Federal Bird Safe Buildings Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 791 To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of General Services to incorporate practices and strategies to reduce bird fatalities resulting from collisions with certain public buildings, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 17 (legislative day, MARCH 16), 2021 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Admin- istrator of General Services to incorporate practices and strategies to reduce bird fatalities resulting from colli- sions with certain public buildings, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Federal Bird Safe 4 Buildings Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S791.IS S791 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 791 IS SEC. 2. USE OF BIRD-SAFE FEATURES, PRACTICES, AND 1 STRATEGIES IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 40, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 3319. Use of bird-safe features, practices, and strat- 6 egies in public buildings 7 ‘‘(a) CONSTRUCTION, ALTERATION, AND ACQUISI- 8 TION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.—The Administrator of Gen- 9 eral Services (referred to in this section as the ‘Adminis- 10 trator’) shall incorporate, to the extent practicable, fea- 11 tures, practices, and strategies to reduce bird fatalities re- 12 sulting from collisions with public buildings for each public 13 building— 14 ‘‘(1) constructed; 15 ‘‘(2) acquired; or 16 ‘‘(3) of which more than 50 percent of the fa- 17 cade is substantially altered, as determined by the 18 Commissioner of Public Buildings. 19 ‘‘(b) DESIGN GUIDE.—The Administrator shall de- 20 velop a design guide to carry out subsection (a) that in- 21 cludes the following: 22 ‘‘(1) Features for reducing bird fatalities result- 23 ing from collisions with public buildings throughout 24 all construction phases, taking into account the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S791.IS S791 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 791 IS number of bird fatalities that occur at different 1 types of public buildings. 2 ‘‘(2) Methods and strategies for reducing bird 3 fatalities resulting from collisions with public build- 4 ings during the operation and maintenance of those 5 buildings, including installing interior, exterior, and 6 site lighting. 7 ‘‘(3) Best practices for reducing bird fatalities 8 resulting from collisions with public buildings, in- 9 cluding— 10 ‘‘(A) a description of the reasons for 11 adopting the practices; and 12 ‘‘(B) an explanation for the omission of a 13 best practice identified under subsection (c). 14 ‘‘(c) IDENTIFYING BEST PRACTICES.—To carry out 15 subsection (b)(3), the Administrator may identify best 16 practices for reducing bird fatalities resulting from colli- 17 sions with public buildings, including best practices rec- 18 ommended by— 19 ‘‘(1) Federal agencies with expertise in bird 20 conservation; 21 ‘‘(2) nongovernmental organizations with exper- 22 tise in bird conservation; and 23 ‘‘(3) representatives of green building certifi- 24 cation systems. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S791.IS S791 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 791 IS ‘‘(d) DISSEMINATION OF DESIGN GUIDE.—The Ad- 1 ministrator shall disseminate the design guide developed 2 under subsection (b) to all Federal agencies, subagencies, 3 and departments with independent leasing authority from 4 the Administrator. 5 ‘‘(e) UPDATE TO DESIGN GUIDE.—The Adminis- 6 trator shall, on a regular basis, update the design guide 7 developed under subsection (b) with respect to the prior- 8 ities of the Administrator for reducing bird fatalities re- 9 sulting from collisions with public buildings. 10 ‘‘(f) EXEMPT BUILDINGS.—This section shall not 11 apply to— 12 ‘‘(1) any building or site listed, or eligible for 13 listing, on the National Register of Historic Places; 14 ‘‘(2) the White House and the grounds of the 15 White House; 16 ‘‘(3) the Supreme Court building and the 17 grounds of the Supreme Court; or 18 ‘‘(4) the United States Capitol and any building 19 on the grounds of the Capitol. 20 ‘‘(g) CERTIFICATION.—Not later than October 1 of 21 each fiscal year, the Administrator, acting through the 22 Commissioner of Public Buildings, shall certify to Con- 23 gress that the Administrator uses the design guide devel- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S791.IS S791 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 791 IS oped under subsection (b) for each public building de- 1 scribed in subsection (a). 2 ‘‘(h) REPORT.—Not later than October 1 of each fis- 3 cal year, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a re- 4 port that includes— 5 ‘‘(1) the certification under subsection (g); and 6 ‘‘(2) to the extent practicable, the number of 7 bird fatalities that occurred as a result of a collision 8 with the public buildings occupied by each Federal 9 agency.’’. 10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 11 for chapter 33 of title 40, United States Code, is amended 12 by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘3319. Use of bird-safe features, practices, and strategies in public buildings.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S791.IS S791 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS