Criminal Law Library Blog
H.R. 3087, Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Reauthorization Act of 2026
Cost Estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), August 6, 2026.
Overview of Document:
H.R. 3087 would extend the authorization of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review
Board within the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) through January
2030 with an option for the board to extend for an additional year. (The board’s authority
ended in January 2026.) The five-member board facilitates investigations of unsolved civil
rights cases by increasing the volume of documents available to the public. The bill also
would strike a provision in current law that exempts state and local governments from the
requirement to transmit civil rights cold case records held in their possession to the collection
established by the board. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 800 (general government).
According to the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board, the number of unresolved
civil rights cases from 1940 through 1979 is probably in the hundreds. Using information
from NARA on the board’s current operating costs, CBO estimates that implementing the
bill would cost about $3 million each year. In addition, the bill would authorize the board to
reimburse state and local governments for expenses incurred in digitizing, photocopying, or
as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
mailing records to NARA for inclusion in the collection; CBO expects that such
reimbursements would be small. CBO assumes that the board would vote to extend its
authority through January 2031. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3087
would cost $13 million over the 2027-2031 period; any spending would be subject to the
availability of appropriated funds.
View Cost Estimate Document Here.
Legislative Information: Available from Congress.gov