. That’s a really scary thing,” he says.

This article ran as part of the Jan. 30, edition of CQ Magazine.