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Texas lawmakers have stopped their efforts to spend millions of dollars on what experts call an ineffective child identification kit from Propublica in a few weeks, and Texas Tribune reports lawmakers are once again trying to fund the program.
This is the second consecutive budget cycle that Congress has considered purchasing products, and it promises to help find a missing child only after news organizations have documented the lack of evidence that the kit is working.
Propublica and The Tribune first published their findings in a 2023 survey that revealed that the state spent millions of dollars on a child identification kit created by a Waco-based company called the National Child Identification Program run by former NFL player Kenny Hansmire. Public records show that he has a history of legal and business problems and lawmakers could use cheaper alternatives, but Hansmear used outdated and exaggerated statistics about missing children to promote sales.
He was also able to develop connections with strong Texas legislators who supported his initiative. In 2021, Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell wrote the bill that created the Texas Child Safety Program. Whenever a lawmaker allocates money to a child identification kit, there is all measures to ensure that state funds go to Hansmire’s business. That year, the state awarded his company about $5.7 million for kits.
Two years later, both the House and Senate proposed spending millions more on the program. But when the final budget was released about a month after the newsroom investigation, lawmakers had withdrawn the funds. They refused to answer questions about why.
Funding for the program has reappeared in the home budget this year. State Rep. Armando Martinez, a Democrat on the House Budget Committee, proposed allotting $2 million to buy kits for kindergarten students through second grade. However, the Senate did not include the funds in its budget version.
The newsroom released its story on the proposed spending plan in early May. The final version of the budget passed by lawmakers this week did not have designated funds for the identification kit.
Campbell, Martinez, and leaders of the House and Senate Budget Committees did not write questions about whether they did not respond to newsroom interview requests for the story or why the funds did not cause any final cuts.
The former NFL player persuaded politicians that his child ID kit would help him find a missing child. There is no evidence they do.
Hansmire did not reply to this week’s interview request. He told the newsroom in his previous response that he had resolved his financial troubles and said that his company’s kits helped him identify the missing child, but he did not provide a specific example. Hansmire told reporters to reach out to “any police officer.” The newsroom contacted many of them. Of the dozens of Texas law enforcement who responded to the query, we were unable to identify cases where kits could help find children who were runaway or tempted.
Stacey Pearson, a child safety consultant who previously overseen Louisiana Clearinghouse for missing and exploited children, said he made the right decision to remove identification kits from the budget because there is no data to prove that lawmakers actually have no data to help improve child safety. She is disappointed that Texas legislators hope that they will continue to draw attention to the program and not reflect on future funds.
“Every hour you spend on a program like this, every minute, every minute, one minute and an hour you can’t spend on something more promising or more sounds,” Pearson said.
