I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3612 

Making emergency appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 

2016, to address needs of the Federal judiciary serving the border 

region between the United States and Mexico, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 

Mr. CUELLAR (for himself, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. HURD of Texas, Mr. CASTRO

of Texas, and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and in addition to the 

Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

Making emergency appropriations for the fiscal year ending 

September 30, 2016, to address needs of the Federal 

judiciary serving the border region between the United 

States and Mexico, 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. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) The United States District Court for the 

6 Western District of Texas (in this Act referred to as 

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1 the ‘‘Western District’’) has jurisdiction over Fed2 eral criminal matters involving a majority of the 

3 Texas-Mexico border region. United States-Mexico 

4 border-related criminal activities pose an enormous 

5 challenge to the Western District, where the case6 load involving border-related crimes has crowded the 

7 docket in recent years. These challenges are con8 fronted by the judiciary at the John H. Wood, Jr. 

9 U.S. Courthouse, in San Antonio (in this Act re10 ferred to as the ‘‘Wood Courthouse’’), a building 

11 which was not designed to serve as a courthouse, is 

12 not equipped with adequate security features, and 

13 has fallen into disrepair to a degree that places 

14 human health and safety in jeopardy. 

15 (2) The Wood Courthouse was originally de16 signed and constructed to serve as a temporary pa17 vilion for the 1968 World’s Fair. Consistently one of 

18 the busiest courts in the Nation, the courthouse has 

19 been remodeled several times over the last 45 years 

20 to accommodate the ever increasing number of 

21 judges and staff—expanding from an initial 2 

22 United States District Court Judges and a staffing 

23 level of 24, to the current 7 judges and over 280 

24 staff. The workload of the Western District has 

25 grown significantly over the years, in large part due 

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1 to an increased number of criminal cases, including 

2 those related to drug trafficking and gang activity 

3 along the border region. 

4 (3) The Wood Courthouse’s inadequate security 

5 features lead to judges, United States Marshals, ju6 dicial staff, and jurors routinely facing defendants 

7 charged with violent crimes in corridors, elevators, 

8 and entryways. The courthouse has no security sally 

9 port. Judges, employees, and prisoners all use the 

10 same entrance to access the courthouse. 

11 (4) Other Wood Courthouse security-related 

12 concerns include the following: The current building 

13 has inadequate vehicle gates. Cell block doors and 

14 walls are not built to institution standards. There is 

15 little to no fencing surrounding the property, and 

16 nearly the complete circumference of the building is 

17 easily accessible by foot. There are no barriers sur18 rounding the property. The facility’s intrusion detec19 tion system fails to meet minimum standards. Co20 operating prisoners and other prisoners or gang 

21 members in protective custody cannot be adequately 

22 segregated. There is only one room available for at23 torneys to meet with their clients—a room that is 

24 also used by pretrial officers and probation officers 

25 for interviews. Conversations can be overhead by 

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1 others, including conversations addressing becoming 

2 a cooperating witness in the prosecution of others. 

3 The operations area for the deputy marshals to con4 duct their work is insufficient and the control room 

5 (providing audiovisual control of the building and ex6 terior) is both inadequate and contains obsolete 

7 equipment. Judges, staff, and jurors very often en8 counter criminal defendants in the corridors because 

9 of these serious security lapses. 

10 (5) Even if some of the problems identified 

11 above were remedied, the 1968 theatre design of the 

12 building cannot be reconfigured to address the secu13 rity problems inherent in the structure. 

14 (6) Environmental contamination, as well as 

15 aging, deteriorated drinking water facilities, pose ur16 gent public health concerns in the Wood Courthouse. 

17 Water sampling conducted in the courthouse build18 ing in July and August 2015 found high levels of 

19 lead and bacteria in 9 of the building’s sources of 

20 drinking water, including 5 water fountains and 2 

21 break room sinks. Health regulations classify lead 

22 concentrations of more than 15 parts per billion as 

23 unacceptable; the testing found levels ranging from 

24 2 to 6 times higher than 15 parts per billion. An 

25 August 25, 2015, water sampling revealed that 7 of 

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1 25 samples contained unacceptable levels of lead. 

