[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2174 Engrossed Amendment House (EAH)]
<DOC>
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
December 16, 2020.
Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2174) entitled ``An Act
to expand the grants authorized under Jennifer's Law and Kristen's Act
to include processing of unidentified remains, resolving missing
persons cases, and for other purposes.'', do pass with the following
AMENDMENTS:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Missing Persons and Unidentified
Remains Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS.
(a) Jennifer's Law.--Jennifer's Law (34 U.S.C. 40501 et seq.) is
amended--
(1) by striking section 202 (34 U.S.C. 40501) and inserting
the following:
``SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Grants authorized.--The Attorney General may award
grants to eligible entities described in paragraph (2) to
enable the eligible entities to improve the transportation,
processing, identification, and reporting of missing persons
and unidentified remains, including migrants.
``(2) Eligible entities.--Eligible entities described in
this paragraph are the following:
``(A) States and units of local government.
``(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Combined DNA
Index System (commonly known as `CODIS') forensic
laboratories, which demonstrate the grant funds will be
used for DNA typing and uploading biological family DNA
reference samples, including samples from foreign
nationals, into CODIS, subject to the protocols for
inclusion of such forensic DNA profiles into CODIS, and
the privacy protections required under section 203(c).
``(C) Medical examiners offices.
``(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology
laboratories.
``(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime
laboratories.
``(F) Publicly funded university forensic
anthropology laboratories.
``(G) Nonprofit organizations that have working
collaborative agreements with State and county forensic
offices, including medical examiners, coroners, and
justices of the peace, for entry of data into CODIS or
the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
(commonly known as `NamUs'), or both.'';
(2) in section 203 (34 U.S.C. 40502)--
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ``a State'' and
inserting ``an entity described in section 202'';
(B) in subsection (b)--
(i) in the matter preceding paragraph (1),
by striking ``State'' and inserting
``applicant'';
(ii) by striking paragraph (1) and
inserting the following:
``(1) report to the National Crime Information Center and,
when possible, to law enforcement authorities throughout the
applicant's jurisdiction regarding every deceased unidentified
person, regardless of age, found in the applicant's
jurisdiction;'';
(iii) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and''
at the end;
(iv) in paragraph (4), by striking the
period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(v) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) collect and report information to the National
Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) regarding
missing persons and unidentified remains.''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(c) Privacy Protections for Biological Family Reference
Samples.--
``(1) In general.--Any suspected biological family DNA
reference samples received from citizens of the United States
or foreign nationals and uploaded into the Combined DNA Index
System (commonly referred to as `CODIS') by an accredited,
publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded a grant under
this section may be used only for identifying missing persons
and unidentified remains.
``(2) Limitation on use.--Any biological family DNA
reference samples from citizens of the United States or foreign
nationals entered into CODIS for purposes of identifying
missing persons and unidentified remains may not be disclosed
to a Federal or State law enforcement agency for law
enforcement purposes.''; and
(3) by striking section 204 (34 U.S.C. 40503) and inserting
the following:
``SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS.
``An applicant receiving a grant award under this title may use
such funds to--
``(1) pay for the costs incurred during or after fiscal
year 2017 for the transportation, processing, identification,
and reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains,
including migrants;
``(2) establish and expand programs developed to improve
the reporting of unidentified persons in accordance with the
assurances provided in the application submitted pursuant to
section 203(b);
``(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case analysts and
technicians, fingerprint examiners, forensic odontologists, and
forensic anthropologists, needed to support such identification
programs; and
``(4) procure and maintain state of the art multi-modal,
multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing and analytical
equipment.''.
(b) Kristen's Act.--Section 102 of Kristen's Act (34 U.S.C. 40504
note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 102. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.
``To the extent provided in advance in appropriations Acts, the
Attorney General is authorized to use funds appropriated for the
operationalization, maintenance, and expansion of the National Missing
and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose of carrying out
this Act''.
SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS.
Section 411(o) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Rescue beacons.--Beginning in fiscal year 2019, in
carrying out subsection (c)(8), the Commissioner shall
purchase, deploy, and maintain not more than 170 self-powering,
9-1-1 cellular relay rescue beacons along the southern border
of the United States at locations determined appropriate by the
Commissioner to mitigate migrant deaths.''.
SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS SYSTEM
(NAMUS) PROGRAM.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this act,
and every year thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit a report
to the appropriate committees of Congress regarding--
(1) the number of unidentified person cases processed;
(2) CODIS associations and identifications;
(3) the number of anthropology cases processed;
(4) the number of suspected border crossing cases and
associations made;
(5) the number of trials supported with expert testimony;
(6) the number of students trained and professions of those
students; and
(7) the turnaround time and backlog.
SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) Unidentified Remains.--
(1) Reporting requirement.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall submit
a report to the appropriate committees of Congress regarding
all unidentified remains discovered, during the reporting
period, on or near the border between the United States and
Mexico, including--
(A) for each deceased person--
(i) the cause and manner of death, if
known;
(ii) the sex, age (at time of death), and
country of origin (if such information is
determinable); and
(iii) the location of each unidentified
remain;
(B) the total number of deceased people whose
unidentified remains were discovered by U.S. Customs
and Border Protection during the reporting period;
(C) to the extent such information is available to
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the total number of
deceased people whose unidentified remains were
discovered by Federal, State, local or Tribal law
enforcement officers, military personnel, or medical
examiners offices;
(D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection to engage with nongovernmental
organizations, institutions of higher education,
medical examiners and coroners, and law enforcement
agencies--
(i) to identify and map the locations at
which migrant deaths occur; and
(ii) to count the number of deaths that
occur at such locations; and
(E) a detailed description of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection's Missing Migrant Program, including
how the program helps mitigate migrant deaths while
maintaining border security.
(2) Public disclosure.--Not later than 30 days after each
report required under paragraph (1) is submitted, the
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall
publish on the website of the agency the information described
in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each
reporting period.
(b) Rescue Beacons.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commissioner of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall submit a report to the
appropriate committees of Congress regarding the use of rescue beacons
along the border between the United States and Mexico, including, for
the reporting period--
(1) the number of rescue beacons in each border patrol
sector;
(2) the specific location of each rescue beacon;
(3) the frequency with which each rescue beacon was
activated by a person in distress;
(4) a description of the nature of the distress that
resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if such information
is determinable); and
(5) an assessment, in consultation with local stakeholders,
including elected officials, nongovernmental organizations, and
landowners, of necessary additional rescue beacons and
recommendations for locations for deployment to reduce migrant
deaths.
(c) GAO Report.--Not later than 6 months after the report required
under subsection (a) is submitted to the appropriate committees of
Congress, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a
report to the same committees that describes--
(1) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects and
records border-crossing death data;
(2) the differences (if any) in U.S. Customs and Border
Protection border-crossing death data collection methodology
across its sectors;
(3) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection's data and
statistical analysis on trends in the numbers, locations,
causes, and characteristics of border-crossing deaths compare
to other sources of data on these deaths, including border
county medical examiners and coroners and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention;
(4) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection measures the
effectiveness of its programs to mitigate migrant deaths; and
(5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Border Protection
engages Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, foreign
diplomatic and consular posts, and nongovernmental
organizations--
(A) to accurately identify deceased individuals;
(B) to resolve cases involving unidentified
remains;
(C) to resolve cases involving unidentified
persons; and
(D) to share information on missing persons and
unidentified remains, specifically with the National
Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).
Amend the title so as to read: ``An Act to the extent
provided in advance in appropriations Act, the Attorney General
is authorized to use funds appropriated for the
operationalization, maintenance, and expansion of the National
Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose
of carrying out this Act.''.
Attest:
Clerk.
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2174
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AMENDMENTS