Sec. 6477. Corey Adams Green Alert Systems Technical Assistance
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/bill/117/hr/4350/eh/section-6477·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
In this section: The term missing veteran means an individual who— is reported to, or identified by, a law enforcement agency as a missing person; is a veteran; and meets the requirements to be designated as a missing veteran, as determined by the State in which the individual is reported or identified as a missing person. The term State means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The term Green Alert means an alert issued through the Green Alert communications network, related to a missing veteran. The term veteran means an individual who is currently serving or a former member who served in the United States Armed Forces, including National Guard, or a Reserve or auxiliary unit from any branch of the Armed Forces. The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall provide financial and technical assistance to a State that has established or has under consideration legislation to establish a Green Alert or other system specifically dedicated to locating missing veterans or active duty members of the Armed Forces (or both), to help ensure the effective use of those systems to successfully find and recover current or former members of the Armed Forces.
Such assistance shall include— helping the State develop, revise, or update criteria for issuing such alerts, including on when to issue such alerts, training to provide to law enforcement on interacting with veterans or service members, and provide recommendations on how best to protect the privacy, dignity, and independence of veterans or service members who are the subject of such alerts; providing assistance to the State on protecting the privacy of veterans and service memebers, including sensitive medical information, as such alerts are issued; designating officials to serve or participate on any advisory committees established by the State or local governments to provide oversight of Green Alert systems dedicated to finding missing veterans; for those veterans recovered by such systems, helping ensure such veterans are connected to any services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense to which they are entitled as a result of their service, including housing and healthcare; providing public education on these systems to military or veteran communities in such States, including on facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense located in such States; supporting efforts to train State and local law enforcement who issue such alerts and search for such individuals on the unique needs of veterans and service members; and ensuring officials of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense in such States are aware of Green Alerts, understand how they work, and integrate them with any plan for locating missing veterans at a base or facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
To the maximum extent possible, the Secretaries shall use, existing mechanisms, including advisory committees and programs, to meet the requirements of this section. There are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 to carry out this section. Notwithstanding the amounts set forth in the funding tables in division D, the amount authorized to be appropriated in section 301 for Operation and Maintenance, Defense-wide, as specified in the corresponding funding table in section 4301, for Office of Secretary of Defense, Line 540, is hereby reduced by $2,000,000.