Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act of 2018
This bill revises the authority for state grants to improve the reporting of unidentified and missing persons.
Among other things, the bill does the following:
[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7218 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7218
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 6, 2018
Mr. Gonzalez of Texas (for himself and Mr. Hurd) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary,
and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
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 2018''.
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), with
priority given to eligible entities in southern border States,
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, government-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 center 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,
government-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 multimodal,
multipurpose 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 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 (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.--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, by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection on or near the border between the United States and Mexico,
including--
(1) for each deceased person--
(A) the cause and manner of death, if known;
(B) the sex, age (at time of death), and country of
origin (if such information is determinable); and
(C) the location of each unidentified remain;
(2) the total number of deceased people whose unidentified
remains were discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
during the reporting period;
(3) 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--
(A) to identify and map the locations at which
migrant deaths occur; and
(B) to count the number of deaths that occur at
such locations; and
(4) 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.
(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).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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