II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1049 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture to 

expedite access to certain Federal lands under the administrative jurisdiction of each Secretary for good Samaritan search-and-recovery missions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2013 

Mr. HELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of 

Agriculture to expedite access to certain Federal lands 

under the administrative jurisdiction of each Secretary 

for good Samaritan search-and-recovery missions, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. EXPEDITED ACCESS TO CERTAIN FEDERAL 

4 LANDS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 

6 implement a process to expedite access to Federal lands 

7 under the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary for 


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1 eligible organizations and eligible individuals to request 

2 access to Federal lands to conduct good Samaritan search3 and-recovery missions. The process developed and imple4 mented pursuant to this subsection shall include provi5 sions that clarify that— 

6 (1) an eligible organization or eligible individual 

7 granted access under this section shall be acting for 

8 private purposes and shall not be considered a Fed9 eral volunteer; 

10 (2) an eligible organization or eligible individual 

11 conducting a good Samaritan search-and-recovery 

12 mission under this section shall not be considered a 

13 volunteer under section 3 of the Volunteers in the 

14 Parks Act of 1969 (16 U.S.C. 18i); 

15 (3) the Federal Torts Claim Act shall not apply 

16 to an eligible organization or eligible individual car17 rying out a privately requested good Samaritan 

18 search-and-recovery mission under this section; and 

19 (4) the Federal Employee Compensation Act 

20 shall not apply to an eligible organization or eligible 

21 individual conducting good Samaritan search-and-re22 covery mission under this section and such activities 

23 shall not constitute civilian employment. 

24 (b) RELEASE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM

25 LIABILITY.—The Secretary shall not require an eligible 


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1 organization or an eligible individual to have liability in2 surance as a condition of accessing Federal lands under 

3 this section if the eligible organization or eligible indi4 vidual— 

5 (1) acknowledges and consents, in writing, to 

6 the provisions listed in paragraphs (1) through (4) 

7 of subsection (a); and 

8 (2) signs a waiver releasing the Federal Gov9 ernment from all liability related to the access grant10 ed under this section. 

11 (c) APPROVAL AND DENIAL OF REQUESTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall notify 

13 an eligible organization and eligible individual of the 

14 approval or denial of a request by that eligible orga15 nization and eligible individual to carry out a good 

16 Samaritan search-and-recovery mission under this 

17 section not more than 48 hours after the request is 

18 made. 

19 (2) DENIALS.—If the Secretary denies a re20 quest from an eligible organization or eligible indi21 vidual to carry out a good Samaritan search-and-re22 covery mission under this section, the Secretary shall 

23 notify the eligible organization or eligible individual 

24 of— 

25 (A) the reason for the denial request; and 


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1 (B) any actions that eligible organization 

2 or eligible individual can take to meet the re3 quirements for the request to be approved. 

4 (d) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary shall develop 

5 search-and-recovery focused partnerships with search-and6 recovery organizations to— 

7 (1) coordinate good Samaritan search-and-re8 covery missions on Federal lands under the adminis9 trative jurisdiction of the Secretary; and 

10 (2) expedite and accelerate good Samaritan 

11 search-and-recovery mission efforts for missing indi12 viduals on Federal lands under the administrative 

13 jurisdiction of the Secretary. 

14 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

16 a joint report to Congress describing— 

17 (1) plans to develop partnerships described in 

18 subsection (c)(1); and 

19 (2) efforts being taken to expedite and accel20 erate good Samaritan search-and-recovery mission 

21 efforts for missing individuals on Federal lands 

22 under the administrative jurisdiction of the Sec23 retary pursuant to subsection (b)(2). 

24 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, 

25 the following definitions apply: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION AND ELIGIBLE IN2 DIVIDUAL.—The terms ‘‘eligible organization’’ and 

3 ‘‘eligible individual’’ means an organization or indi4 vidual, respectively, that— 

5 (A) is acting in a not-for-profit capacity; 

6 and 

7 (B) is certificated in training that meets or 

8 exceeds standards established by the American 

9 Society for Testing and Materials. 

10 (2) GOOD SAMARITAN SEARCH-AND-RECOVERY

11 MISSION.—The term ‘‘good Samaritan search-and12 recovery mission’’ means a search for one or more 

13 missing individuals believed to be deceased at the 

14 time that the search is initiated. 

15 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Ag17 riculture, as appropriate. 

Æ 


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