National Law Enforcement Officers Remembrance, Support, and Community Outreach Act.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3719 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3719

 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide funding for the
        National Law Enforcement Museum, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 28, 2026

 Mr. Tillis (for himself and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide funding for the
        National Law Enforcement Museum, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Law Enforcement Officers
Remembrance, Support, and Community Outreach Act.''

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the
        National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC, represent
        the only law enforcement campus in the United States and serve
        a critical national mission of honoring and remembering those
        law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty,
        educating the public about the important role of law
        enforcement in a democratic society and working to reduce the
        number of line-of-duty deaths and injuries among law
        enforcement officers;
            (2) it is in the national interest to ensure that the
        unique education and outreach programs of the National Law
        Enforcement Museum be maintained and enhanced;
            (3) in 1984, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan
        signed into law Public Law 98-534 (98 Stat. 2712), a joint
        resolution to authorize the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
        Fund, Inc., to establish a National Law Enforcement Heroes
        Memorial in Washington, DC;
            (4) dedicated on October 15, 1991, the National Law
        Enforcement Officers Memorial honors Federal, Tribal, State,
        and local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate
        sacrifice for the safety and protection of the United States
        and the people of the United States;
            (5) the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is
        centered in the 400 block of E Street NW, in Washington, DC,
        and is the national monument to law enforcement officers who
        have died in the line of duty;
            (6) the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was
        built entirely with private funds;
            (7) in 2000, Congress passed and President William J.
        Clinton signed into law the National Law Enforcement Museum Act
        (Public Law 106-492; 114 Stat. 2210), which authorized the
        National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Inc., to build
        and operate the National Law Enforcement Museum on Federal land
        in the District of Columbia to honor and commemorate the
        service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers in the United
        States;
            (8) in April 2016, construction began on the National Law
        Enforcement Museum in the District of Columbia across the
        street from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in
        Judiciary Square;
            (9) in October 2018, the National Law Enforcement Museum
        was completed and formally opened;
            (10) no Federal funds were used to build the National Law
        Enforcement Museum;
            (11) the mission of the National Law Enforcement Museum
        is--
                    (A) to honor and commemorate the extraordinary
                service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers in
                the United States;
                    (B) to serve as an important bridge between past
                and present with respect to law enforcement, between
                the heroes of yesteryear and those who have followed in
                their footsteps, and between the peace officers of the
                United States and the public they serve;
                    (C) to increase public understanding and support
                for law enforcement; and
                    (D) to promote safety in law enforcement;
            (12) the programs of the National Law Enforcement Museum
        play a critical role in educating the public about--
                    (A) the vital importance of law enforcement in a
                democratic society;
                    (B) the critical role law enforcement officers play
                in protecting and serving the public; and
                    (C) the sacrifices law enforcement officers have
                made to serve in that role;
            (13) the community education and outreach programs,
        activities, and special exhibits within the National Law
        Enforcement Museum--
                    (A) help bring local law enforcement agencies
                closer to the communities they serve; and
                    (B) help to foster a better understanding between
                law enforcement officers and communities;
            (14) the officer safety and wellness education and outreach
        programs, activities, and special exhibits of the National Law
        Enforcement Museum--
                    (A) help provide local, State, and Federal law
                enforcement agencies with critical information on best
                practices to reduce the number of line-of-duty deaths
                and injuries;
                    (B) provide communities and the public with
                education concerning the sacrifices made; and
                    (C) are vitally important at a time when annual
                line-of-duty deaths among law enforcement officers
                remain at a historically high level;
            (15) since the establishment of the National Law
        Enforcement Officers Memorial in 1991 and the dedication of the
        National Law Enforcement Museum in 2018, the National Law
        Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the National Law
        Enforcement Museum have worked cooperatively with local, State,
        and Federal law enforcement agencies--
                    (A) to properly honor the sacrifices made by law
                enforcement officers; and
                    (B) to provide key programming--
                            (i) to reduce the number of fatalities and
                        injuries in law enforcement; and
                            (ii) to foster better understanding between
                        law enforcement officers and the communities
                        they serve;
            (16) law enforcement agencies around the United States are
        dedicated to--
                    (A) continuous improvement and innovation in
                officer and community safety; and
                    (B) building trust through community-based
                engagement and interventions;
            (17) since 2020, there has been a significant increase in
        the number of law enforcement officers resigning or retiring;
            (18) across the United States--
                    (A) a number of law enforcement agencies remain
                understaffed and many law enforcement agencies--
                            (i) have been forced to declare personnel
                        emergencies; and
                            (ii) require mandatory overtime; and
                    (B) the resulting deficit in confidence and support
                jeopardizes public safety;
            (19) there is a critical need--
                    (A) to enhance public understanding of law
                enforcement, which will enhance public appreciation of
                law enforcement; and
                    (B) to improve the safety and wellness of officers
                who serve communities across the United States;
            (20) fostering a more informed and positive relationship
        between law enforcement officers and the public is essential
        for community safety; and
            (21) a sustained national effort to restore confidence and
        understanding in law enforcement is urgently needed.

