Locating Our Unclaimed Veterans Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9006 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9006

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a centralized
  portal within the Department of Veterans Affairs for the storage of
information with respect to the unclaimed remains of veterans, and for
                            other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2026

 Mr. Valadao introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a centralized
  portal within the Department of Veterans Affairs for the storage of
information with respect to the unclaimed remains of veterans, and for
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Locating Our Unclaimed Veterans
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS SYSTEM FOR STORAGE OF
              INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO UNCLAIMED REMAINS OF
              VETERANS.

    (a) Process for Storage and Evaluation of Unclaimed Remains
Received by the Secretary.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, acting
        through the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits,
        shall establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs a
        centralized system to store information with respect to the
        unclaimed remains of veterans. Such system shall include--
                    (A) information with respect to unclaimed human
                remains suspected to be the remains of a veteran
                transmitted to the Department from--
                            (i) coroners;
                            (ii) State governments; and
                            (iii) funeral homes; and
                    (B) with respect to unclaimed remains of a veteran
                in the possession of the Secretary--
                            (i) the name of the veteran, if available;
                            (ii) fingerprints of the veteran, if
                        available;
                            (iii) the estimated age of the veteran at
                        death, if determinable; and
                            (iv) such identifiers as the Secretary
                        determines necessary to make reasonable efforts
                        to confirm veteran status of such unclaimed
                        remains and identify suitable next-of-kin, to
                        the extent practicable.
            (2) Memoranda of understanding.--
                    (A) Existing memoranda.--In developing the system
                required under subsection (a), the Secretary of
                Veterans Affairs shall, pursuant to applicable
                memoranda of understanding with respect to data sharing
                in effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act,
                request such other information from the following
                Federal agencies as the Secretary determines relevant
                to efforts to identify unclaimed remains of veterans:
                            (i) The Social Security Administration.
                            (ii) The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
                            (iii) The Department of Defense.
                    (B) Supplemental memoranda.--The Secretary may seek
                to enter into such memoranda of understanding with the
                heads of Federal agencies, or seek to modify the
                memoranda of understanding described in subparagraph
                (A), as the Secretary determines necessary for
                identifying whether unclaimed remains in the possession
                of the Secretary are the remains of a veteran.
                    (C) Consideration.--In making a request for
                information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
                pursuant to a memorandum of understanding described in
                subparagraph (A) or (B), the Secretary shall consider
                information collected and maintained under the National
                Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
    (b) Termination Date.--This section shall expire on the last day of
the third fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
    (c) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis thereafter for three
years, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans'
Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report on the
system required under subsection (a) that includes--
            (1) a summary of the implementation of such system;
            (2) a description of outreach activities carried out
        pursuant to such implementation; and
            (3) the total number of unclaimed remains of veterans
        successfully identified using such system during the period
        covered by the report.
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