I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8772 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2020 
Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas (for himself and Mr. HURD of Texas) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
in addition to the Committee on Homeland Security, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To expand the grants authorized under Jennifer’s Law and 
Kristen’s Act to include processing of unidentified re-
mains, resolving missing persons cases, and for other 
purposes. 
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 ‘‘Missing Persons and 
Unidentified Remains Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 
(a) JENNIFER’S LAW.—Jennifer’s Law (34 U.S.C. 
40501 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by striking section 202 (34 U.S.C. 40501) 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 202. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) GRANTS
AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney 
General may award grants to eligible entities de-
scribed in paragraph (2) to enable the eligible enti-
ties to improve the transportation, processing, iden-
tification, and reporting of missing persons and un-
identified remains, including migrants. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Eligible entities de-
scribed in this paragraph are the following: 
‘‘(A) States and units of local government. 
‘‘(B) Accredited, publicly funded, Com-
bined DNA Index System (commonly known as 
‘CODIS’) forensic laboratories, which dem-
onstrate the grant funds will be used for DNA 
typing and uploading biological family DNA 
reference samples, including samples from for-
eign nationals, into CODIS, subject to the pro-
tocols for inclusion of such forensic DNA pro-
files into CODIS, and the privacy protections 
required under section 203(c). 
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‘‘(C) Medical examiners offices. 
‘‘(D) Accredited, publicly funded toxicology 
laboratories. 
‘‘(E) Accredited, publicly funded crime lab-
oratories. 
‘‘(F) Publicly funded university forensic 
anthropology laboratories. 
‘‘(G) Nonprofit organizations that have 
working collaborative agreements with State 
and county forensic offices, including medical 
examiners, coroners, and justices of the peace, 
for entry of data into CODIS or the National 
Missing and Unidentified Persons System (com-
monly known as ‘NamUs’), or both.’’; 
(2) in section 203 (34 U.S.C. 40502)— 
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a State’’ 
and inserting ‘‘an entity described in section 
202’’; 
(B) in subsection (b)— 
(i) in the matter preceding paragraph 
(1), by striking ‘‘State’’ and inserting ‘‘ap-
plicant’’; 
(ii) by striking paragraph (1) and in-
serting the following: 
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‘‘(1) report to the National Crime Information 
Center and, when possible, to law enforcement au-
thorities throughout the applicant’s jurisdiction re-
garding every deceased unidentified person, regard-
less of age, found in the applicant’s jurisdiction;’’; 
(iii) in paragraph (3), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(iv) in paragraph (4), by striking the 
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
and 
(v) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) collect and report information to the Na-
tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System 
(NamUs) regarding missing persons and unidenti-
fied remains.’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL FAM-
ILY REFERENCE SAMPLES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Any suspected biological 
family DNA reference samples received from citizens 
of the United States or foreign nationals and 
uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System 
(commonly referred to as ‘CODIS’) by an accredited, 
publicly funded CODIS forensic laboratory awarded 
a grant under this section may be used only for 
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identifying missing persons and unidentified re-
mains. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE.—Any biological fam-
ily DNA reference samples from citizens of the 
United States or foreign nationals entered into 
CODIS for purposes of identifying missing persons 
and unidentified remains may not be disclosed to a 
Federal or State law enforcement agency for law en-
forcement purposes.’’; and 
(3) by striking section 204 (34 U.S.C. 40503) 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 205. USE OF FUNDS. 
‘‘An applicant receiving a grant award under this title 
may use such funds to— 
‘‘(1) pay for the costs incurred during or after 
fiscal year 2017 for the transportation, processing, 
identification, and reporting of missing persons and 
unidentified remains, including migrants; 
‘‘(2) establish and expand programs developed 
to improve the reporting of unidentified persons in 
accordance with the assurances provided in the ap-
plication submitted pursuant to section 203(b); 
‘‘(3) hire and maintain additional DNA case 
analysts and technicians, fingerprint examiners, fo-
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rensic odontologists, and forensic anthropologists, 
needed to support such identification programs; and 
‘‘(4) procure and maintain state of the art 
multi-modal, multi-purpose forensic and DNA-typing 
and analytical equipment.’’. 
(b) KRISTEN’S ACT.—Section 3 of Kristen’s Act (34 
U.S.C. 40504 note) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING. 
