Legislation named after a 13-year-old former Silver Spring resident became law this week, more than 3 1/2 years after his death at the hands of Palestinian terrorists.

The Koby Mandell Act -- which will transfer responsibility for tracking down terrorists who have murdered or injured Americans from the State Department to the Justice Department and offer rewards for their capture -- passed both houses of Congress as part of the giant omnibus spending bill before Thanksgiving.

The bill comes after criticism of the State Department for not devoting significant resources or attention to pursue such terrorists, particularly those living under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.

American Jewish Congress Washington office director Sarah Stern called the bill's passage a "real victory," particularly for families of terrorism victims who had faced a "double whammy" -- "first grief" over their loss and then the "lack of justice" from their own government.

Stern had lobbied for such legislation for years even before Mandell's death, both in her current position and in her previous job with the Zionist Organization of America. She remembered telling Koby's mother, Sherri, about naming the bill after her son.

She said Mandell told her, "Koby would be jumping up and down in heaven to have a law named after him."