President Biden on Tuesday signed a bill named for a missing Waterbury man that is meant to make searches for lost loved ones more effective for families and law enforcement agencies.

"Billy's Law," officially the Help Find the Missing Act, is named for William Smolinski Jr., who was 31 years old when he went missing from his home on Aug. 24, 2004. His parents, Janice and William Smolinski Sr., for years have pressured police to follow tips and combed thousands of acres of woods and fields themselves in an unwavering search for their son. Their determination inspired Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., to champion the legislation.

The law is designed in part to better coordinate missing persons databases and raise awareness among law enforcement and relatives of the missing about the availability of information and how families can update background and descriptions and track developments.

"I hope that other families get a chance to realize that there is hope," Janice Smolinski, formerly of Cheshire, said recently in an interview from her Florida home.

Billy Smolinski is among tens of thousands of Americans who remain missing for more than a year, what many agencies consider cold cases, according to the National  Missing Persons and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).  An estimated 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year and about 1,000 of those bodies remain unidentified after one year, according to the agency, part of the National Institute of Justice. Because of gaps in databases, however, missing persons and unidentified remains are not often matched.

In their frustrated attempts to find their son, Janice and William Smolinksi Sr. faced many systemic challenges, most significantly federal databases that were incomplete and uncoordinated, according to Murphy, who had tried for years to gain bipartisan support for the legislation.

The law connects NamUs with the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to create more comprehensive missing persons and unidentified remains databases and streamline the reporting process for local law enforcement. It also expands current law by requiring missing children be reported to NamUs and requires the Department of Justice to issue guidelines and best practices on handling missing persons and unidentified remains cases to empower law enforcement, medical examiners and coroners to help find the missing.

Authorities have said Billy Smolinski likely was the victim of foul play. His parents, who have a daughter three years younger than their son, continue to search for him.

Billy's Law had bipartisan support, including U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“When I first met Jan and Bill almost 15 years ago, I was inspired by their determination to fix a missing persons system that had repeatedly failed them during the search for their son Billy," Murphy said.

"This is a big deal that is going to ensure the thousands of other families with missing loved ones won’t face the same obstacles going forward,” he said.

“For families who have exhausted all possible leads to find their loved one, improving the missing persons reporting process is essential,” Cornyn said. “This legislation will ensure local law enforcement can work swiftly and comprehensively to deliver justice to the families and friends of the missing, and I am proud of the bipartisan support that pushed this bill across the finish line.”