Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In January 2012, when Keith Goldberg went missing, finding him was all his family wanted. Investigators presumed that he had been murdered and his remains were somewhere in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, a unit administered by the National Park Service. After several months passed, local law enforcement was unable to recover Mr. Goldberg's remains, and they gave up the search.

His family, wanting what any family would want, reached out to a private, nonprofit search-and-rescue outfit for assistance. Unfortunately, it took 15 months for the professional search-and-rescue company to acquire the permits and insurance required to conduct a search. However, within 2 hours of receiving the necessary credentials, Mr. Goldberg's body was recovered.

H.R. 2166 will help speed up the process for granting private Good Samaritan search-and-rescue companies access to Federal lands. The bill strikes a fair balance between guaranteeing safety and sufficient liability insurance for the American taxpayer and improving the process. Under H.R. 2166, private search-and-rescue operations, when appropriate, can have, and should have, timely access to public lands under H.R. 2166.

I support the legislation and urge its adoption.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, let me acknowledge and

thank the gentleman from Nevada for his sponsorship of the legislation. It is very needed and very important.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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