II 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION S. 390 To require Federal law enforcement agencies to report on cases of missing or murdered Indians, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY4, 2025 Ms. C ORTEZMASTO(for herself, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. GALLEGO, and Mr. R OUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs A BILL To require Federal law enforcement agencies to report on cases of missing or murdered Indians, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) S HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety for 5 Native Communities Act’’ or the ‘‘BADGES for Native 6 Communities Act’’. 7 (b) T ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 8 this Act is as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 390 IS Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definitions. TITLE I—BRIDGING AGENCY DATA GAPS Sec. 101. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System Tribal facilitator. Sec. 102. Report on Indian country law enforcement personnel resources and need. TITLE II—ENSURING SAFETY FOR NATIVE COMMUNITIES Sec. 201. Demonstration program on Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement employment background checks. Sec. 202. Missing or murdered response coordination grant program. Sec. 203. GAO study on Federal law enforcement agency evidence collection, handling, and processing. Sec. 204. Bureau of Indian Affairs and Tribal law enforcement officer coun- seling resources interdepartmental coordination. SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) D EATH INVESTIGATION.—The term ‘‘death 3 investigation’’ has the meaning determined by the 4 Attorney General. 5 (2) D EATH INVESTIGATION OF INTEREST TO 6 INDIAN TRIBES.—The term ‘‘death investigation of 7 interest to Indian Tribes’’ means a case involving— 8 (A) a death investigation into the death of 9 an Indian; or 10 (B) a death investigation of a person found 11 on, in, or adjacent to Indian land or a Village. 12 (3) D IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 13 the Deputy Bureau Director of the Office of Justice 14 Services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 15 (4) F EDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY .— 16 The term ‘‘Federal law enforcement agency’’ means 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 390 IS the Office of Justice Services of the Bureau of In-1 dian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2 and any other Federal law enforcement agency 3 that— 4 (A) has jurisdiction over crimes in Indian 5 country; or 6 (B) investigates missing persons cases of 7 interest to Indian Tribes, death investigations 8 of interest to Indian Tribes, unclaimed human 9 remains cases of interest to Indian Tribes, or 10 unidentified remains cases of interest to Indian 11 Tribes. 12 (5) I NDIAN.—The term ‘‘Indian’’ has the mean-13 ing given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self- 14 Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 15 U.S.C. 5304). 16 (6) I NDIAN COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Indian coun-17 try’’ has the meaning given the term in section 1151 18 of title 18, United States Code. 19 (7) I NDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 20 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian lands’’ in 21 section 3 of the Native American Business Develop-22 ment, Trade Promotion, and Tourism Act of 2000 23 (25 U.S.C. 4302). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 390 IS (8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 1 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 2 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 3 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 4 (9) M ISSING PERSONS CASE OF INTEREST TO 5 INDIAN TRIBES.—The term ‘‘missing persons case of 6 interest to Indian Tribes’’ means a case involving— 7 (A) a missing Indian; or 8 (B) a missing person whose last known lo-9 cation is believed to be on, in, or adjacent to In-10 dian land or a Village. 11 (10) N ATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION DATA -12 BASES.—The term ‘‘national crime information 13 databases’’ has the meaning given the term in sec-14 tion 534(f)(3) of title 28, United States Code. 15 (11) R ELEVANT TRIBAL ORGANIZATION .—The 16 term ‘‘relevant Tribal organization’’ means, as appli-17 cable— 18 (A) a Tribal organization or an urban In-19 dian organization; and 20 (B) a national or regional organization 21 that— 22 (i) represents a substantial Indian 23 constituency; and 24 (ii) has expertise in the fields of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 390 IS (I) human trafficking of Indians; 1 (II) human trafficking on Indian 2 land or in a Village; 3 (III) violence against Indians; 4 (IV) missing or murdered Indige-5 nous persons; or 6 (V) Tribal justice systems. 7 (12) S ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 8 means the Secretary of the Interior. 9 (13) S EXUAL VIOLENCE CASE OF INTEREST TO 10 INDIAN TRIBES.—The term ‘‘sexual violence case of 11 interest to Indian Tribes’’ means a case involving an 12 allegation of sexual violence (as defined in section 13 204(a) of Public Law 90–284 (25 U.S.C. 1304(a))). 14 (14) T RIBAL JUSTICE OFFICIAL .—The term 15 ‘‘Tribal justice official’’ has the meaning given the 16 term ‘‘tribal justice official’’ in section 2 of the In-17 dian Law Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 18 2801). 19 (15) T RIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘Trib-20 al organization’’ has the meaning given the term in 21 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-22 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 23 (16) U NCLAIMED HUMAN REMAINS CASE OF IN -24 TEREST TO INDIAN TRIBES .—The term ‘‘unclaimed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 390 IS human remains case of interest to Indian Tribes’’ 1 means a case involving— 2 (A) unclaimed Indian remains identified by 3 Federal, Tribal, State, or local law enforcement; 4 or 5 (B) unclaimed human remains found on, 6 in, or adjacent to Indian land or a Village. 7 (17) U NIDENTIFIED REMAINS CASE OF INTER -8 EST TO INDIAN TRIBES.—The term ‘‘unidentified re-9 mains case of interest to Indian Tribes’’ means a 10 case involving— 11 (A) unidentified Indian remains; or 12 (B) unidentified remains found on, in, or 13 adjacent to Indian land or a Village. 14 (18) U RBAN INDIAN ORGANIZATION .—The term 15 ‘‘urban Indian organization’’ has the meaning given 16 the term in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Im-17 provement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603). 18 (19) V ILLAGE.—The term ‘‘Village’’ means the 19 Alaska Native Village Statistical Area covering all or 20 any portion of a Native village (as defined in section 21 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 22 U.S.C. 1602)), as depicted on the applicable Tribal 23 Statistical Area Program Verification Map of the 24 Bureau of the Census. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 390 IS TITLE I—BRIDGING AGENCY 1 DATA GAPS 2 SEC. 101. NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS 3 SYSTEM TRIBAL FACILITATOR. 4 (a) A PPOINTMENT.—The Attorney General shall ap-5 point 1 or more Tribal facilitators for the National Miss-6 ing and Unidentified Persons System. 7 (b) D UTIES.—The duties of a Tribal facilitator ap-8 pointed under subsection (a) shall include— 9 (1) coordinating the reporting of information 10 relating to missing persons cases of interest to In-11 dian Tribes, unclaimed human remains cases of in-12 terest to Indian Tribes, and unidentified remains 13 cases of interest to Indian Tribes; 14 (2) consulting and coordinating with Indian 15 Tribes and relevant Tribal organizations to address 16 the reporting, documentation, and tracking of miss-17 ing persons cases of interest to Indian Tribes, un-18 claimed human remains cases of Interest to Indian 19 Tribes, and unidentified remains cases of interest to 20 Indian Tribes; 21 (3) developing working relationships, and main-22 taining communication, with Indian Tribes and rel-23 evant Tribal organizations; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 390 IS (4) providing technical assistance and training 1 to Indian Tribes and relevant Tribal organizations, 2 victim service advocates, medical examiners, coro-3 ners, and Tribal justice officials regarding— 4 (A) the gathering and reporting of infor-5 mation to the National Missing and Unidenti-6 fied Persons System; and 7 (B) working with non-Tribal law enforce-8 ment agencies to encourage missing persons 9 cases of interest to Indian Tribes, unclaimed 10 human remains cases of interest to Indian 11 Tribes, and unidentified remains cases of inter-12 est to Indian Tribes are reported to the Na-13 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons Sys-14 tem; 15 (5) coordinating with the Office of Tribal Jus-16 tice, the Office of Justice Services of the Bureau of 17 Indian Affairs, the Executive Office for United 18 States Attorneys, the Federal Bureau of Investiga-19 tion, State law enforcement agencies, and the Na-20 tional Indian Country Training Initiative, as nec-21 essary; and 22 (6) conducting other training, information gath-23 ering, and outreach activities to improve resolution 24 of missing persons cases of interest to Indian Tribes, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 390 IS unclaimed human remains cases of interest to Indian 1 Tribes, and unidentified remains cases of interest to 2 Indian Tribes. 3 (c) R EPORTING ANDTRANSPARENCY.— 4 (1) A NNUAL REPORTS TO CONGRESS .—During 5 the 3-year-period beginning on the date of enact-6 ment of this Act, the Attorney General, acting 7 through the Director of the National Institute of 8 Justice, shall submit to the Committees on Indian 9 Affairs, the Judiciary, and Appropriations of the 10 Senate and the Committees on Natural Resources, 11 the Judiciary, and Appropriations of the House of 12 Representatives an annual report describing the ac-13 tivities and accomplishments of the Tribal 14 facilitators appointed under subsection (a) during 15 the 1-year period preceding the date of the report. 16 (2) P UBLIC TRANSPARENCY .—Annually, the At-17 torney General, acting through the Director of the 18 National Institute of Justice, shall publish on a 19 website publicly accessible information describing the 20 activities and accomplishments of the Tribal 21 facilitators appointed under subsection (a) during 22 the 1-year period preceding the date of the publica-23 tion. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 390 IS SEC. 102. REPORT ON INDIAN COUNTRY LAW ENFORCE-1 MENT PERSONNEL RESOURCES AND NEED. 2 (a) O FFICE OFJUSTICESERVICES OF THEBUREAU 3 OFINDIANAFFAIRS.—Section 3(c)(16) of the Indian Law 4 Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 2802(c)(16)) is 5 amended by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the 6 following: 7 ‘‘(C) a list of the unmet— 8 ‘‘(i) staffing needs of law enforcement, 9 corrections, and court personnel, including 10 criminal investigators, medical examiners, 11 coroners, forensic technicians, indigent de-12 fense staff, crime victim services staff, and 13 prosecution staff, at Tribal and Bureau 14 justice agencies, including the Missing and 15 Murdered Unit of the Office of Justice 16 Services of the Bureau; 17 ‘‘(ii) replacement and repair needs of 18 Tribal and Bureau corrections facilities; 19 ‘‘(iii) infrastructure and capital needs 20 for Tribal police and court facilities, in-21 cluding evidence storage and processing; 22 and 23 ‘‘(iv) public safety and emergency 24 communications and technology needs, in-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 390 IS cluding equipment and internet capacity 1 needs; and’’. 2 (b) D EPARTMENT OFJUSTICE.— 3 (1) D EFINITION OF DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 4 LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY .—In this subsection, 5 the term ‘‘Department of Justice law enforcement 6 agency’’ means each of— 7 (A) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 8 (B) the Drug Enforcement Administration; 9 (C) the United States Marshals Service; 10 (D) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-11 arms and Explosives; and 12 (E) the Offices of the United States Attor-13 neys. 14 (2) A NNUAL REPORT.—Each fiscal year, the 15 Attorney General shall submit to the Committees on 16 Indian Affairs, the Judiciary, and Appropriations of 17 the Senate and the Committees on Natural Re-18 sources, the Judiciary, and Appropriations of the 19 House of Representatives a report for that fiscal 20 year that includes— 21 (A) the number of full-time employees of 22 each Department of Justice law enforcement 23 agency that are assigned to work on criminal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 390 IS investigations and prosecutions in Indian coun-1 try; 2 (B) the percentage of time the full-time 3 employees, as identified under subparagraph 4 (A), spend specifically working in Indian coun-5 try; 6 (C) the turnover rate during the 5-year pe-7 riod preceding the report of full-time employees 8 assigned to work on criminal investigations and 9 prosecutions in Indian country; 10 (D) the average years of experience at the 11 Department of Justice of full-time employees 12 assigned to work on criminal investigations and 13 prosecutions in Indian country; 14 (E) the number of vacant positions with 15 responsibilities for criminal investigations and 16 prosecutions in Indian country; 17 (F) an identification of expertise and skills 18 necessary to achieve the strategic goals of the 19 Department of Justice relating to public safety 20 in Indian country; 21 (G) an estimate of the number of employ-22 ees needed with specific skills and competencies 23 to fulfill responsibilities assigned for criminal 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 13 •S 390 IS investigations and prosecutions in Indian coun-1 try; and 2 (H) a list of measures identified to indicate 3 whether and how the Department of Justice 4 plans to execute its hiring, retention, and train-5 ing strategies. 6 (3) GAO STUDY AND REPORT.— 7 (A) S TUDY.— 8 (i) I N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 9 months after the date on which the first 10 annual report is submitted under para-11 graph (2), the Comptroller General of the 12 United States shall conduct a review of 13 unmet staffing identified by the Depart-14 ment of Justice law enforcement agencies 15 tasked with work on criminal investigations 16 and prosecutions in Indian country. 17 (ii) R EQUIREMENT.—In conducting 18 the study required under clause (i), the 19 Comptroller General of the United States 20 shall take into account the results of the 21 most recent report, as of the date of enact-22 ment of this Act, relating to Indian coun-23 try investigations and prosecutions pre-24 pared by the Attorney General pursuant to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 14 •S 390 IS section 10(b) of the Indian Law Enforce-1 ment Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 2809(b)). 2 (B) R EPORT.—On completion of the review 3 under subparagraph (A), the Comptroller Gen-4 eral of the United States shall submit to the 5 Committees on Indian Affairs, the Judiciary, 6 and Appropriations of the Senate and the Com-7 mittees on Natural Resources, the Judiciary, 8 and Appropriations of the House of Representa-9 tives a report that describes the results of the 10 study, including, as appropriate, proposals for 11 methods by which the Department of Justice 12 can better measure its unmet staffing and other 13 needs for Department of Justice law enforce-14 ment agencies tasked with work on criminal in-15 vestigations and prosecutions in Indian country. 