I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5495 

To direct Federal agencies to transfer excess Federal electronic equipment, 

including computers, computer components, printers, and fax machines, 

to educational recipients, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD (for himself and Mr. MEADOWS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To direct Federal agencies to transfer excess Federal electronic equipment, including computers, computer components, printers, and fax machines, to educational recipients, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Electronic 

5 Equipment Donation Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO TRANSFER USEFUL FEDERAL 

2 ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT TO EDUCATIONAL 

3 RECIPIENTS. 

4 (a) TRANSFER OF EQUIPMENT TO EDUCATIONAL

5 ENTITIES.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Federal 

7 agency shall identify useful Federal electronic equip8 ment that the head has determined is excess to the 

9 needs of the Federal agency and— 

10 (A) report such equipment to the Adminis11 trator of General Services for processing for 

12 transfer to an educational recipient in accord13 ance with section 549 of title 40, United States 

14 Code; 

15 (B) transfer such equipment directly to an 

16 educational recipient, through an arrangement 

17 made by the Administrator of General Services 

18 under subsection (b); or 

19 (C) report such equipment to the Adminis20 trator of General Services as excess property if 

21 transfer under subparagraph (A) or (B) is not 

22 practicable. 

23 (2) MANAGEMENT OF NONTRANSFERABLE

24 EQUIPMENT.—For equipment reported under para25 graph (1)(C), the Administrator of General Services 

26 shall manage the equipment in accordance with subVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5495.IH H5495

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1 chapters II and III of chapter 5 of subtitle I of title 

2 40, United States Code. 

3 (3) EXCEPTION.—Equipment transferred under 

4 section 11(i) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology 

5 Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710(i)) is nei6 ther transferred pursuant to this Act nor subject to 

7 the requirements of this Act. 

8 (b) ADVANCE REPORTING OF EQUIPMENT TO

9 GSA.—The head of each Federal agency shall report to 

10 the Administrator of General Services the availability of 

11 useful Federal electronic equipment as far as possible in 

12 advance of the date the equipment is expected to become 

13 excess to the needs of the Federal agency, so that the Ad14 ministrator may attempt to arrange for the direct transfer 

15 from the donating agency to educational recipients. 

16 (c) USE OF NONPROFIT REFURBISHERS.—In trans17 ferring any equipment pursuant to this Act, at the request 

18 of the educational recipient and if appropriate, if the 

19 equipment is not classroom-usable, the head of the trans20 ferring agency shall convey the equipment initially to a 

21 nonprofit refurbisher for upgrade before transfer to the 

22 educational recipient. 

23 (d) REMOVAL OF DATA BEFORE TRANSFER.—In 

24 transferring any equipment pursuant to this Act, the head 

25 of the transferring agency shall remove data from the 


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1 equipment prior to transfer to the educational recipient 

2 according to accepted sanitization procedures. To the max3 imum extent practicable, the head of the transferring 

4 agency shall remove data using a means that does not re5 move, disable, destroy, or otherwise render unusable the 

6 equipment or components. 

7 (e) PREFERENCE.—In transferring any equipment 

8 pursuant to this Act, the head of the transferring agency 

9 shall give the highest preference to educational recipients 

10 located in a persistent poverty county, a qualified oppor11 tunity zone, an enterprise community, a qualifying small 

12 town, or a qualifying county. 

13 (f) LOW COST.—Any transfer made pursuant to this 

14 Act shall be made at the lowest cost to the educational 

15 recipient permitted by law. 

16 (g) TITLE.—Title of ownership of equipment trans17 ferred pursuant to this Act shall transfer to the edu18 cational recipient receiving the equipment. 

19 (h) NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF EQUIPMENT.—The 

20 Administrator of General Services shall provide notice of 

21 the anticipated availability of useful Federal electronic 

22 equipment to educational recipients by all practicable 

23 means, including newspapers, community announcements, 

24 and the internet. 


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1 (i) FACILITATION BY REGIONAL FEDERAL EXECU2 TIVE BOARDS.—The regional Federal Executive Boards 

3 (as that term is used in part 960 of title 5, Code of Fed4 eral Regulations) shall help facilitate the transfer of useful 

5 Federal electronic equipment from the agencies they rep6 resent to educational recipients under this Act. 

7 SEC. 3. PREFERENCE IN DONATION OF PERSONAL PROP8 ERTY THROUGH STATE AGENCIES. 

9 Section 549(e)(3)(B) of title 40, United States Code, 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘The state plan’’ and inserting 

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The state plan’’; 

14 and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

16 clause: 

17 ‘‘(ii) PREFERENCE.—The state plan 

18 of operation shall require the state agency 

19 to give the highest preference for electronic 

20 equipment to eligible institutions (as de21 scribed in subsection (c)(3)) that are lo22 cated in an enterprise community or em23 powerment zone designated under section 

24 1391 or 1400 of the Internal Revenue 

25 Code of 1986, a political subdivision with 


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1 a population of not more than 24,999 indi2 viduals where 20 percent or more of the 

3 residents earn less than the poverty thresh4 old (as defined by the Bureau of the Cen5 sus), or a county where 20 percent or more 

6 of the residents earn less than poverty 

7 threshold (as defined by the Bureau of the 

8 Census).’’. 

9 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

10 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact11 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 

12 shall submit to Congress a report that contains the fol13 lowing: 

14 (1) An inventory of items that Federal agencies 

15 identified as useful Federal electronic equipment 

16 that the agency has determined is excess to its needs 

17 in the first 365 days after the date of the enactment 

18 of this Act. 

