H.R. 665 (112th): Excess Federal Building and Property Disposal Act of 2012

Introduced:
Feb 11, 2011 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Jason Chaffetz [R-UT3]
Status:
Died (Passed House)
See Instead:
This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 328 on Jan 22, 2013. See H.R. 328 for current action on this subject.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on March 20, 2012 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Feb 11, 2011
Referred to Committee Feb 11, 2011
Reported by Committee Nov 17, 2011
Passed House Mar 20, 2012
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Mar 20, 2012 3:26 p.m.
Passed 403/0

Cosponsors
39 cosponsors (38R, 1D) (show)
Committees

House Oversight and Government Reform

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To establish a pilot program for the expedited disposal of Federal real property.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Mar 21, 2012.
24 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

3/20/2012.
Section 2 -
Directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to conduct the Federal Real Property Disposal Pilot Program, under which the Administrator shall:
(1) identify 15 federal government real properties that are excess or surplus and that have the highest fair market value and the greatest potential to sell, and
(2) sell such properties by public auction within 5 years after the enactment of this Act. Requires the Administrator to designate an additional property for sale under the Program not later than 15 days after the sale of any excess property.
Exempts from the Program:
(1) real property that is to be closed or realigned under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990;
(2) properties excluded for reasons of national security by OMB;
(3) certain Indian and Native Eskimo properties;
(4) properties operated and maintained by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA);
(5) postal properties;
(6) properties used in connection with river, harbor, flood control, reclamation, or power projects;
(7) properties determined to be suitable for use as a public park or recreation area; and
(8) properties used for recreational and conservation purposes.
Requires the Comptroller General (GAO) to submit to Congress and make publicly available a study of the effectiveness of the Program. Terminates the Program five years after the enactment of this Act. Requires the head of each executive agency to recommend properties to the Director of OMB for disposal under the Program. Sets forth requirements for the expedited disposal of excess real property under the Program, including that such property must be sold for cash, may not be sold for less than fair market value, and must generate monetary proceeds to the federal government.
Prohibits a disposal of property under the Program as an exchange, trade, transfer, acquisition of like-kind property, or other non-cash transaction.
Requires the proceeds from the sale of excess properties under the Program to be deposited into the the Treasury and 2% of such proceeds to be used for funding homeless assistance grants.
Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to:
(1) make grants to nonprofit organizations to purchase excess property suitable for use to assist the homeless, and
(2) issue regulations for such homeless assistance grants.
Directs such organizations to use grants only to acquire or rehabilitate real property to provide permanent housing, transitional housing, or temporary shelter for persons who are homeless.
Section 3 -
Directs the GSA Administrator to: (1) issue guidance for the development and implementation of executive agency real property plans, (2) assist executive agencies in the identification and disposal of excess real property, and (3) report to Congress on disposal efforts within three years after the enactment of this Act.
Section 4 -
Grants authority to the GSA Administrator to obligate funds to pay the costs of identifying and preparing properties to be reported excess by another agency.
Section 5 -
Allows GSA to be reimbursed for the costs associated with the reversion, custody, and disposal of reverted real property.
Requires the GSA Administrator to:
(1) take control of reverted property if necessary to enforce compliance with the terms of the conveyance and sell such property; and
(2) make such property available to state and local governments and non-profit organizations for public benefit conveyance (e.g., for educational use, public health, parks or recreation, or low income housing) prior to sale.
Section 6 -
Allows the net proceeds of a sale of excess federal real property to be returned to the agency that had custody and accountability for such property at the time it was determined to be excess. Provides that such net proceeds be used for continuing disposal of excess properties and for deficit reduction. Requires proceeds from the sale of personal property to be deposited in the Treasury.
Section 7 -
Requires the GSA Administrator, within one year after the enactment of this Act, to publish a single, comprehensive, and descriptive database of all federal real property under the custody and control of all executive agencies, other than property excluded for reasons of national security. Requires that such database be made available to other federal agencies and the general public at no cost through the GSA website, to the extent consistent with national security.
Section 8 -
Requires federal agencies to recycle at least 50% of construction and demolition materials and debris by the end of FY2015.
Section 9 -
Amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to:
(1) exempt from the homeless review process federal properties that are located in an area for which the general public is denied access in the interest of national security,
(2) allow properties available for use by the homeless to be published on the websites of HUD or GSA instead of in the Federal Register, and
(3) exclude certain federal properties from subsequent publications of properties available for use by the homeless for which no review of a determination of suitability was requested.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr665.

Background

The Congressional Research Service estimates the federal government holds more than 10,000 excess properties.  The Government Accountability Office has further estimated the federal government holds more than 45,000 underutilized properties.  Continued ownership of these excess and underutilized structures places an undue burden on the federal budget and taxpayers, as these properties cost federal taxpayers $1.66 billion in operating and maintenance costs in FY2009.

Unlike previously considered property legislation, H.R. 665 would not rely on future Congressional action for buildings to be disposed.  The reforms of H.R. 665 can coexist with bureaucracies other bills would create.

Summary

H.R. 665 would improve the existing disposal apparatus so that excess federal buildings can more quickly be removed from federal control.  Specifically, the bill would create a five-year pilot program that would expedite the disposal of the most profitable properties by removing red tape.  Under the pilot, 98 percent of proceeds would be directed to the U.S. Treasury for debt reduction, with the other two percent going toward a grant program for homeless assistance providers.  The bill would prohibit the inclusion of any parcel of real property, building, or other structure located on real property that is to be closed or realigned under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990.

The bill would prohibit real property from being sold under the program: (1) for less than fair market value, (2) if it will not generate monetary proceeds to the federal government exceeding disposal costs, or (3) in a non-cash transaction.

The bill would also permanently modernize the existing disposal process by reducing administrative overhead; creating new agency incentives; and requiring greater accountability from the property disposal apparatus.  These reforms would increase transparency and empower agencies to promptly dispose of unneeded federal property.

The bill would insure that the reforms included would not depend on future Congressional action.  Once signed into law, Congress would be removed from the equation.

Cost

No CBO score is available for H.R. 665 at press time. 

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)

Other Citations

  • 40 U.S.C. Chapter 5