I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5054 
To ensure that United States Government personnel, including members of 
the Armed Forces and contractors, assigned to United States diplomatic 
missions are given the opportunity to designate next-of-kin for certain 
purposes in the event of the death of the personnel. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 12, 2019 
Mr. SCHRADER (for himself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 
and Mr. DEFAZIO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To ensure that United States Government personnel, includ-
ing members of the Armed Forces and contractors, as-
signed to United States diplomatic missions are given 
the opportunity to designate next-of-kin for certain pur-
poses in the event of the death of the personnel. 
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 ‘‘US Navy SEAL SCPO 
Tyrone Snowden Woods Ceremony Invitee Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. INVITATION OF DESIGNATED NEXT-OF-KIN TO 
CEREMONIES 
HONORING 
UNITED 
STATES 
DIPLOMATIC MISSION PERSONNEL WHO DIE 
IN SERVICE TO THE UNITED STATES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) DIPLOMATIC
MISSION.—The term ‘‘diplo-
matic mission’’ means any United States diplomatic 
or consular post or other mission under the jurisdic-
tion of the Secretary of State. 
(2) MEMBER.—The term ‘‘member of a diplo-
matic mission’’ means any Government official or 
employee, any member of the Armed Forces, or any 
United States citizen employed as a contractor, who 
is serving at, or is notified of imminent assignment 
to, a diplomatic mission. 
(3) MEMORIAL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘memorial 
service’’ means an official event sponsored or held by 
a Federal agency to which members of the public are 
invited to honor the life of a member of a diplomatic 
mission who died in service to the United States. 
(4) NEXT-OF-KIN.—The term ‘‘next-of-kin’’, 
with respect to a deceased member of a diplomatic 
mission, means the following individuals: 
(A) The surviving spouse of the deceased 
member. 
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(B) The child or children of the deceased 
member (including stepchildren, adopted chil-
dren, and illegitimate children). 
(C) The parent or parents of the deceased 
member (including a natural parent, a step-
parent, a parent of the member by adoption, a 
parent, stepparent, or adopted parent of the 
surviving spouse, and any other person who has 
stood in loco parentis to the member at any 
time for a continuous period of at least five 
years before the member became 21 years of 
age). 
(D) The sibling or siblings of the deceased 
member (including stepsiblings and siblings by 
adoption). 
(E) The person authorized to direct the 
disposition of the remains of the deceased mem-
ber. 
(b) POLICY FOR DESIGNATION OF NEXT-OF-KIN.— 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of State shall— 
(1) prescribe a policy by which a member of a 
diplomatic mission may designate those next-of-kin 
who will be invited to, and be entitled to attend, any 
memorial service held to honor the life of the mem-
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ber of a diplomatic mission in the event of the death 
of the member in service to the United States; 
(2) publicize the existence of the policy to each 
member of a diplomatic mission; and 
(3) make forms reasonably available to each 
member of a diplomatic mission by which the des-
ignation of such next-of-kin may be made. 
(c) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of State shall 
carry out this section in consultation with the Secretary 
of Defense, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agen-
cy, and the head of any other Federal agency that assign 
persons to serve as a member of a diplomatic mission. 
(d) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO MAKE DESIGNATION.— 
If a member of a diplomatic mission fails to complete the 
form described in subsection (b)(3) before the death of the 
member, the member shall be deemed to have designated 
all next-of-kin of the member for invitation to any memo-
rial service held to honor the life of the member in the 
event of the death of the member in service to the United 
States. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion or the policy required by this section may be con-
strued to authorized a private cause of action or legal 
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