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(b) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds are authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out this Act.
PURPOSE
The purpose of H.R. 2156 is to provide for the establishment of
a national memorial and national monument to commemorate
those killed by the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam on March 12,
1928.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In terms of loss of life, the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam is
reported to be the second-greatest disaster in California history.
The Saint Francis Dam burst just minutes before midnight on
March 12, 1928, filling the San Francisquito Canyon in southern
California with 12.6 billion gallons of water. It is now estimated
that 400 to 600 people lost their lives when the dam burst, along
with the loss of thousands of livestock and twelve hundred homes.
The dam’s failure just two years after its completion is widely
considered one of the worst civil engineering failures of the 20th
century. The multiple government inquests following the Saint
Francis tragedy generated recommendations for dam construction
that continue to make the lives of millions of Americans living
around dams safer. Over the passing decades, the victims of one of
the worst engineering disasters in American history have been
largely forgotten. Today, the site of the dam collapse is mostly rub-
ble, and the affected areas are often subject to vandalism.
H.R. 2156 recognizes the devastation and impact the dam col-
lapse has had on the residents of northern Los Angeles County by
authorizing a National Memorial to honor and remember the vic-
tims of the Saint Francis Dam disaster and establishing a Saint
Francis Dam Disaster National Monument within the Angeles Na-
tional Forest.
In addition to the establishment of the Memorial and Monument,
H.R. 2156 includes recommendations for the planning, design, con-
struction, and long-term management of the Memorial, as well as
proposed boundaries, a visitor’s center and educational facilities,
and enhanced public access. H.R. 2156 also clarifies appropriate
uses of motorized vehicles on the Monument area, as well as per-
mitted grazing.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
H.R. 2156 was introduced in the House of Representatives by
Representative Knight on April 26, 2017. The Natural Resources
Committee reported H.R. 2156 on July 11, 2017 (H. Rept. 115–210).
H.R. 2156 passed the House of Representatives by voice vote on
July 11, 2017.
Companion legislation, S. 1926, was introduced by Senators Har-
ris and Feinstein on October 5, 2017.
The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on H.R.
2156 and S. 1926 on August 15, 2018.
In the 114th Congress, Representative Knight introduced similar
legislation, H.R. 5244, in the House of Representatives. H.R. 5244
was reported by the Natural Resources Committee (H. Rept. 114–
650) on July 1, 2016, and passed the House of Representatives by
voice vote on July 5, 2016.

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