WASHINGTON –  U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today signed on as a bipartisan cosponsor of Sen. Dean Heller’s (R-NV) Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act. The bipartisan legislation will expedite access to federal parks for trained and experienced volunteer search and recovery crews after they sign a liability waiver.

Sen. Warner’s involvement was prompted by the experience of Jodi Goldberg of Alexandria, whose brother, Keith, was killed and whose body was left at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Las Vegas, Nevada in 2012. His family worked for 10 months to get the permits and secure a one million-dollar liability insurance policy required by the National Park Service before it would allow a trained volunteer search and recovery team to search for his body in the national park.

“It is unacceptable that roadblocks and red tape prevent trained searchers from volunteering their time to find missing loved ones for grieving families in need of closure,” Sen. Warner said. “Good Samaritan groups should have access to our public lands as quickly as possible. Families shouldn’t have to go months wondering what happened to their missing loved ones."

“The last thing families who have lost loved ones need is the federal government to stand in the way of recovering their remains.  I am pleased that Senator Warner is joining me in what is now a bipartisan effort to make sure that the dedicated men and women who volunteer to help their fellow citizens in times of tragedy are able to do so in an expedited fashion,” said Sen. Heller.

The Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act requires that permits for accessing public lands be issued to groups within 48 hours of application, and states that groups are not responsible for obtaining an insurance policy once they agree to waive federal government liability.

“I hope his story and the events that followed will lead to policy changes so no other family will have to experience the unnecessary prolonged pain and suffering that ours did,” Jodi Goldberg said in testimony before the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Also today, Sens. Warner and Heller sent a joint letter to the leadership of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, requesting quick consideration and markup of the bipartisan Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act.

A copy of the letter is available here