H.R. 3497 would create a medal for officers employed by state, local, or tribal law enforcement agencies who are killed in the line of duty. Officers who were subject to an official finding of wrongdoing by their agency would not be eligible for the award. H.R. 3497 also would create a commission to advise the President on the design, presentation, and eligibility criteria for the medal; members of the commission would not be compensated. Lastly, the bill would award the medal to three officers.
CBO estimates that the cost to design, manufacture, and produce each medal would be about $250, and based on the number of officers killed in the line of duty in recent years, that about 150 officers would be eligible to receive medals each year. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3497 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2026-2030 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeremy Crimm. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
