To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish and maintain a database that contains up-to-date contact information for the next of kin of members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the military departments.

Bill: 117-hr-5201
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]
Introduced: 2021-09-10
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Department of Defense

Government information and archives

Military command and structure

Military personnel and dependents

Personnel records
Latest action: action_date: 2021-09-10
text: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-09-10
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This bill requires the Department of Defense to establish and maintain a database that contains current contact information for the next of kin of members of the Armed Forces. A commander of the service member's unit in a grade higher than O-5 must be authorized to access the contact information, regardless of whether the member served under the commander. Individuals named in the database are authorized to elect whether or not they want to be contacted by an officer.</p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5201 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 10, 2021 Mr. Bacon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To direct the Secretary of Defense to establish and maintain a database that contains up-to-date contact information for the next of kin of members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the military departments.

1. Database of next of kin of deceased members of the Armed Forces Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations that establish and maintain a database of the Department of Defense that contains up-to-date contact information for the next of kin of members of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the military departments. Such regulations shall ensure that— (1) a commander in a grade higher than O–5 may access the contact information for the next of kin of a member who died while a member of the unit under the command of such commander, regardless of whether such member served under such commander; and (2) an individual named in such database may— (A) elect to not be contacted by an officer described in paragraph (1); and (B) change such election at any time.