Title: Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act of 2019
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
Studying the Missing and Murdered Indian Crisis Act of 2019
This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report on the response of law enforcement agencies to reports of missing or murdered Native Americans and to make recommendations on how to improve the utilized databases and notification systems.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 336 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 336

  To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a 
   report on the response of law enforcement agencies to reports of 
                      missing or murdered Indians.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 5, 2019

  Mr. Tester introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a 
   report on the response of law enforcement agencies to reports of 
                      missing or murdered Indians.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Studying the Missing and Murdered 
Indian Crisis Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Covered database.--The term ``covered database'' 
        means--
                    (A) the database of the National Crime Information 
                Center;
                    (B) the Combined DNA Index System;
                    (C) the Next Generation Identification System; and
                    (D) any other database or system of a law 
                enforcement agency under which a report of a missing or 
                murdered Indian may be submitted, including--
                            (i) the Violent Criminal Apprehension 
                        Program; or
                            (ii) the National Missing and Unidentified 
                        Persons System.
            (2) Indian.--The term ``Indian'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 
        Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            (3) Indian country.--The term ``Indian country'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 1151 of title 18, United 
        States Code.
            (4) Law enforcement agency.--The term ``law enforcement 
        agency'' means a Federal, State, local, or Tribal law 
        enforcement agency.
            (5) Missing or murdered indian.--The term ``missing or 
        murdered Indian'' means any Indian who is--
                    (A) reported missing in Indian country or any other 
                location; or
                    (B) murdered in Indian country or any other 
                location.
            (6) Notification system.--The term ``notification system'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Criminal Justice Information Network;
                    (B) the AMBER Alert communications network 
                established under subtitle A of title III of the 
                PROTECT Act (34 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.); and
                    (C) any other system or public notification system 
                that relates to a report of a missing or murdered 
                Indian, including any State, local, or Tribal 
                notification system.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee 
on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives a comprehensive report that includes--
            (1) a review of--
                    (A) each law enforcement agency that has 
                jurisdiction over missing or murdered Indians and the 
                basis for that jurisdiction;
                    (B) the response procedures, with respect to a 
                report of a missing or murdered Indian, of--
                            (i) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
                            (ii) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and
                            (iii) any other Federal law enforcement 
                        agency responsible for responding to or 
                        investigating a report of a missing or murdered 
                        Indian;
                    (C) each covered database and notification system;
                    (D) Federal interagency cooperation and 
                notification policies and procedures related to missing 
                or murdered Indians;
                    (E) the requirements of each Federal law 
                enforcement agency relating to notifying State, local, 
                or Tribal law enforcement agencies after the Federal 
                law enforcement agency receives a report of a missing 
                or murdered Indian; and
                    (F) the public notification requirements of law 
                enforcement agencies relating to missing or murdered 
                Indians;
            (2) recommendations and best practices relating to 
        improving cooperation between and response policies of law 
        enforcement agencies relating to missing and murdered Indians; 
        and
            (3) recommendations relating to--
                    (A) improving how--
                            (i) covered databases address instances of 
                        missing or murdered Indians, including by 
                        improving access to, integrating, and improving 
                        the sharing of information between covered 
                        databases; and
                            (ii) notification systems address instances 
                        of missing or murdered Indians, including by 
                        improving access to, integrating, and improving 
                        the sharing of information between notification 
                        systems;
                    (B) social, educational, economic, and any other 
                factor that may contribute to an Indian becoming a 
                missing or murdered Indian; and
                    (C) legislation to reduce the likelihood that an 
                Indian may become a missing or murdered Indian.
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