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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