As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on April 9, 2014
H.R. 503 would authorize a nonprofit organization to establish a commemorative work on federal lands in the District of Columbia. Enacting the legislation would affect direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that the net effect on the budget would not be significant in any year. Enacting H.R. 503 would not affect revenues.
The legislation would authorize the National Desert Storm Memorial Association to establish a memorial to honor members of the armed forces who participated in Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield. The memorial project, which would be completed without the use of federal funds, would be subject to the requirements of the Commemorative Works Act. Under that act, any entity that receives a permit to construct a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs must donate to the National Park Foundation (a nonprofit organization) an amount equal to 10 percent of the memorial’s estimated construction cost. That amount, as well as any project funds remaining after construction of the memorial, would be available in future years for maintenance of the memorial.
Based on the experience of similar commemorative projects, CBO expects that any amounts collected by the federal government would not be received for several years and would be offset by a transfer to the National Park Foundation (a nonfederal entity) soon thereafter.
H.R. 503 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not impose a cost on state, local, or tribal governments.
On January 24, 2014, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 995, the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield War Memorial Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on November 21, 2013. The two bills are similar and the CBO cost estimates are the same.
