[House Report 114-75]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
114th Congress } { Rept. 114-75
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { Part 1
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GOOD SAMARITAN SEARCH AND RECOVERY ACT
_______
April 15, 2015.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 373]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 373) to direct the Secretary of the Interior and
Secretary of Agriculture to expedite access to certain Federal
land under the administrative jurisdiction of each Secretary
for good Samaritan search-and-recovery missions, and for other
purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon
without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 373 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior and Secretary of Agriculture to expedite access to
certain Federal land under the administrative jurisdiction of
each Secretary for good Samaritan search-and-recovery missions,
and for other purposes.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
This legislation comes following the discovery of the
bodies of Keith Goldberg and Air Force Staff Sergeant Antonio
Tucker in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (administered
by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior)
by good Samaritan search and recovery teams. In both cases,
these volunteer groups had to wait an unacceptable amount of
time to navigate the federal bureaucracy before they could
conduct their searches.
On January 31, 2012, Las Vegas taxi driver Keith Goldberg
went missing. Investigators believed that he was killed and the
body disposed of in the desert in the vicinity of the Lake Mead
National Recreation Area. Local law enforcement officers
suspended their search in April after arrests were made. Mr.
Goldberg's family still wanted answers--they wanted his body to
be found to provide closure to their horrific ordeal. The
Goldberg family turned to Red Rock Search and Rescue, a
nonprofit search and rescue team that helps families like the
Goldbergs when loved ones go missing. Red Rock is a trained
group of volunteers with extensive experience, willing to do a
public service at no cost to the federal taxpayer. As they
prepared to start their search in the Lake Mead National
Recreation Area, they ran into a number of bureaucratic road
blocks, including the requirements to obtain a special use
permit and liability insurance.
Some 15 months after Keith Goldberg disappeared, Red Rock
was able to obtain an insurance policy and the requisite
permits that would allow them to start their search. In less
than two hours, they found Mr. Goldberg's body.
On June 23, 2012, Air Force Staff Sergeant Antonio Tucker
was presumed drowned in Lake Mead. As the National Park Service
searched for the body, it was contacted by Steve Schafer, owner
of a company specializing in underwater survey and recovery
work. He offered to help. He was told by the National Park
Service that it had all the help that was needed. Ten months
later, after hiring an attorney, filing a request for public
documents, and applying for a special use permit, he was
finally cleared to search the lake. He found Mr. Tucker's body.
H.R. 373 has been introduced to expedite access to public
lands for good Samaritan search and recovery organizations so
that they may conduct searches for missing persons and help
bring closure to the families of missing persons.
Congressman Joe Heck (R-NV) introduced this bill in the
113th Congress as H.R. 2166. Congressman Heck testified on H.R.
2166 before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental
Regulation on May 7, 2013. On January 23, 2014, the Committee
on Natural Resources favorably reported the bill (House Report
113-331), and on January 27, 2014, it passed the House by a
recorded vote of 394-0.
H.R. 373 requires that permits for accessing public lands
be issued to groups within 48 hours of application and that
groups do not have to obtain an insurance policy if they waive
federal government liability. The bill also instructs the
Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture to
develop search and recovery focused partnerships to better
coordinate and expedite search and recovery on federal lands.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 373 was introduced on January 14, 2015, by Congressman
Joe Heck (R-NV). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee
on Federal Lands. The bill was also referred to the Committee
on Agriculture. On March 24, 2015, the Natural Resources
Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Federal
Lands was discharged by unanimous consent. No amendments were
offered and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the
House of Representatives by unanimous consent on March 25,
2015.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 373--Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act
H.R. 373 would require the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture to expedite access to federal
lands for search and recovery missions conducted by certain
individuals or organizations. Under the bill, entities
conducting search and recovery missions would not be considered
federal employees or volunteers, and the federal government
would not be liable for the actions of such entities.
Based on information provided by the Department of the
Interior and the Forest Service, CBO expects that the costs of
expediting access to federal lands for search and recovery
purposes would be minimal, and we estimate that implementing
the legislation would have no significant effect on the federal
budget. Enacting H.R. 373 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 373 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Assistant Director for
Budget Analysis.
2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. According to the
Congressional Budget Office, implementation of this bill would
``have no significant effect on the federal budget.''
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior and Secretary of Agriculture to expedite access to
certain Federal land under the administrative jurisdiction of
each Secretary for good Samaritan search-and-recovery missions,
and for other purposes.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any
specific rule-making proceedings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
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