[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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