US Navy SEAL SCPO Tyrone Snowden Woods Ceremony Invitee Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3257 To ensure that United States Government personnel, including members of the Armed Forces and contractors, assigned to United States diplomatic missions are given the opportunity to designate next-of-kin for certain purposes in the event of the death of the personnel. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2021 Mr. SCHRADER (for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BENTZ, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. DEFAZIO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To ensure that United States Government personnel, includ- ing members of the Armed Forces and contractors, as- signed to United States diplomatic missions are given the opportunity to designate next-of-kin for certain pur- poses in the event of the death of the personnel. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘US Navy SEAL SCPO 4 Tyrone Snowden Woods Ceremony Invitee Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3257.IH H3257 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3257 IH SEC. 2. INVITATION OF DESIGNATED NEXT-OF-KIN TO 1 CEREMONIES HONORING UNITED STATES 2 DIPLOMATIC MISSION PERSONNEL WHO DIE 3 IN SERVICE TO THE UNITED STATES. 4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 (1) DIPLOMATIC MISSION.—The term ‘‘diplo- 6 matic mission’’ means any United States diplomatic 7 or consular post or other mission under the jurisdic- 8 tion of the Secretary of State. 9 (2) MEMBER.—The term ‘‘member of a diplo- 10 matic mission’’ means any Government official or 11 employee, any member of the Armed Forces, or any 12 United States citizen employed as a contractor, who 13 is serving at, or is notified of imminent assignment 14 to, a diplomatic mission. 15 (3) MEMORIAL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘memorial 16 service’’ means an official event sponsored or held by 17 a Federal agency to which members of the public are 18 invited to honor the life of a member of a diplomatic 19 mission who died in service to the United States. 20 (4) NEXT-OF-KIN.—The term ‘‘next-of-kin’’, 21 with respect to a deceased member of a diplomatic 22 mission, means the following individuals: 23 (A) The surviving spouse of the deceased 24 member. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3257.IH H3257 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3257 IH (B) The child or children of the deceased 1 member (including stepchildren, adopted chil- 2 dren, and illegitimate children). 3 (C) The parent or parents of the deceased 4 member (including a natural parent, a step- 5 parent, a parent of the member by adoption, a 6 parent, stepparent, or adopted parent of the 7 surviving spouse, and any other person who has 8 stood in loco parentis to the member at any 9 time for a continuous period of at least five 10 years before the member became 21 years of 11 age). 12 (D) The sibling or siblings of the deceased 13 member (including stepsiblings and siblings by 14 adoption). 15 (E) The person authorized to direct the 16 disposition of the remains of the deceased mem- 17 ber. 18 (b) POLICY FOR DESIGNATION OF NEXT-OF-KIN.— 19 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 20 of this Act, the Secretary of State shall— 21 (1) prescribe a policy by which a member of a 22 diplomatic mission may designate those next-of-kin 23 who will be invited to, and be entitled to attend, any 24 memorial service held to honor the life of the mem- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3257.IH H3257 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3257 IH ber of a diplomatic mission in the event of the death 1 of the member in service to the United States; 2 (2) publicize the existence of the policy to each 3 member of a diplomatic mission; and 4 (3) make forms reasonably available to each 5 member of a diplomatic mission by which the des- 6 ignation of such next-of-kin may be made. 7 (c) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall 8 carry out this section in consultation with the Secretary 9 of Defense, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agen- 10 cy, and the head of any other Federal agency that assign 11 persons to serve as a member of a diplomatic mission. 12 (d) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO MAKE DESIGNATION.— 13 If a member of a diplomatic mission fails to complete the 14 form described in subsection (b)(3) before the death of the 15 member, the member shall be deemed to have designated 16 all next-of-kin of the member for invitation to any memo- 17 rial service held to honor the life of the member in the 18 event of the death of the member in service to the United 19 States. 20 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 21 tion or the policy required by this section may be con- 22 strued to authorized a private cause of action or legal 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3257.IH H3257 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3257 IH claim against the United States Government, a Depart- 1 ment or agency thereof, or any private individual. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jul 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3257.IH H3257 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS