Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8772 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 NOVEMBER 18, 2020 Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas (for himself and Mr. HURD of Texas) 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 con- cerned A BILL To expand the grants authorized under Jennifer’s Law and Kristen’s Act to include processing of unidentified re- mains, resolving missing persons cases, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Missing Persons and 4 Unidentified Remains Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8772 IH SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 1 (a) JENNIFER’S LAW.—Jennifer’s Law (34 U.S.C. 2 40501 et seq.) is amended— 3 (1) by striking section 202 (34 U.S.C. 40501) 4 and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 7 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney 8 General may award grants to eligible entities de- 9 scribed in paragraph (2) to enable the eligible enti- 10 ties to improve the transportation, processing, iden- 11 tification, and reporting of missing persons and un- 12 identified remains, including migrants. 13 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities de- 14 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 15 ‘‘(A) States and units of local government. 16 ‘‘(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Com- 17 bined DNA Index System (commonly known as 18 ‘CODIS’) forensic laboratories, which dem- 19 onstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA 20 typing and uploading biological family DNA 21 reference samples, including samples from for- 22 eign nationals, into CODIS, subject to the pro- 23 tocols for inclusion of such forensic DNA pro- 24 files into CODIS, and the privacy protections 25 required under section 203(c). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8772 IH ‘‘(C) Medical examiners offices. 1 ‘‘(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology 2 laboratories. 3 ‘‘(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime lab- 4 oratories. 5 ‘‘(F) Publicly funded university forensic 6 anthropology laboratories. 7 ‘‘(G) Nonprofit organizations that have 8 working collaborative agreements with State 9 and county forensic offices, including medical 10 examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace, 11 for entry of data into CODIS or the National 12 Missing and Unidentified Persons System (com- 13 monly known as ‘NamUs’), or both.’’; 14 (2) in section 203 (34 U.S.C. 40502)— 15 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a State’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘an entity described in section 17 202’’; 18 (B) in subsection (b)— 19 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 20 (1), by striking ‘‘State’’ and inserting ‘‘ap- 21 plicant’’; 22 (ii) by striking paragraph (1) and in- 23 serting the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8772 IH ‘‘(1) report to the National Crime Information 1 Center and, when possible, to law enforcement au- 2 thorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction re- 3 garding every deceased unidentified person, regard- 4 less of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction;’’; 5 (iii) in paragraph (3), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (iv) in paragraph (4), by striking the 8 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 9 and 10 (v) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(5) collect and report information to the Na- 12 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System 13 (NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidenti- 14 fied remains.’’; and 15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(c) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL FAM- 17 ILY REFERENCE SAMPLES.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any suspected biological 19 family DNA reference samples received from citizens 20 of the United States or foreign nationals and 21 uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System 22 (commonly referred to as ‘CODIS’) by an accredited, 23 publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded 24 a grant under this section may be used only for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8772 IH identifying missing persons and unidentified re- 1 mains. 2 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE.—Any biological fam- 3 ily DNA reference samples from citizens of the 4 United States or foreign nationals entered into 5 CODIS for purposes of identifying missing persons 6 and unidentified remains may not be disclosed to a 7 Federal or State law enforcement agency for law en- 8 forcement purposes.’’; and 9 (3) by striking section 204 (34 U.S.C. 40503) 10 and inserting the following: 11 ‘‘SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS. 12 ‘‘An applicant receiving a grant award under this title 13 may use such funds to— 14 ‘‘(1) pay for the costs incurred during or after 15 fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, 16 identification, and reporting of missing persons and 17 unidentified remains, including migrants; 18 ‘‘(2) establish and expand programs developed 19 to improve the reporting of unidentified persons in 20 accordance with the assurances provided in the ap- 21 plication submitted pursuant to section 203(b); 22 ‘‘(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case 23 analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, fo- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8772 IH rensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, 1 needed to support such identification programs; and 2 ‘‘(4) procure and maintain state of the art 3 multi-modal, multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing 4 and analytical equipment.’’. 5 (b) KRISTEN’S ACT.—Section 3 of Kristen’s Act (34 6 U.S.C. 40504 note) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING. 8 ‘‘The Attorney General is authorized to use funds 9 otherwise appropriated for the operationalization, mainte- 10 nance, and expansion of the National Missing and Uniden- 11 tified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose of car- 12 rying out this Act.’’. 13 SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS. 14 Section 411(o) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 15 (6 U.S.C. 211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the 16 following: 17 ‘‘(3) RESCUE BEACONS.