19 (2) The number of such items that were— 

20 (A) transferred to educational recipients 

21 pursuant to this Act; 

22 (B) transferred to other Federal agencies 

23 and organizations pursuant to section 521 of 

24 title 40, United States Code; 


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1 (C) transferred to State agencies pursuant 

2 to section 549 of title 40, United States Code; 

3 or 

4 (D) disposed of through other means. 

5 (3) Recommendations for further legislation or 

6 administrative action that the Administrator con7 siders appropriate to establish an effective system 

8 for transferring excess useful Federal electronic 

9 equipment to educational recipients. 

10 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

11 Not later than 6 months after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 

13 shall prescribe rules and procedures to carry out this Act. 

14 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) CLASSROOM-USABLE.—The term ‘‘class17 room-usable’’, with respect to useful Federal elec18 tronic equipment, means such equipment that does 

19 not require an upgrade of hardware or software in 

20 order to be used by an educational recipient without 

21 being first transferred under section 2(c) to a non22 profit refurbisher for such an upgrade. 

23 (2) COMMUNITY BASED EDUCATIONAL ORGANI24 ZATION.—The term ‘‘community based educational 

25 organization’’ means a nonprofit entity that qualifies 


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1 as a nonprofit educational institution or organization 

2 for purposes of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986 and— 

4 (A) is engaged in collaborative projects, 

5 the primary focus of which is education, with 

6 schools, qualifying small towns, qualifying coun7 ties, or libraries; or 

8 (B) provides use of computers and internet 

9 access to members of the community at no 

10 charge. 

11 (3) EDUCATIONAL RECIPIENT.—The term 

12 ‘‘educational recipient’’ means a school or a commu13 nity-based educational organization. 

14 (4) ENTERPRISE COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘en15 terprise community’’ has the meaning given that 

16 term in section 1391 of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 1391). 

18 (5) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 

19 agency’’ means an Executive department or an Ex20 ecutive agency (as such terms are defined in chapter 

21 1 of title 5, United States Code). 

22 (6) NONPROFIT REFURBISHER.—The term 

23 ‘‘nonprofit refurbisher’’ means an organization 

24 that— 


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1 (A) is exempt from income taxes under 

2 section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

3 1986; and 

4 (B) upgrades useful Federal electronic 

5 equipment that is not yet classroom-usable at 

6 no cost or low cost to the ultimate educational 

7 recipient. 

8 (7) SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘school’’ includes an 

9 early childhood education program (as that term is 

10 defined in section 103 of the Elementary and Sec11 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)), 

12 an elementary school, a secondary school, and a local 

13 educational agency (as those terms are defined in 

14 section 8101 of that Act). 

15 (8) QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY ZONE.—The term 

16 ‘‘qualified opportunity zone’’ has the meaning given 

17 that term under section 1400Z–1 of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 1400Z–1). 

19 (9) PERSISTENT POVERTY COUNTY.—The term 

20 ‘‘persistent poverty county’’ means any county that 

21 has had 20 percent or more of its population living 

22 in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by 

23 the last three completed decennial censuses, and the 

24 most recently available American Community Survey 

25 5 year average. 


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1 (10) QUALIFYING COUNTY.—The term ‘‘quali2 fying county’’ means a county where 20 percent or 

3 more of the residents earn less than the poverty 

4 threshold (as defined by the Bureau of the Census). 

5 (11) QUALIFYING SMALL TOWN.—The term 

6 ‘‘qualifying small town’’ means a political subdivi7 sion with a population of not more than 24,999 indi8 viduals where 20 percent or more of the residents 

9 earn less than the poverty threshold (as defined by 

10 the Bureau of the Census). 

11 (12) USEFUL FEDERAL ELECTRONIC EQUIP12 MENT.—The term ‘‘useful Federal electronic equip13 ment’’— 

14 (A) means— 

15 (i) computers and related peripheral 

16 tools (such as computer printers, modems, 

17 routers, and servers), including tele18 communications and research equipment; 

19 (ii) fax machines; and 

20 (iii) any other electronic equipment 

21 determined by a Federal agency to be po22 tentially useful to an educational recipient; 

23 and 

24 (B) includes computer software if the 

25 transfer of a license is permitted. 


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1 SEC. 7. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS; RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 (a) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—This Act supersedes 

3 Executive Order 12999 (61 Fed. Reg. 17227; relating to 

4 educational technology: ensuring opportunity for all chil5 dren in the next century). 

6 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This Act may not be 

7 construed to create any right or benefit, substantive or 

8 procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the 

9 United States or its agencies, officers, or employees. 

Æ 


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