[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 194 (Monday, November 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6714-S6715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MISSING PERSONS AND UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS ACT OF 2019
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of
S. 2174 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 2174) 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.
There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. CORNYN. I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn amendment at the
desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be
considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 2685) was agreed to, as follows
(Purpose: To strike the provision giving entities in southern border
States priority in the award of grants related to the identification
and processing of unidentified remains)
On page 2, lines 7 and 8, strike ``, with priority given to
eligible entities in southern border States,''.
The bill (S. 2174), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a
third reading, was read the third time, and passed, as follows:
S. 2174
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 3 of Kristen's Act (34 U.S.C.
40504 note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.
``The Attorney General is authorized to use funds otherwise
appropriated for the
[[Page S6715]]
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).
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