There's hope on the horizon for African-American families whose loved ones are missing.

A new database that would allow law enforcement officials to check a clearinghouse with information on 40,000 sets of unidentified remains is on the verge of going national. Currently, only 1,700 of 17,000 law enforcement agencies have access to the database called NamUs (Name Us).

A bill pending in the Senate will provide $10 million in annual funding to train police departments to use the system and another $2.4 million a year to support its annual operations costs.

African Americans make up a disproportionate amount of those who are declared missing. According to the FBI, 255,575 African Americans were reported missing in 2008, 33 percent of the total. Minorities accounted for 38 percent of the total, but it could be higher because some Hispanics and Latinos are classified as white based on appearance, according to the FBI.

Many experts agree that people of color also don't receive the same level of media and law enforcement attention as their white counterparts. This system could help reduce the difficulty of tracking down a missing loved one. Instead of the time consuming process of checking with each individual medical examiner's office, the database would make access to the information easier. Under the pending legislation, NamUs would also be linked with an FBI database.

There have already been several successes, according to the Associated Press. Omaha police found Luis Fernandez, a troubled gang member who had been missing since 2008, by entering info about his appearance and tattoos in NamUs. The body matched up with one found in an Iowa farm field in 2007 and was confirmed via DNA testing.

"I could say fairly certainly that this would never have been solved if not for NamUs," Detective Jim Shields told the Associated Press.According to the AP, other recent successes include:

Paula Beverly Davis of the Kansas City, Mo., area had been missing for 22 years until a relative saw a public service announcement on TV in October for NamUs and told her sister, who gave it a try. Among the 10 matches her sister found, there was a body dumped in Ohio in 1987 that had the same rose and unicorn tattoos as her sister. DNA tests confirmed the body was Davis.

Sonia Lente disappeared in 2002. Last June, an amateur cybersleuth with the Doe Network, a nationwide volunteer group that helps law enforcement solve cold cases, noticed similarities between Lente's description in NamUs and an unidentified body found near Albuquerque, N.M., in 2004. Dental records later established it was Lente.

This bodes well for African Americans. The recent case of accused Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell is a perfect example of the disparity in missing persons cases. Eleven African-American women, some who lived in the area, were missing for months and years and nothing was done even as the stench of death hung over the area for months.

"It's mind-boggling, when it comes to missing persons of color, that we don't get the attention," Derrica Wilson, CEO and founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, told Aol Black Voices last year.

The bill is expected to pass the Senate easily. Let's hope it doesn't get caught up in the recent silliness of Washington, D.C.