[Senate Report 115-95]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 125
                                                       
115th Congress}                                            { Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session  }                                            { 115-95

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            NATIONAL MEMORIAL TO THE FALLEN EDUCATORS ACT
 
                                _______
                                

                  June 8, 2017.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

        Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural
                   Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 167]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 167) to designate a National Memorial to 
Fallen Educators at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 
Emporia, Kansas, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as 
amended, do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Beginning on page 1, strike line 6 and all that follows 
through page 2, line 10, and insert the following:

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 167 is to designate a National Memorial 
to Fallen Educators at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 
Emporia, Kansas.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    From 1764 until March 30, 2017, 119 educators from 36 
States lost their lives in the United States while performing 
professional duties. The United States currently lacks a 
national memorial dedicated to fallen educators.
    A memorial to fallen educators at the National Teachers 
Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas was dedicated on June 12, 2014, 
to honor educators who have lost their lives in the line of 
professional service. This legislation designates that memorial 
as the ``National Memorial to Fallen Educators.'' The memorial 
is not a unit of the National Park System and no federal funds 
may be used in relation to the memorial.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Senators Moran and Roberts introduced S. 167 on January 17, 
2017.
    In the 114th Congress, Senators Moran and Roberts 
introduced a similar bill, S. 2061, on September 21, 2015. On 
March 17, 2016, the Subcommittee on National Parks held a 
hearing on the bill. A companion bill, H.R. 5582, was 
introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative 
Huelskamp on June 24, 2016.
    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources considered S. 
167 in open business session on March 30, 2017 and ordered S. 
167 favorably reported, as amended.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on March 30, 2017, by a majority voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 
167, if amended as described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During its consideration of S. 167, the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources adopted an amendment to strike the 
findings.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

    Section 1 contains the short title.

Section 2. Designation

    Section 2(a) designates the memorial to fallen educators, 
located at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, 
Kansas, as the ``National Memorial to Fallen Educators.''
    Subsection (b) states that the National Memorial to Fallen 
Educators is not a unit of the National Park System and that 
the designation shall not require or permit expenditure of 
Federal funds.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:

S. 167--National Memorial to the Fallen Educators Act

    S. 167 would designate the memorial to fallen educators 
located at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, 
Kansas, as a national memorial. The memorial would not become a 
unit of the National Park System. Based on information provided 
by the National Park Service, CBO estimates that implementing 
S. 167 would have no effect on the federal budget because the 
bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to operate 
the memorial.
    Enacting S. 167 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    CBO estimates that enacting S. 167 would not increase net 
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four 
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
    S. 167 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl. The 
estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in 
carrying out S. 167. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 167, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 167, as ordered reported, does not contain any 
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits, 
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    Because S. 167 is similar to legislation considered by the 
Committee in the 114th Congress, the Committee did not request 
Executive Agency views. The testimony provided by the National 
Park Service at the hearing before the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources' Subcommittee on National Parks on March 17, 
2016, follows:

  Statement of Peggy O'Dell, Deputy Director for Operations, National 
                Park Service, Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear 
before your committee to present the views of the Department of 
the Interior on S. 2061, a bill to designate a National 
Memorial to Fallen Educators at the National Teachers Hall of 
Fame in Emporia, Kansas.
    The Department of the Interior would defer to the 
Department of Education for a position on S. 2061 since the 
purpose of the legislation is to honor teachers. The memorial 
is located at a site that is not under the jurisdiction of the 
Department of the Interior, and this bill does not provide for 
any management or funding by the National Park Service.
    S. 2061 would designate a national memorial to fallen 
educators at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, 
Kansas. The memorial is intended to recognize teachers who not 
only dedicated their lives to teaching, but were sadly taken 
from us while ``in the line of duty.'' The National Teachers 
Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization that annually honors 
five school teachers who demonstrate exceptional commitment and 
dedication to teaching. The Hall of Fame was founded in 1989, 
by Emporia State University (ESU), the ESU Alumni Association, 
the City of Emporia, Emporia Public Schools, and the Emporia 
Area Chamber of Commerce. On June 13, 2013, the National 
Teachers Hall of Fame broke ground to build a memorial for the 
teachers that have fallen in the ``line of duty.''
    This legislation explicitly states that this memorial is 
not a unit of the National Park System. However, the use of the 
title ``national memorial'' creates a reasonable expectation 
among the general public that the memorial must have an 
affiliation with the National Park Service, which currently 
administers 30 national memorials across the country. This is 
not the first time this issue has arisen, nor is it likely to 
be the last, and the Department respectfully encourages only 
the most thoughtful and judicious designation of any future 
``national'' memorials or other similar sites.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be happy 
to answer any questions you or the other members of the 
subcommittee may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill as ordered 
reported.

                                  [all]