‘‘The Attorney General is authorized to use funds 
otherwise appropriated for the operationalization, mainte-
nance, and expansion of the National Missing and Uniden-
tified Persons System (NamUs) for the purpose of car-
rying out this Act.’’. 
SEC. 3. RESCUE BEACONS. 
Section 411(o) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 
(6 U.S.C. 211(o)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(3) RESCUE
BEACONS.—Beginning in fiscal 
year 2019, in carrying out subsection (c)(8), the 
Commissioner shall purchase, deploy, and maintain 
not more than 170 self-powering, 9–1–1 cellular 
relay rescue beacons along the southern border of 
the United States at locations determined appro-
priate by the Commissioner to mitigate migrant 
deaths.’’. 
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SEC. 4. REPORTING ON NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTI-
FIED PERSONS SYSTEM (NAMUS) PROGRAM. 
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this act, and every year thereafter, the Attorney Gen-
eral shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 
of Congress regarding— 
(1) the number of unidentified person cases 
processed; 
(2) CODIS associations and identifications; 
(3) the number of anthropology cases processed; 
(4) the number of suspected border crossing 
cases and associations made; 
(5) the number of trials supported with expert 
testimony; 
(6) the number of students trained and profes-
sions of those students; and 
(7) the turnaround time and backlog. 
SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS.— 
(1) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
annually thereafter, the Commissioner of U.S. Cus-
toms and Border Protection shall submit a report to 
the appropriate committees of Congress regarding 
all unidentified remains discovered, during the re-
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porting period, on or near the border between the 
United States and Mexico, including— 
(A) for each deceased person— 
(i) the cause and manner of death, if 
known; 
(ii) the sex, age (at time of death), 
and country of origin (if such information 
is determinable); and 
(iii) the location of each unidentified 
remain; 
(B) the total number of deceased people 
whose unidentified remains were discovered by 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the 
reporting period; 
(C) to the extent such information is avail-
able to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 
the total number of deceased people whose un-
identified remains were discovered by Federal, 
State, local or Tribal law enforcement officers, 
military personnel, or medical examiners offices; 
(D) the efforts of U.S. Customs and Bor-
der Protection to engage with nongovernmental 
organizations, institutions of higher education, 
medical examiners and coroners, and law en-
forcement agencies— 
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(i) to identify and map the locations 
at which migrant deaths occur; and 
(ii) to count the number of deaths 
that occur at such locations; and 
(E) a detailed description of U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection’s Missing Migrant Pro-
gram, including how the program helps mitigate 
migrant deaths while maintaining border secu-
rity. 
(2) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—Not later than 30 
days after each report required under paragraph (1) 
is submitted, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection shall publish on the website of the 
agency the information described in subparagraphs 
(A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) during each re-
porting period. 
(b) RESCUE BEACONS.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 
the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of 
Congress regarding the use of rescue beacons along the 
border between the United States and Mexico, including, 
for the reporting period— 
(1) the number of rescue beacons in each bor-
der patrol sector; 
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(2) the specific location of each rescue beacon; 
(3) the frequency with which each rescue bea-
con was activated by a person in distress; 
(4) a description of the nature of the distress 
that resulted in each rescue beacon activation (if 
such information is determinable); and 
(5) an assessment, in consultation with local 
stakeholders, including elected officials, nongovern-
mental organizations, and landowners, of necessary 
additional rescue beacons and recommendations for 
locations for deployment to reduce migrant deaths. 
(c) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 
the report required under subsection (a) is submitted to 
the appropriate committees of Congress, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit a report to the 
same committees that describes— 
(1) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
collects and records border-crossing death data; 
(2) the differences (if any) in U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection border-crossing death data collec-
tion methodology across its sectors; 
(3) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 
data and statistical analysis on trends in the num-
bers, locations, causes, and characteristics of border- 
crossing deaths compare to other sources of data on 
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these deaths, including border county medical exam-
iners and coroners and the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention; 
(4) how U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
measures the effectiveness of its programs to miti-
gate migrant deaths; and 
(5) the extent to which U.S. Customs and Bor-
der Protection engages Federal, State, local, and 
Tribal governments, foreign diplomatic and consular 
posts, and nongovernmental organizations— 
(A) to accurately identify deceased individ-
uals; 
(B) to resolve cases involving unidentified 
remains; 
(C) to resolve cases involving unidentified 
persons; and 
(D) to share information on missing per-
sons and unidentified remains, specifically with 
the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 
System (NamUs). 
Æ 
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