16 TITLE II—ENSURING SAFETY 17 FOR NATIVE COMMUNITIES 18 SEC. 201. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM ON BUREAU OF IN-19 DIAN AFFAIRS LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOY-20 MENT BACKGROUND CHECKS. 21 (a) E STABLISHMENT OF DEMONSTRATION PRO-22 GRAM.— 23 (1) I N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 24 a demonstration program for the purpose of con-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 15 •S 390 IS ducting or adjudicating, in coordination with the Di-1 rector, personnel background investigations for ap-2 plicants for law enforcement positions in the Bureau 3 of Indian Affairs. 4 (2) B ACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS AND SECU -5 RITY CLEARANCE DETERMINATIONS .— 6 (A) BIA INVESTIGATIONS.—As part of the 7 demonstration program established under para-8 graph (1), the Secretary may carry out a back-9 ground investigation, security clearance deter-10 mination, or both a background investigation 11 and a security clearance determination for an 12 applicant for a law enforcement position in the 13 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 14 (B) A GREEMENTS.—The Secretary may 15 enter into a memorandum of agreement with a 16 State or local government, Indian Tribe, or 17 Tribal organization to develop steps to expedite 18 the process of receiving and obtaining access to 19 information pertinent to background investiga-20 tion and security clearance determinations for 21 use in the demonstration program. 22 (3) S UNSET.—The demonstration program es-23 tablished under paragraph (1) shall terminate 5 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 16 •S 390 IS years after the date of the commencement of the 1 demonstration program. 2 (b) S UFFICIENCY.—Notwithstanding any other provi-3 sion of law, a background investigation conducted or adju-4 dicated by the Secretary pursuant to the demonstration 5 program established under subsection (a)(1) that results 6 in the granting of a security clearance to an applicant for 7 a law enforcement position in the Bureau of Indian Affairs 8 shall be sufficient to meet the applicable requirements of 9 the Office of Personnel Management or other Federal 10 agency for such investigations. 11 (c) R EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 12 on which the demonstration program is established under 13 subsection (a)(1), the Secretary shall submit to the Com-14 mittees on Indian Affairs, the Judiciary, and Appropria-15 tions of the Senate and the Committees on Natural Re-16 sources, the Judiciary, and Appropriations of the House 17 of Representatives a report on the demonstration pro-18 gram, which shall include a description of— 19 (1) the demonstration program and any rec-20 ommended changes or updates to the demonstration 21 program, including whether the demonstration pro-22 gram should be reauthorized; 23 (2) the number of background investigations 24 carried out under the demonstration program; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 17 •S 390 IS (3) the costs, including any cost savings, associ-1 ated with the investigation and adjudication process 2 under the demonstration program; 3 (4) the processing times for the investigation 4 and adjudication processes under the demonstration 5 program; and 6 (5) any other information that the Secretary 7 determines to be relevant. 8 SEC. 202. MISSING OR MURDERED RESPONSE COORDINA-9 TION GRANT PROGRAM. 10 (a) E STABLISHMENT OF GRANTPROGRAM.—The At-11 torney General shall establish within the Office of Justice 12 Programs a grant program under which the Attorney Gen-13 eral shall make grants to eligible entities described in sub-14 section (b) to carry out eligible activities described in sub-15 section (c). 16 (b) E LIGIBLEENTITIES.— 17 (1) I N GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 18 grant under the grant program established under 19 subsection (a) an entity shall be— 20 (A) an Indian Tribe; 21 (B) a relevant Tribal organization; 22 (C) subject to paragraph (2), a State, in 23 consortium with— 24 (i) 1 or more Indian Tribes; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 18 •S 390 IS (ii) relevant Tribal organizations, if 1 any; 2 (D) a consortium of 2 or more Indian 3 Tribes or relevant Tribal organizations; or 4 (E) subject to paragraph (2), a consortium 5 of 2 or more States in consortium with— 6 (i) 1 or more Indian Tribes; and 7 (ii) relevant Tribal organizations, if 8 any. 9 (2) S TATE ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible under 10 subparagraph (C) or (E) of paragraph (1), a State 11 shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Attorney 12 General that the State— 13 (A)(i) reports missing persons cases in the 14 State to the national crime information data-15 bases; or 16 (ii) if not, has a plan to do so using a 17 grant received under the grant program estab-18 lished under subsection (a); and 19 (B) if data sharing between the State and 20 the Indian Tribes and relevant Tribal organiza-21 tions with which the State is in consortium is 22 part of the intended use of the grant received 23 under the grant program established under sub-24 section (a), has entered into a memorandum of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 19 •S 390 IS understanding with each applicable Indian 1 Tribe and relevant Tribal organization. 