Bill > S465

This bill, the Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety for Native Communities Act (also known as the BADGES for Native Communities Act), aims to improve data collection and coordination related to missing persons, sexual violence, and death investigations involving Native Americans or occurring on Native lands. The key provisions include: 1) Establishing Tribal facilitators for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to coordinate reporting and provide technical assistance to Tribes. 2) Requiring annual reports on staffing and resource needs for law enforcement in Indian Country, including at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of Justice agencies. 3) Creating a demonstration program for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to conduct background checks for law enforcement applicants. 4) Establishing a grant program for Tribes, Tribal organizations, and states to coordinate responses to missing persons, sexual violence, and death investigations of interest to Native communities. 5) Directing a GAO study on evidence collection and processing challenges faced by federal, Tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in Indian Country. 6) Improving coordination between the Departments of Interior and Health and Human Services to ensure access to counseling resources for Tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers.