Eliminate Agency Excess Space Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1254 To amend title 40, United States Code, to modify certain requirements for Federal agencies in the disposition of surplus real property, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 23, 2021 Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. BUDD, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ROY, Mr. KELLER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. GAETZ, Ms. HERRELL, Mr. PALMER, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BROOKS, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. CAWTHORN, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. JACKSON, Mrs. MCCLAIN, and Mr. BABIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend title 40, United States Code, to modify certain requirements for Federal agencies in the disposition of surplus real property, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eliminate Agency Ex- 4 cess Space Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1254 IH (1) Under the status quo, empty Federal agen- 1 cy office buildings cannot be sold by agencies that 2 want to be efficient. Instead, each agency must let 3 their vacant office spaces remain a purposeless and 4 excessive cost on their balance sheets. 5 (2) According to a 2017 Congressional Re- 6 search Service report, in fiscal year 2016, U.S. Fed- 7 eral agencies owned 3,120 buildings that were va- 8 cant or unutilized and owned another 7,859 build- 9 ings that were partially empty or underutilized. 10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 11 gress that— 12 (1) Federal agencies should not be limited when 13 placing unused or underused office space on the 14 market for sale; and 15 (2) Federal agencies should be able to sell their 16 unused offices to provide for greater fiscal responsi- 17 bility and better stewardship of taxpayer dollars. 18 SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF GSA VERIFICATION REQUIREMENT. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 524 of title 40, United 20 States Code, is amended— 21 (1) by striking subsection (a); 22 (2) in subsection (b)— 23 (A) in paragraph (1) by striking the semi- 24 colon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1254 IH (B) by striking paragraph (2); and 1 (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 2 paragraph (2); and 3 (3) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 4 subsections (a) and (b), respectively. 5 (b) PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSAL.—Section 545 of title 6 40, United States Code, is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) in paragraph (7) by striking the semi- 9 colon and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 10 (B) by striking paragraph (8); and 11 (C) by redesignating paragraph (9) as 12 paragraph (8); and 13 (2) in subsection (d)— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘NEGOTIATED SALE AT 15 FIXED PRICE’’ and all that follows through 16 ‘‘The Administrator may’’ and inserting ‘‘NE- 17 GOTIATED SALE AT FIXED PRICE.—The Ad- 18 ministrator may’’; and 19 (B) by striking paragraph (2). 20 (c) REAL PROPERTY.—Chapter 5 of title 40, United 21 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 574 the 22 following new section: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1254 IH ‘‘§ 575. Proceeds from sale of certain agency property 1 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub- 2 chapter, proceeds from the sale of excess property or sur- 3 plus property by an agency pursuant to section 102- 4 75.255 of title 41, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be 5 deposited into the General Fund of the Treasury where 6 such amounts shall be— 7 ‘‘(1) dedicated to the sole purpose of deficit re- 8 duction; and 9 ‘‘(2) prohibited from use as an offset for other 10 spending increases or revenue reductions.’’. 11 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 12 ter 5 of title 40, United States Code, is amended by insert- 13 ing after the item relating to section 574 the following 14 new item: 15 ‘‘575. Proceeds from sale of certain agency property.’’. (e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 17 General Services shall issue such regulations as are nec- 18 essary to update section 102–75.255 of title 41, Code of 19 Federal Regulations, to authorize executive agencies to 20 dispose of surplus property and excess property without 21 making the property available to other executive agencies 22 or State and local governments before such disposal. 23 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘excess 24 property’’, ‘‘executive agency’’, and ‘‘surplus property’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1254 IH have the meaning given such terms in section 102 of title 1 40, United States Code. 2 SEC. 4. GSA REPORTS. 3 (a) REVIEW.—Not later than 18 months after the 4 date of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years there- 5 after, the Administrator of General Services, in coordina- 6 tion with the Congressional Research Service, shall submit 7 to Congress a report containing the information described 8 in subsection (b). 9 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required 10 under subsection (a) shall contain the following: 11 (1) A survey of all unused or vacant office 12 space held by each executive agency and rec- 13 ommendations for reducing each agency’s real prop- 14 erty assets, selling such assets in an efficient man- 15 ner, and addressing any potential safety hazards as- 16 sociated with vacant office space. 17 (2) A survey of all the underutilized or partially 18 empty agency office space held by each executive 19 agency and recommendations for reducing each 20 agency’s real property assets, selling such assets in 21 an efficient manner, and addressing any potential 22 safety hazards associated with partially empty office 23 space. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1254 IH (3) For each excess property and surplus prop- 1 erty disposed of by an executive agency, an indica- 2 tion of— 3 (A) the date and method of disposal; and 4 (B) the proceeds obtained from the disposi- 5 tion of such disposal. 6 (4) For all excess property and surplus prop- 7 erty disposed of by all executive agencies, an indica- 8 tion of 9 (A) the amount of time required to fully 10 dispose of excess property and surplus property 11 under the custody and control of all executive 12 agencies; and 13 (B) the cost to dispose of excess property 14 and surplus property under the custody and 15 control of all executive agencies. 16 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘excess 17 property’’, ‘‘executive agency’’, and ‘‘surplus property’’ 18 have the meaning given such terms in section 102 of title 19 40, United States Code. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:21 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1254.IH H1254 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS