Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB309 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 309
55 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide funding for the National
66 Law Enforcement Museum, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY9, 2025
99 Mr. N
1010 EHLS(for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. COSTA, Ms.
1111 B
1212 ROWNLEY, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Mr. THANEDAR,
1313 Ms. M
1414 ACE, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. BABIN, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr. LAWLER, Mr.
1515 A
1616 MODEIof Nevada, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. KELLYof Pennsylvania, Mr. RYAN,
1717 Ms. C
1818 RAIG, Mr. GARBARINO, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr.
1919 M
2020 OOLENAAR, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. GRAVES,
2121 Mr. H
2222 UDSON, Mr. BACON, Mr. LALOTA, Mrs. FISCHBACH, and Mr.
2323 G
2424 OTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
2525 Committee on Natural Resources
2626 A BILL
2727 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide funding
2828 for the National Law Enforcement Museum, and for
2929 other purposes.
3030 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3131 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
3232 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
3333 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Law Enforce-4
3434 ment Officers Remembrance, Support and Community 5
3535 Outreach Act.’’ 6
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3939 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
4040 The Congress finds the following: 2
4141 (1) The National Law Enforcement Officers 3
4242 Memorial and the National Law Enforcement Mu-4
4343 seum in Washington, DC represent the only law en-5
4444 forcement campus in the United States and serves 6
4545 a critical national mission of honoring and remem-7
4646 bering those law enforcement officers who have died 8
4747 in the line of duty, educating the public about the 9
4848 important role of law enforcement in a democratic 10
4949 society and working to reduce the number of line of 11
5050 duty deaths and injuries among law enforcement. 12
5151 (2) It is in the national interest to ensure that 13
5252 the unique education and outreach programs of the 14
5353 National Law Enforcement Museum be maintained 15
5454 and enhanced. 16
5555 (3) In 1984, Congress passed and President 17
5656 Ronald Reagan signed into law a joint resolution to 18
5757 authorize the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial 19
5858 Fund, Inc., to establish a National Law Enforce-20
5959 ment Heroes Memorial (Public Law 98–534) in 21
6060 Washington, DC. 22
6161 (4) Dedicated on October 15, 1991, the Na-23
6262 tional Law Enforcement Officers Memorial honors 24
6363 Federal, tribal, State, and local law enforcement of-25
6464 ficers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the 26
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6868 safety and protection of our Nation and its people. 1
6969 The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is 2
7070 centered in the 400 block of E Street, NW, Wash-3
7171 ington, DC and is the nation’s monument to law en-4
7272 forcement officers who have died in the line of duty. 5
7373 The Memorial was built entirely with private funds. 6
7474 (5) In 2000, Congress passed and President 7
7575 William J. Clinton signed into law the National Law 8
7676 Enforcement Museum Act (Public Law 106–492), 9
7777 which authorized the National Law Enforcement Of-10
7878 ficers Memorial Fund, Inc. to build and operate the 11
7979 National Law Enforcement Museum on Federal land 12
8080 in the District of Columbia to honor and commemo-13
8181 rate the service and sacrifice of law enforcement offi-14
8282 cers in the United States. 15
8383 (6) In April 2016, construction began on the 16
8484 National Law Enforcement Museum in the District 17
8585 of Columbia across the street from the National Law 18
8686 Enforcement Officers Memorial in Judiciary Square. 19
8787 In October of 2018 the National Law Enforcement 20
8888 Museum was completed and formally opened. No 21
8989 Federal funds were used to build the Museum. 22
9090 (7) The National Law Enforcement Museum’s 23
9191 mission is— 24
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9595 (A) to honor and commemorate the ex-1
9696 traordinary service and sacrifice of America’s 2
9797 law enforcement officers; 3
9898 (B) to serve as an important bridge be-4
9999 tween law enforcement’s past and present, be-5
100100 tween the heroes of yesteryear and those who 6
101101 have followed in their footsteps, and between 7
102102 America’s peace officers and the public they 8
103103 serve; and 9
104104 (C) to increase public understanding and 10
105105 support for law enforcement and to promote 11
106106 law enforcement safety. 12
107107 (8) The programs of the National Law Enforce-13
108108 ment Museum play a critical role in educating the 14
109109 public about the vital importance of law enforcement 15
110110 in a democratic society, the critical role law enforce-16
111111 ment plays in protecting and serving the public, and 17
112112 the sacrifices law enforcement officers have made to 18
113113 serve in this role. 19
114114 (9) The community education and outreach pro-20
115115 grams, activities, and special exhibits within the Na-21
116116 tional Law Enforcement Museum help bring local 22
117117 law enforcement agencies closer to the communities 23
118118 they serve, and help to foster a better understanding 24
119119 between law enforcement and communities. 25
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123123 (10) The National Law Enforcement Museum’s 1
124124 Officer Safety and Wellness education and outreach 2
125125 programs and activities help provide local, State and 3
126126 Federal law enforcement agencies with critical infor-4
127127 mation on best practices to reduce the number of 5
128128 line of duty deaths and injuries and provide commu-6
129129 nities and the public with education concerning the 7
130130 sacrifices made. These programs, activities, and spe-8
131131 cial exhibits are vitally important at a time when an-9
132132 nual line of duty deaths among law enforcement offi-10
133133 cers remain at an historically high level. 11
134134 (11) Since the establishment in 1991 of the Na-12
135135 tional Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and the 13
136136 dedication of the National Law Enforcement Mu-14
137137 seum in 2018, the National Law Enforcement Offi-15
138138 cers Memorial Fund and the National Law Enforce-16
139139 ment Museum have worked cooperatively with local, 17
140140 State and Federal law enforcement agencies to prop-18
141141 erly honor the sacrifices made by law enforcement, 19
142142 and provide key programming to reduce the number 20
143143 of law enforcement fatalities and injuries, and foster 21
144144 better understanding between law enforcement and 22
145145 the communities they serve. 23
146146 (12) Law enforcement agencies around the 24
147147 country are dedicated to continuous improvement 25
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151151 and innovation in officer and community safety, and 1
152152 to building trust through community-based engage-2
153153 ment and interventions. 3
154154 (13) Since 2020, there has been a significant 4
155155 increase in the number of law enforcement officers 5
156156 resigning or retiring. According to the Police Execu-6
157157 tive Research Forum, over the past three years there 7
158158 has been an almost 24-percent increase in the num-8
159159 ber of law enforcement officers retiring, and more 9
160160 than 47-percent increase in the number of law en-10
161161 forcement officers resigning. 11
162162 (14) A number of law enforcement agencies 12
163163 across the country remain under-staffed, and many 13
164164 law enforcement agencies have been forced to declare 14
165165 personnel emergencies and require mandatory over-15
166166 time. 16
167167 (15) The resulting deficit in confidence and 17
168168 support jeopardizes public safety. There is a critical 18
169169 need to enhance public understanding and apprecia-19
170170 tion of law enforcement, and to improve the safety 20
171171 and wellness of officers who serve our communities. 21
172172 Fostering a more informed and positive relationship 22
173173 between law enforcement and the public is essential 23
174174 for societal safety and cohesion. A sustained national 24
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178178 effort to restore confidence and understanding in 1
179179 law enforcement is urgently needed. 2
180180 SEC. 3. SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 3
181181 MUSEUM. 4
182182 During the first seven fiscal years beginning after the 5
183183 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior 6
184184 shall award a grant to the National Law Enforcement Of-7
185185 ficers Memorial Fund for the expenses associated with op-8
186186 erating and enhancing the community outreach, public 9
187187 education, and officer safety and wellness programs of the 10
188188 National Law Enforcement Museum, including programs 11
189189 to: 12
190190 (1) Memorialize law enforcement heroes who die 13
191191 in the line of duty and compile statistics on law en-14
192192 forcement fatalities and injuries. 15
193193 (2) Honor and commemorate the extraordinary 16
194194 service and sacrifice of America’s law enforcement 17
195195 officers. 18
196196 (3) Develop and make available accurate, rel-19
197197 evant, and accessible resources to promote the un-20