2 (c) E LIGIBLEACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity receiv-3 ing a grant under the grant program established under 4 subsection (a) may use the grant— 5 (1) to establish a statewide or regional center— 6 (A) to document and track— 7 (i) missing persons cases of interest to 8 Indian Tribes; 9 (ii) sexual violence cases of interest to 10 Indian Tribes; and 11 (iii) death investigations of interest to 12 Indian Tribes; and 13 (B) to input information regarding missing 14 persons cases of interest to Indian Tribes, un-15 claimed human remains cases of interest to In-16 dian Tribes, and unidentified remains cases of 17 interest to Indian Tribes into the National 18 Missing and Unidentified Persons System and 19 the Missing Persons File in the National Crime 20 Information Center; 21 (2) to establish a State or regional commission 22 to respond to, and to improve coordination between 23 Federal law enforcement agencies, and Tribal, State, 24 and local law enforcement agencies of the investiga-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 20 •S 390 IS tion of, missing persons cases of interest to Indian 1 Tribes, sexual violence cases of interest to Indian 2 Tribes, and death investigations of interest to Indian 3 Tribes; and 4 (3) to document, develop, and disseminate re-5 sources for the coordination and improvement of the 6 investigation of missing persons cases of interest to 7 Indian Tribes, sexual violence cases of interest to In-8 dian Tribes, and death investigations of interest to 9 Indian Tribes, including to develop local or statewide 10 rapid notification or communication systems for 11 alerts and other information relating to those cases. 12 (d) A UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 13 authorized to be appropriated to carry out the grant pro-14 gram established under subsection (a)(1) $1,000,000 for 15 each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030. 16 SEC. 203. GAO STUDY ON FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 17 AGENCY EVIDENCE COLLECTION, HANDLING, 18 AND PROCESSING. 19 (a) I NGENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 20 United States shall conduct a study— 21 (1) on the evidence collection, handling, re-22 sponse times, and processing procedures and prac-23 tices of the Office of Justice Services of the Bureau 24 of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Inves-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 21 •S 390 IS tigation in exercising jurisdiction over crimes involv-1 ing Indians or committed in Indian country; 2 (2) on barriers to evidence collection, handling, 3 response times, and processing identified by the 4 agencies referred to in paragraph (1); 5 (3) on the views of law enforcement officials at 6 the agencies referred to in paragraph (1) and their 7 counterparts within the Offices of the United States 8 Attorneys concerning any relationship between— 9 (A) the barriers identified under paragraph 10 (2); and 11 (B) United States Attorneys declination 12 rates due to insufficient evidence; and 13 (4) that includes a description of barriers to 14 evidence collection, handling, response times, and 15 processing identified and faced by— 16 (A) Tribal law enforcement agencies; and 17 (B) State and local law enforcement agen-18 cies that exercise jurisdiction over Indian coun-19 try. 20 (b) R EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 21 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 22 of the United States shall submit to the Committees on 23 Indian Affairs, the Judiciary, and Appropriations of the 24 Senate and the Committees on Natural Resources, the Ju-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 22 •S 390 IS diciary, and Appropriations of the House of Representa-1 tives a report describing the results of the study conducted 2 under subsection (a). 3 SEC. 204. BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND TRIBAL LAW 4 ENFORCEMENT OFFICER COUNSELING RE-5 SOURCES INTERDEPARTMENTAL COORDINA-6 TION. 7 The Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 8 Attorney General shall coordinate with the Director— 9 (1) to ensure that Federal training materials 10 and culturally appropriate mental health and 11 wellness programs are locally or regionally available 12 to law enforcement officers working for the Office of 13 Justice Services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or 14 an Indian Tribe; and 15 (2) to determine whether law enforcement agen-16 cies operated by the Office of Justice Services of the 17 Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Tribes are eli-18 gible to receive services under— 19 (A) the Law Enforcement Assistance Pro-20 gram of Federal Occupational Health of the 21 Department of Health and Human Services; or 22 (B) any other law enforcement assistance 23 program targeted to meet the needs of law en-24 forcement officers working for law enforcement 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 23 •S 390 IS agencies operated by the Federal Government 1 or an Indian Tribe. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:02 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S390.IS S390 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB