In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

December 16, 2020. 

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2174) entitled ‘‘An Act 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.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENTS: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Missing Persons and 

3 Unidentified Remains Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

5 (a) JENNIFER’S LAW.—Jennifer’s Law (34 U.S.C. 

6 40501 et seq.) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking section 202 (34 U.S.C. 40501) 

8 and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

11 ‘‘(1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney Gen12 eral may award grants to eligible entities described in 

13 paragraph (2) to enable the eligible entities to im14 prove the transportation, processing, identification, 
2 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 and reporting of missing persons and unidentified re2 mains, including migrants. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities de4 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 

5 ‘‘(A) States and units of local government. 

6 ‘‘(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Combined 

7 DNA Index System (commonly known as 

8 ‘CODIS’) forensic laboratories, which dem9 onstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA 

10 typing and uploading biological family DNA ref11 erence samples, including samples from foreign 

12 nationals, into CODIS, subject to the protocols 

13 for inclusion of such forensic DNA profiles into 

14 CODIS, and the privacy protections required 

15 under section 203(c). 

16 ‘‘(C) Medical examiners offices. 

17 ‘‘(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology 

18 laboratories. 

19 ‘‘(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime lab20 oratories. 

21 ‘‘(F) Publicly funded university forensic an22 thropology laboratories. 

23 ‘‘(G) Nonprofit organizations that have 

24 working collaborative agreements with State and 

25 county forensic offices, including medical exam-
3 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 iners, coroners, and justices of the peace, for 

2 entry of data into CODIS or the National Miss3 ing and Unidentified Persons System (commonly 

4 known as ‘NamUs’), or both.’’; 

5 (2) in section 203 (34 U.S.C. 40502)— 

6 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a State’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘an entity described in section 

8 202’’; 

9 (B) in subsection (b)— 

10 (i) in the matter preceding paragraph 

11 (1), by striking ‘‘State’’ and inserting ‘‘ap12 plicant’’; 

13 (ii) by striking paragraph (1) and in14 serting the following: 

15 ‘‘(1) report to the National Crime Information 

16 Center and, when possible, to law enforcement au17 thorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction re18 garding every deceased unidentified person, regardless 

19 of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction;’’; 

20 (iii) in paragraph (3), by striking 

21 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

22 (iv) in paragraph (4), by striking the 

23 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

24 and 

25 (v) by adding at the end the following: 
4 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 ‘‘(5) collect and report information to the Na2 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System 

3 (NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidentified 

4 remains.’’; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL FAMILY

7 REFERENCE SAMPLES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any suspected biological 

9 family DNA reference samples received from citizens 

10 of the United States or foreign nationals and 

11 uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System 

12 (commonly referred to as ‘CODIS’) by an accredited, 

13 publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded 

14 a grant under this section may be used only for iden15 tifying missing persons and unidentified remains. 

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE.—Any biological fam17 ily DNA reference samples from citizens of the United 

18 States or foreign nationals entered into CODIS for 

19 purposes of identifying missing persons and unidenti20 fied remains may not be disclosed to a Federal or 

21 State law enforcement agency for law enforcement 

22 purposes.’’; and 

23 (3) by striking section 204 (34 U.S.C. 40503) 

24 and inserting the following: 
5 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 ‘‘SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS. 

2 ‘‘An applicant receiving a grant award under this title 

3 may use such funds to— 

4 ‘‘(1) pay for the costs incurred during or after 

5 fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, 

6 identification, and reporting of missing persons and 

7 unidentified remains, including migrants; 

8 ‘‘(2) establish and expand programs developed to 

9 improve the reporting of unidentified persons in ac10 cordance with the assurances provided in the applica11 tion submitted pursuant to section 203(b); 

12 ‘‘(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case an13 alysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, foren14 sic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, needed 

15 to support such identification programs; and 

16 ‘‘(4) procure and maintain state of the art 

17 multi-modal, multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing 

18 and analytical equipment.’’. 

19 (b) KRISTEN’S ACT.—Section 102 of Kristen’s Act (34 

20 U.S.C. 40504 note) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 102. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING. 

22 ‘‘To the extent provided in advance in appropriations 

23 Acts, the Attorney General is authorized to use funds appro24 priated for the operationalization, maintenance, and ex25 pansion of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 

26 System (NamUs) for the purpose of carrying out this Act’’. 
6 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS. 

2 Section 411(o) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

3 (6 U.S.C. 211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(3) RESCUE BEACONS.—Beginning in fiscal 

6 year 2019, in carrying out subsection (c)(8), the Com7 missioner shall purchase, deploy, and maintain not 

8 more than 170 self-powering, 9–1–1 cellular relay res9 cue beacons along the southern border of the United 

10 States at locations determined appropriate by the 

11 Commissioner to mitigate migrant deaths.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTI13 FIED PERSONS SYSTEM (NAMUS) PROGRAM. 

