I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2797 

To establish an interagency committee on the development of green alert 

systems that would be activated when a veteran goes missing, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, and Mr. BANKS) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish an interagency committee on the development 

of green alert systems that would be activated when 

a veteran goes missing, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Green Alert 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON 

2 DEVELOPMENT OF GREEN ALERT SYSTEMS. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the 

4 Green Alert System Advisory and Support Committee (re5 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

6 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall be 

8 composed of members appointed by the President, of 

9 whom— 

10 (A) not fewer than one shall be an em11 ployee of the Department of Justice with expe12 rience in coordinating the AMBER Alert com13 munications network, as that term is used in 

14 subtitle A of title III of the PROTECT Act (34 

15 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.); 

16 (B) not fewer than one shall be an em17 ployee of the Department of Health and 

18 Human Services, of which not fewer than one 

19 shall be an employee of the Substance Abuse 

20 and Mental Health Services Administration of 

21 the Department of Health and Human Services; 

22 (C) not fewer than one shall be an em23 ployee of the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

24 (D) not fewer than one shall be an em25 ployee of the Department of Transportation; 


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1 (E) not fewer than one shall be a veteran 

2 (as defined in section 101 of title 38, United 

3 States Code) who— 

4 (i) is not eligible for appointment to 

5 the Committee under subparagraph (A), 

6 (B), (C), or (D); and 

7 (ii) retired or otherwise honorably sep8 arated from the Armed Forces with a mili9 tary pay grade of O–7 or higher; and 

10 (F) not fewer than one shall be a member 

11 of a veterans service organization who can dem12 onstrate familiarity with, or experience in, the 

13 development of an alert or support system in a 

14 State for either missing veterans or veteran 

15 mental health. 

16 (2) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—The President 

17 shall appoint additional members of the Committee 

18 from among individuals at the State, local, and trib19 al level who are experts in alert systems, such as the 

20 AMBER Alert, as that term is used in subtitle A of 

21 title III of the PROTECT Act (34 U.S.C. 20501 et 

22 seq.). 

23 (3) DATE.—The appointments of the members 

24 of the Committee shall be made not later than 120 

25 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Committee 

3 shall be appointed for the life of the Committee. 

4 (2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Com5 mittee— 

6 (A) shall not affect the powers of the Com7 mittee; and 

8 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 

9 the original appointment. 

10 (d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 60 days after 

11 the date on which all members of the Committee have been 

12 appointed, the Committee shall hold the first meeting of 

13 the Committee. 

14 (e) MEETINGS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall meet 

16 not less frequently than twice each year. 

17 (2) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 

18 the Committee shall constitute a quorum, but a less19 er number of members may hold hearings. 

20 (f) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The 

21 Committee shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chair22 person from among the members of the Committee. 

23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

24 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

25 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 


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1 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United 

2 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 

3 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

4 and any possession of the United States. 

5 (2) VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATION.—The 

6 term ‘‘veterans service organization’’ means an orga7 nization recognized by the Secretary for the rep8 resentation of veterans under section 5902 of title 

9 38, United States Code. 

10 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMITTEE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall develop best 

12 practices and provide technical assistance to States to es13 tablish State systems, to be known as ‘‘green alert’’ sys14 tems, that would be activated when a veteran with a his15 tory of mental health issues, including neurocognitive dis16 orders, suicide attempts or impulses, or substance use dis17 order goes missing. 

18 (b) MISSING VETERAN DETERMINATION.—The Com19 mittee shall determine the circumstances under which a 

20 veteran is considered missing for purposes of this section. 

21 (c) COMPLIANCE WITH PRIVACY LAWS.—The Com22 mittee shall ensure that the State systems described in 

23 subsection (a) comply with applicable Federal and State 

24 privacy laws. 


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1 (d) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Committee shall submit 

3 to the President and Congress a report that contains a 

4 detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the 

5 Committee, together with the recommendations of the 

6 Committee for such legislative and administrative action 

7 as the Committee considers appropriate. 

8 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean10 ing given that term in section 2(g). 

11 (2) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ means— 

12 (A) a veteran as defined in section 101 of 

13 title 38, United States Code; and 

14 (B) any former member of the Armed 

15 Forces, including any individual who received a 

16 discharge under conditions other than honor17 able that is determined by the Secretary of De18 fense to have resulted from substance use dis19 order, a mental health issue, or a suicide at20 tempt. 

21 SEC. 4. POWERS OF COMMITTEE. 

22 (a) HEARINGS.—The Committee may hold such hear23 ings, sit and act at such times and places, take such testi24 mony, and receive such evidence as the Committee con25 siders advisable to carry out this Act. 


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1 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee may secure 

3 directly from any Federal agency such information 

4 as the Committee considers necessary to carry out 

5 this Act. 

6 (2) FURNISHING INFORMATION.—On request of 

7 the Chairperson of the Committee, the head of the 

8 Federal agency shall furnish the information to the 

9 Committee. 

10 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Committee may use the 

11 United States mails in the same manner and under the 

12 same conditions as other Federal agencies. 

13 (d) GIFTS.—The Committee may accept, use, and 

14 dispose of gifts or donations of services or property. 

15 SEC. 5. COMMITTEE PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

16 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Committee 

18 who is not an officer or employee of the Federal 

19 Government shall be compensated at a rate equal to 

20 the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay 

21 prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule 

22 under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, 

23 for each day (including travel time) during which the 

24 member is engaged in the performance of the duties 

25 of the Committee. 


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1 (2) FEDERAL MEMBERS.—A member of the 

2 Committee who is an officer or employee of the 

3 United States shall serve without compensation in 

4 addition to that received for service as an officer or 

5 employee of the United States. 

6 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—A member of the Com7 mittee shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem 

8 in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees 

9 of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, 

10 United States Code, while away from their home or reg11 ular places of business in the performance of services for 

12 the Committee. 

13 (c) STAFF.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 

15 Committee may, without regard to the civil service 

16 laws (including regulations), appoint and terminate 

17 an executive director and such other additional per18 sonnel as may be necessary to enable the Committee 

19 to perform the duties of the Committee, except that 

20 the employment of an executive director shall be 

21 subject to confirmation by the Committee. 

22 (2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the 

23 Committee may fix the compensation of the execu24 tive director and other personnel without regard to 

25 chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 


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1 5, United States Code, relating to classification of 

2 positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 

3 that the rate of pay for the executive director and 

4 other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for 

5 level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 

6 of that title. 

7 (d) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Any 

8 Federal Government employee may be detailed to the 

9 Committee without reimbursement, and such detail shall 

10 be without interruption or loss of civil service status or 

11 privilege. 

12 (e) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT13 TENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Committee may 

14 procure temporary and intermittent services under section 

15 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates for individ16 uals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual 

17 rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive 

18 Schedule under section 5316 of that title. 

19 SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF COMMITTEE. 

20 The Committee shall terminate 180 days after the 

21 date on which the Committee submits the report required 

22 under section 3(d). 

23 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro25 priated to carry out this Act $500,000. 


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1 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts appropriated 

2 under the authorization contained in this section shall re3 main available, without fiscal year limitation, until ex4 pended. 

Æ 


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