[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2174 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.2174
One Hundred Sixteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
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).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.