—Beginning in fiscal 18 year 2019, in carrying out subsection (c)(8), the 19 Commissioner shall purchase, deploy, and maintain 20 not more than 170 self-powering, 9–1–1 cellular 21 relay rescue beacons along the southern border of 22 the United States at locations determined appro- 23 priate by the Commissioner to mitigate migrant 24 deaths.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8772 IH SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTI- 1 FIED PERSONS SYSTEM (NAMUS) PROGRAM. 2 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 3 of this act, and every year thereafter, the Attorney Gen- 4 eral shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 5 of Congress regarding— 6 (1) the number of unidentified person cases 7 processed; 8 (2) CODIS associations and identifications; 9 (3) the number of anthropology cases processed; 10 (4) the number of suspected border crossing 11 cases and associations made; 12 (5) the number of trials supported with expert 13 testimony; 14 (6) the number of students trained and profes- 15 sions of those students; and 16 (7) the turnaround time and backlog. 17 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 18 (a) UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.— 19 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 20 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 21 annually thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Cus- 22 toms and Border Protection shall submit a report to 23 the appropriate committees of Congress regarding 24 all unidentified remains discovered, during the re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8772 IH porting period, on or near the border between the 1 United States and Mexico, including— 2 (A) for each deceased person— 3 (i) the cause and manner of death, if 4 known; 5 (ii) the sex, age (at time of death), 6 and country of origin (if such information 7 is determinable); and 8 (iii) the location of each unidentified 9 remain; 10 (B) the total number of deceased people 11 whose unidentified remains were discovered by 12 U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the 13 reporting period; 14 (C) to the extent such information is avail- 15 able to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 16 the total number of deceased people whose un- 17 identified remains were discovered by Federal, 18 State, local or Tribal law enforcement officers, 19 military personnel, or medical examiners offices; 20 (D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Bor- 21 der Protection to engage with nongovernmental 22 organizations, institutions of higher education, 23 medical examiners and coroners, and law en- 24 forcement agencies— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8772 IH (i) to identify and map the locations 1 at which migrant deaths occur; and 2 (ii) to count the number of deaths 3 that occur at such locations; and 4 (E) a detailed description of U.S. Customs 5 and Border Protection’s Missing Migrant Pro- 6 gram, including how the program helps mitigate 7 migrant deaths while maintaining border secu- 8 rity. 9 (2) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Not later than 30 10 days after each report required under paragraph (1) 11 is submitted, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 12 Border Protection shall publish on the website of the 13 agency the information described in subparagraphs 14 (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each re- 15 porting period. 16 (b) RESCUE BEACONS.—Not later than 1 year after 17 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 18 the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 19 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of 20 Congress regarding the use of rescue beacons along the 21 border between the United States and Mexico, including, 22 for the reporting period— 23 (1) the number of rescue beacons in each bor- 24 der patrol sector; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8772 IH (2) the specific location of each rescue beacon; 1 (3) the frequency with which each rescue bea- 2 con was activated by a person in distress; 3 (4) a description of the nature of the distress 4 that resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if 5 such information is determinable); and 6 (5) an assessment, in consultation with local 7 stakeholders, including elected officials, nongovern- 8 mental organizations, and landowners, of necessary 9 additional rescue beacons and recommendations for 10 locations for deployment to reduce migrant deaths. 11 (c) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 12 the report required under subsection (a) is submitted to 13 the appropriate committees of Congress, the Comptroller 14 General of the United States shall submit a report to the 15 same committees that describes— 16 (1) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 17 collects and records border-crossing death data; 18 (2) the differences (if any) in U.S. Customs and 19 Border Protection border-crossing death data collec- 20 tion methodology across its sectors; 21 (3) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 22 data and statistical analysis on trends in the num- 23 bers, locations, causes, and characteristics of border- 24 crossing deaths compare to other sources of data on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8772 IH these deaths, including border county medical exam- 1 iners and coroners and the Centers for Disease Con- 2 trol and Prevention; 3 (4) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 4 measures the effectiveness of its programs to miti- 5 gate migrant deaths; and 6 (5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Bor- 7 der Protection engages Federal, State, local, and 8 Tribal governments, foreign diplomatic and consular 9 posts, and nongovernmental organizations— 10 (A) to accurately identify deceased individ- 11 uals; 12 (B) to resolve cases involving unidentified 13 remains; 14 (C) to resolve cases involving unidentified 15 persons; and 16 (D) to share information on missing per- 17 sons and unidentified remains, specifically with 18 the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 19 System (NamUs). 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8772.IH H8772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS