S.Amdt. 1338

SA 1338. Mr. REID submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1042, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2006 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle F of title V, add the following;

SEC. 573. REQUIREMENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES TO DESIGNATE A PERSON TO BE AUTHORIZED TO DIRECT THE DISPOSITION OF THE MEMBER'S REMAINS.

(a) Designation Required.--Section 655 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and

(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new subsection (b):

“(b) The Secretary concerned shall, upon the enlistment or appointment of a person in the armed forces, require that the person specify in writing the person authorized to direct the disposition of the person's remains under section 1482 of this title. The Secretary shall periodically, and whenever the member is deployed as part of a contingency operation or in other circumstances specified by the Secretary, require that such designation be reconfirmed, or modified, by the member.”.

(b) Change in Designation.--Subsection (c) of such section, as redesignated by subsection (a)(1), is amended by inserting “or (b)” after “subsection (a)”.

(c) Persons Authorized to Direct Disposition of Remains.--Section 1482(c) of such title is amended--

(1) by striking the matter preceding paragraph (1) and inserting the following:

“(c) The person designated under section 655(b) of this title shall be considered for all purposes to be the person designated under this subsection to direct disposition of the remains of a decedent covered by this chapter. If the person so designated is not available, or if there was no such designation under that section one of the following persons, in the order specified, shall be the person designated to direct the disposition of remains:” and

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking “clauses (1)-(3)” and inserting “paragraph (1), (2), or (3)”.

(d) Effective Date.--Subsection (b) of section 655 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(2), shall take effect at the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall be applied to persons enlisted or appointed in the Armed Forces after the end of such period. In the case of persons who are members of the Armed Forces as of the end of such 30-day period, such subsection--

(1) shall be applied to any member who is deployed to a contingency operation after the end of such period; and

(2) in the case of any member not sooner covered under paragraph (1), shall be applied before the end of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

(e) Treatment of Prior Designations.--

(1) In general.--A qualifying designation by a decedent covered by section 1481 of title 10, United States Code, shall be treated for purposes of section 1482 of such title as having been made under section 655(b) of such title.

(2) Qualifying designations.--For purposes of paragraph (1), a qualifying designation is a designation by a person of the person to be authorized to direct disposition of the remains of the person making the designation that was made before the date of the enactment of this Act and in accordance with regulations and procedures of the Department of Defense in effect at the time.