SEC. 3. SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT MUSEUM.

    During the first 7 fiscal years beginning after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall award a
grant to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund for the
expenses associated with operating and enhancing the community
outreach, public education, and officer safety and wellness programs of
the National Law Enforcement Museum, including programs--
            (1)(A) to memorialize law enforcement heroes who die in the
        line of duty; and
            (B) to compile statistics on law enforcement fatalities and
        injuries;
            (2) to honor and commemorate the extraordinary service and
        sacrifice of law enforcement officers in the United States;
            (3) to develop and make available accurate, relevant, and
        accessible resources to promote the understanding of law
        enforcement history and officer safety and wellness training,
        which include digital resources and other types of resources,
        such as print resources and traveling exhibitions;
            (4) to increase technical resources to better engage the
        public in person and via online platforms to provide education
        and information to the public about community policing and
        officer safety and wellness;
            (5) to create, expand, and disseminate scholarly work
        through research, curricula, in-house and traveling
        exhibitions, publications, and other outreach initiatives;
            (6) to expand the collection acquisition and collection
        processes, including staffing, conservation, processing, and
        digitization;
            (7) to augment law enforcement history and officer safety
        and wellness education activities, including the development,
        dissemination, and implementation of principles of sound
        pedagogy for teaching about law enforcement history and officer
        safety and wellness;
            (8) to promote professional development, including
        through--
                    (A) local, regional, and national workshops;
                    (B) teacher trainings; and
                    (C) partnerships with appropriate entities to
                better educate and inform the public about law
                enforcement history and officer safety and wellness
                education;
            (9) to engage with local and independent educational
        agencies and expand teacher engagement to cultivate and support
        the development of leaders in the teaching of law enforcement
        history and officer safety and wellness education;
            (10) to engage with State and local education leaders to
        encourage the adoption of resources supported under this Act
        into curricula across diverse disciplines;
            (11)(A) to create, develop, implement, replicate, or take
        to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated
        innovations for improving--
                    (i) the National Law Enforcement Museum; and
                    (ii) officer safety and wellness; and
            (B) to rigorously evaluate those innovations;
            (12) to provide--
                    (A) free admission to the National Law Enforcement
                Museum for--
                            (i) active and retired law enforcement
                        officers; and
                            (ii) family members of fallen law
                        enforcement officers; and
                    (B) dedicated free admission hours for the general
                public at least once a week; and
            (13) to develop online law enforcement history and officer
        safety and wellness education resources for the general public
        and scholarly research.

SEC. 4. PROGRESS REPORTS; ACCOUNTING.

    (a) Progress Reports.--For each of the first 7 fiscal years
beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Law
Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund shall submit to the Secretary of the
Interior a report that--
            (1) documents, consistent with the funding provided by the
        Secretary of the Interior under section 3, the progress in
        delivering public education, community outreach, and officer
        safety and wellness programming; and
            (2) provides a formal accounting of the total amount of
        Federal funds expended during the fiscal year by the National
        Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
    (b) Submission to Congress.--The Secretary of the Interior shall
submit to Congress and make publicly available on the website of the
Department of the Interior each report submitted under subsection (a).

SEC. 5. CONTINUATION OF ACTIVITIES.

    To the extent that the National Law Enforcement Museum is engaged
in an activity described in section 3 on the date of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of the Interior may use the funds appropriated under
section 6 to continue that activity.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the
Interior to carry out this Act $6,000,000 for each of the first 7
fiscal years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act.
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