Amend CSHB 1 (house committee printing) by adding the following appropriately numbered rider under Article III appropriations to the Texas Education Agency (page III-3):
(1) On page V-34, amend the Department of Public Safety Strategy B.1.4, Extraordinary Operations, by reducing appropriations by $5,000,000 in general revenue funds in each fiscal year.
(2) On page V-34, amend the Department of Public Safety Strategy B.1.1, State Grants to Local Entities by increasing appropriations by $5,000,000 in general revenue funds in each fiscal year.
(3) On page V-45 add the following appropriately numbered rider:
____. DNA Testing and Storage - Border Counties. From funds appropriated above, $5,000,000 in general revenue funds in each fiscal year in Strategy B.1.1 State Grants to Local Entities, shall be used for a Border Death Humanitarian and Identification Fund, henceforth referred to as 'fund', to assist in the prevention of migrant deaths along and within 100 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. This fund will provide for grants to counties and municipalities within this 100-mile zone to support county and municipal border and migrant death prevention efforts. This fund will also provide grants to counties, municipalities, and universities for programs aimed at recovering bodies and identifying deceased migrants.
(1) The legislature will appropriate $8,000,000 for the initial creation of this fund.
(A) $9,000,000 of this fund should be appropriated to fund two years of regular grant funding.
(B) $1,000,000 of this fund should be appropriated to fund two years of emergency grant funding.
(2) This fund will be administered by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
(A) The director will appoint a Border Death Humanitarian Grant Coordinator to develop and manage grant application processes, determine grant recipients, evaluate the effectiveness of the programmatic applications of grant money, and facilitate coordination and information sharing between grant recipients. The Border Death Humanitarian Identification Grant Coordinator will report to the director.
(B) The director will also appoint a Border Death Humanitarian Identification Advisor to assist the Border Death Humanitarian Identification Grant Coordinator in evaluating the technical aspects of grant proposals, coordinating grantees around best practices, in writing required annual reports, and in assisting the Border Death Humanitarian Identification Grant Coordinator with other duties as necessary.
(C) The Director must appoint the Border Death Humanitarian Grant Coordinator, Border Death Humanitarian Technical Advisor, and Border Death Humanitarian Fund Manager no later than October 15, 2015.
(3) DPS cannot use monies appropriated to the Border Death Humanitarian Identification Fund to provide for the management and oversight of the fund and related grant programs.
(b) The Border Death Humanitarian Grant Coordinator, in consultation with the Director, with university and community experts in border deaths, and with relevant sheriffs and county judges, will develop and publicize both Border Death Humanitarian and Identification regular and emergency grant application processes no later than January 1, 2016.
(1) Both grant application processes should be developed to favor grant requests from border locations with high numbers of border related and migrant deaths.
(2) Both grant application processes must provide funds for programs that address either migrant death prevention, or corpse recovery, and identification.
(3) Both grant application processes should be developed to favor grant requests from entities that can provide private or federal matching funds.
(4) While lead applicants for grant funding must be counties, municipalities, or universities, applications that would subcontract with 501(c)(3) non-profits or other community based groups are acceptable to be funded through these grants.
(5) Inclusion of subcontractors in a grant application should be viewed favorably if the inclusion of these subcontractors allows a greater scope of activity to be performed or greater efficiency in carrying out the grant.
(6) Grant application processes should be reviewed annually, and a revised process publicized no later than January 1 of each subsequent year.
(c) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should begin accepting regular grant applications no later than January 15 of each year, should cease accepting grant applications on February 22 of each year, and should begin issuing grants no later than March 1 of each year.
(d) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should begin accepting emergency grant applications no later than January 15 of each year. Applications for emergency grants may be accepted year-round.
(1) Emergency grant funding should be capped at a maximum of $35,000 per application.
(2) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should issue a determination of the emergency grant request's funding status no later than 15 business days after receipt of the request.
(3) All other considerations regarding grant applications as described above should also be applied to judging emergency grant requests.
(e) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should establish a monthly conference call between grant recipients to facilitate interaction between grantees around coordinating their efforts and to develop and promote practices in border and migrant death prevention no later than May 15, 2016.
(f) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should establish a quarterly conference call between grant recipients to facilitate interaction between grantees around coordinating their efforts and to develop and promote best practices in recovering, identifying, and repatriating corpses no later than July 8, 2016.
(g) The Border Death Prevention Grant Coordinator should, no later than September 1 of each year, issue an annual report on the activities of the fund, including information on:
(1) what programs were supported with fund monies,
(2) evaluations on the success and shortcomings of funded programs,
(3) discussion of efforts to promote best practices in border and migrant death prevention,
(4) discussion of efforts to promote best practices on the recovery, processing, DNA sampling and DNA database storage of border related deaths, with particular emphasis on unidentified human remains,
(5) discussion of efforts to promote best practices in corpse repatriation,
(6) and recommendations on the future funding of the fund and its efforts by the legislature.
(5) This report should be made publicly available by DPS as well as should copies of the report be provided to the membership of each standing committee in the legislature with jurisdiction over homeland security.