198198 derstanding of law enforcement history and officer 21
199199 safety and wellness training, which include digital 22
200200 resources and other types of resources, such as print 23
201201 resources and traveling exhibitions. 24
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205205 (4) Increase technical resources to better en-1
206206 gage the public in person and via online platforms 2
207207 to educate and inform the public about community 3
208208 policing and officer safety and wellness. 4
209209 (5) Create, expand and disseminate scholarly 5
210210 work through research, curricula, in-house and trav-6
211211 eling exhibitions, publications, and other outreach 7
212212 initiatives. 8
213213 (6) Expand the collection acquisition and collec-9
214214 tion processes, including staffing, conservation, proc-10
215215 essing, and digitization. 11
216216 (7) Augment law enforcement history and offi-12
217217 cer safety and wellness education activities, includ-13
218218 ing the development, dissemination, and implementa-14
219219 tion of principles of sound pedagogy for teaching 15
220220 about law enforcement history and officer safety and 16
221221 wellness. 17
222222 (8) Promote professional development including 18
223223 local, regional, and national workshops; teacher 19
224224 trainings; and partnerships with appropriate entities 20
225225 to better educate and inform the public about law 21
226226 enforcement history and officer safety and wellness 22
227227 education. 23
228228 (9) Engage with local and independent edu-24
229229 cational agencies and expand teacher engagement to 25
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233233 cultivate and support the development of leaders in 1
234234 the teaching of law enforcement history and officer 2
235235 safety and wellness education. 3
236236 (10) Engage with State and local education 4
237237 leaders to encourage the adoption of resources sup-5
238238 ported under this Act into curricula across diverse 6
239239 disciplines. 7
240240 (11) Create, develop, implement, replicate, or 8
241241 take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field- 9
242242 initiated innovations for museum and officer safety 10
243243 and wellness improvement, and rigorously evaluate 11
244244 such innovations. 12
245245 (12) Provide for the free admission to National 13
246246 Law Enforcement Museum for active and retired law 14
247247 enforcement officers and family members of fallen 15
248248 officers; and dedicated free admission hours for the 16
249249 general public at least once a week. 17
250250 (13) Develop online Law Enforcement History 18
251251 and Officer Safety and Wellness Education Re-19
252252 sources for the general public and scholarly research. 20
253253 SEC. 4. PROGRESS REPORTS; CERTIFICATIONS. 21
254254 (a) P
255255 ROGRESSREPORT.—For each of the first seven 22
256256 fiscal years the National Law Enforcement Officers Me-23
257257 morial Fund shall submit a report to the Secretary of the 24
258258 Interior that— 25
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262262 (1) documents, consistent with the funding pro-1
263263 vided from the Department, the progress in deliv-2
264264 ering public education, community outreach and offi-3
265265 cer safety and wellness programming; and 4
266266 (2) provides a formal accounting of total 5
267267 amounts of Federal funds expended during the fiscal 6
268268 year. 7
269269 (b) S
270270 UBMISSION TOCONGRESS.—The Secretary of 8
271271 the Interior shall share this report with Congress every 9
272272 fiscal year and make the report available on the U.S. De-10
273273 partment of Interior website. 11
274274 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 12
275275 (1) I
276276 N GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 13
277277 appropriated to the Secretary of the Interior to 14
278278 carry out this section $6,000,000 for each of the 15
279279 first 7 fiscal years beginning after the date of the 16
280280 enactment of this Act. 17
281281 (2) E
282282 XCEPTION.—If in any fiscal year the 18
283283 amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization 19
284284 under paragraph (1) is not the full amount provided 20
285285 by such paragraph, the Secretary may transfer such 21
286286 sums as may be necessary from the National Park 22
287287 Service, up to the amount specified in paragraph 23
288288 (1), to carry out this section. 24
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292292 SEC. 6. CONTINUATION OF ACTIVITIES. 1
293293 To the extent that the National Law Enforcement 2
294294 Museum is engaged in an activity described on the date 3
295295 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary may use the 4
296296 funds appropriated under section 5 to continue that activ-5
297297 ity. 6
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