2 Two of the 25 samples tested unacceptable for high 

3 levels of iron. Three of the 25 samples tested unac4 ceptable for high levels of bacteria. The Federal Oc5 cupational Health office within the Department of 

6 Health and Human Services has confirmed that 8 

7 water fountains or faucets test unacceptable because 

8 of high levels of lead, iron, or both. Lead is highly 

9 toxic and can cause kidney and blood pressure prob10 lems in adults. In children, lead can lead to delays 

11 in physical and mental development. The source of 

12 contamination in the Wood Courthouse is currently 

13 undetermined. Tests indicate that drinking water 

14 piped into the Wood Courthouse is not contami15 nated. Contamination could be related to pipes with16 in the building, or to pipes that connect to the un17 derground water main. 

18 (7) The Wood Courthouse has serious HVAC 

19 deficiencies. There are a total of 14 air handlers in 

20 the building. One of the air handlers is broken and 

21 out of service. Two other air handlers are original 

22 1968 or 1975 equipment. They all are rotten and 

23 leak. The thermostats that are supposed to electroni24 cally control the building’s HVAC system have not 

25 worked for over 4 years. Louvers in the building are 

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1 manually adjusted to balance the air sent to the 

2 courtrooms or offices which cause wild temperature 

3 fluctuations. In the crawl space located below the 

4 courthouse, the pipes leak. When it rains, water ac5 cumulates. The building’s fresh air passes through 

6 the crawl space and then flows into the building and 

7 the air is impacted by the mold in the air handlers 

8 and duct systems. Additionally, electrical wires in 

9 the crawl space are exposed to the mold and water 

10 accumulation. There is no separate prisoner elevator, 

11 separate prisoner circulation, and concomitant se12 cure air exhaust or germicidal systems. Any prisoner 

13 with a communicable airborne disease can infect the 

14 entire building. 

15 (8) There is consensus among the Federal judi16 cial and executive branches, including the Adminis17 trative Office of the United States Courts and the 

18 General Services Administration, that the Wood 

19 Courthouse needs to be replaced by a new court20 house to be constructed on available land to be con21 veyed to the General Services Administration by the 

22 City of San Antonio. The Wood Courthouse must be 

23 replaced with a modern building to allow for justice 

24 to be properly served, and to protect the safety and 

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1 health of all those who are involved in Federal judi2 cial matters. 

3 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There is hereby appropriated for the fiscal year end5 ing September 30, 2016, out of any money in the Treasury 

6 not otherwise appropriated or obligated, $135,000,000 for 

7 the construction of a new courthouse for the United States 

8 District Court for the Western District of Texas: Provided, 

9 That such amount, or any portion of such amount, may 

10 be derived from the Assets Forfeiture Fund and the Fed11 eral Buildings Fund: Provided further, That such amount 

12 is designated by the Congress as an emergency require13 ment pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced 

14 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

15 SEC. 3. REAL PROPERTY EXCHANGE. 

16 The courthouse construction to be funded pursuant 

17 to section 2 shall include an exchange of titles to real prop18 erty, on terms to be negotiated between the Administrator 

19 of General Services and the City of San Antonio. The 

20 property exchange shall involve federally owned land in21 cluding the Wood Courthouse and Spears Judicial Train22 ing Center, located at 655 and 643, respectively, East 

23 Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas, and city24 owned land commonly known as the San Antonio Police 

25 Headquarters Site, 214 West Nueva Street, at the corner 

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1 of West Nueva and Santa Rosa Streets, San Antonio, 

2 Texas. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

4 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

5 of this Act, the Administrator of General Services shall 

6 submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infra7 structure of the House of Representatives, the Committee 

8 on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the 

9 Committees on Appropriations of the House of Represent10 atives and the Senate, a report on progress of the imple11 mentation of sections 2 and 3 of this Act. 

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