§1742a Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act

Summary

The Interior and Agriculture Secretaries must make a fast system so eligible people or groups can get permission to go on Federal land to search for someone missing and believed to be dead. Eligible means a not-for-profit group or person whose members are all adults under the state law where the search happens. A good Samaritan search-and-recovery mission means a search for one or more missing people thought to be deceased when the search starts. Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture, as appropriate. The system must say that those who get access are acting privately and are not Federal volunteers, and that certain federal liability and workers’ compensation laws do not apply. The Secretaries cannot force groups to buy liability insurance if the group signs a written acknowledgment of those rules and a waiver that releases and indemnifies the United States. Requests must be approved or denied within 48 hours, and denials must explain why and what can be done to meet the rules. The Secretaries must also make partnerships with search groups to coordinate and speed searches, and they had to send Congress a joint report about those plans and efforts within 180 days after March 12, 2019.