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. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Good Samaritan 
Search and Recovery Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. EXPEDITED ACCESS TO CERTAIN FEDERAL LANDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 
implement a process to expedite access to Federal lands 
under the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary for 
eligible organizations and eligible individuals to request 
access to Federal lands to conduct good Samaritan search- 
and-recovery missions. The process developed and imple-
mented pursuant to this subsection shall include provi-
sions that clarify that— 
(1) an eligible organization or eligible individual 
granted access under this section shall be acting for 
private purposes and shall not be considered a Fed-
eral volunteer; 
(2) an eligible organization or eligible individual 
conducting a good Samaritan search-and-recovery 
mission under this section shall not be considered a 
volunteer under section 3 of the Volunteers in the 
Parks Act of 1969 (16 U.S.C. 18i); 
(3) the Federal Torts Claim Act shall not apply 
to an eligible organization or eligible individual car-
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rying out a privately requested good Samaritan 
search-and-recovery mission under this section; and 
(4) the Federal Employee Compensation Act 
shall not apply to an eligible organization or eligible 
individual conducting good Samaritan search-and-re-
covery mission under this section and such activities 
shall not constitute civilian employment. 
(b) RELEASE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM 
LIABILITY.—The Secretary shall not require an eligible 
organization or an eligible individual to have liability in-
surance as a condition of accessing Federal lands under 
this section if the eligible organization or eligible indi-
vidual— 
(1) acknowledges and consents, in writing, to 
the provisions listed in paragraphs (1) through (4) 
of subsection (a); and 
(2) signs a waiver releasing the Federal Gov-
ernment from all liability related to the access grant-
ed under this section. 
(c) APPROVAL AND DENIAL OF REQUESTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall notify 
an eligible organization and eligible individual of the 
approval or denial of a request by that eligible orga-
nization and eligible individual to carry out a good 
Samaritan search-and-recovery mission under this 
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section not more than 48 hours after the request is 
made. 
(2) DENIALS.—If the Secretary denies a re-
quest from an eligible organization or eligible indi-
vidual to carry out a good Samaritan search-and-re-
covery mission under this section, the Secretary shall 
notify the eligible organization or eligible individual 
of— 
(A) the reason for the denial request; and 
(B) any actions that eligible organization 
or eligible individual can take to meet the re-
quirements for the request to be approved. 
(d) PARTNERSHIPS.—The Secretary shall develop 
search-and-recovery focused partnerships with search-and- 
recovery organizations to— 
(1) coordinate good Samaritan search-and-re-
covery missions on Federal lands under the adminis-
trative jurisdiction of the Secretary; and 
(2) expedite and accelerate good Samaritan 
search-and-recovery mission efforts for missing indi-
viduals on Federal lands under the administrative 
jurisdiction of the Secretary. 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
a joint report to Congress describing— 
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(1) plans to develop partnerships described in 
subsection (d)(1); and 
(2) efforts being taken to expedite and accel-
erate good Samaritan search-and-recovery mission 
efforts for missing individuals on Federal lands 
under the administrative jurisdiction of the Sec-
retary pursuant to subsection (d)(2). 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, 
the following definitions apply: 
(1) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION AND ELIGIBLE IN-
DIVIDUAL.—The terms ‘‘eligible organization’’ and 
‘‘eligible individual’’ means an organization or indi-
vidual, respectively, that— 
(A) is acting in a not-for-profit capacity; 
and 
(B) is certificated in training that meets or 
exceeds standards established by the American 
Society for Testing and Materials. 
(2) GOOD SAMARITAN SEARCH-AND-RECOVERY 
MISSION.—The term ‘‘good Samaritan search-and- 
recovery mission’’ means a search for one or more 
missing individuals believed to be deceased at the 
time that the search is initiated. 
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(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Ag-
riculture, as appropriate. 
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