14 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

15 of this act, and every year thereafter, the Attorney General 

16 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of Con17 gress regarding— 

18 (1) the number of unidentified person cases proc19 essed; 

20 (2) CODIS associations and identifications; 

21 (3) the number of anthropology cases processed; 

22 (4) the number of suspected border crossing cases 

23 and associations made; 

24 (5) the number of trials supported with expert 

25 testimony; 
7 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 (6) the number of students trained and profes2 sions of those students; and 

3 (7) the turnaround time and backlog. 

4 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

5 (a) UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.— 

6 (1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

7 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and an8 nually thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 

9 and Border Protection shall submit a report to the 

10 appropriate committees of Congress regarding all un11 identified remains discovered, during the reporting 

12 period, on or near the border between the United 

13 States and Mexico, including— 

14 (A) for each deceased person— 

15 (i) the cause and manner of death, if 

16 known; 

17 (ii) the sex, age (at time of death), and 

18 country of origin (if such information is de19 terminable); and 

20 (iii) the location of each unidentified 

21 remain; 

22 (B) the total number of deceased people 

23 whose unidentified remains were discovered by 

24 U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the 

25 reporting period; 
8 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 (C) to the extent such information is avail2 able to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the 

3 total number of deceased people whose unidenti4 fied remains were discovered by Federal, State, 

5 local or Tribal law enforcement officers, military 

6 personnel, or medical examiners offices; 

7 (D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Border 

8 Protection to engage with nongovernmental orga9 nizations, institutions of higher education, med10 ical examiners and coroners, and law enforce11 ment agencies— 

12 (i) to identify and map the locations 

13 at which migrant deaths occur; and 

14 (ii) to count the number of deaths that 

15 occur at such locations; and 

16 (E) a detailed description of U.S. Customs 

17 and Border Protection’s Missing Migrant Pro18 gram, including how the program helps mitigate 

19 migrant deaths while maintaining border secu20 rity. 

21 (2) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Not later than 30 

22 days after each report required under paragraph (1) 

23 is submitted, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 

24 Border Protection shall publish on the website of the 

25 agency the information described in subparagraphs 
9 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each re2 porting period. 

3 (b) RESCUE BEACONS.—Not later than 1 year after 

4 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

5 the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

6 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of Con7 gress regarding the use of rescue beacons along the border 

8 between the United States and Mexico, including, for the 

9 reporting period— 

10 (1) the number of rescue beacons in each border 

11 patrol sector; 

12 (2) the specific location of each rescue beacon; 

13 (3) the frequency with which each rescue beacon 

14 was activated by a person in distress; 

15 (4) a description of the nature of the distress 

16 that resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if such 

17 information is determinable); and 

18 (5) an assessment, in consultation with local 

19 stakeholders, including elected officials, nongovern20 mental organizations, and landowners, of necessary 

21 additional rescue beacons and recommendations for 

22 locations for deployment to reduce migrant deaths. 

23 (c) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the 

24 report required under subsection (a) is submitted to the ap25 propriate committees of Congress, the Comptroller General 
10 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 of the United States shall submit a report to the same com2 mittees that describes— 

3 (1) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection col4 lects and records border-crossing death data; 

5 (2) the differences (if any) in U.S. Customs and 

6 Border Protection border-crossing death data collec7 tion methodology across its sectors; 

8 (3) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 

9 data and statistical analysis on trends in the num10 bers, locations, causes, and characteristics of border11 crossing deaths compare to other sources of data on 

12 these deaths, including border county medical exam13 iners and coroners and the Centers for Disease Con14 trol and Prevention; 

15 (4) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

16 measures the effectiveness of its programs to mitigate 

17 migrant deaths; and 

18 (5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Border 

19 Protection engages Federal, State, local, and Tribal 

20 governments, foreign diplomatic and consular posts, 

21 and nongovernmental organizations— 

22 (A) to accurately identify deceased individ23 uals; 

24 (B) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

25 remains; 
11 

•S 2174 EAH 

1 (C) to resolve cases involving unidentified 

2 persons; and 

3 (D) to share information on missing per4 sons and unidentified remains, specifically with 

5 the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 

6 System (NamUs). 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to the extent 

provided in advance in appropriations Act, the Attorney 

General is authorized to use funds appropriated for the 

operationalization, maintenance, and expansion of the 

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System 

(NamUs) for the purpose of carrying out this Act.’’. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2174 

AMENDMENTS