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. 

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 ‘‘Eliminate Agency Ex5 cess Space Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Under the status quo, empty Federal agen2 cy office buildings cannot be sold by agencies that 

3 want to be efficient. Instead, each agency must let 

4 their vacant office spaces remain a purposeless and 

5 excessive cost on their balance sheets. 

6 (2) According to a 2017 Congressional Re7 search Service report, in fiscal year 2016, U.S. Fed8 eral agencies owned 3,120 buildings that were va9 cant or unutilized and owned another 7,859 build10 ings that were partially empty or underutilized. 

11 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that— 

13 (1) Federal agencies should not be limited when 

14 placing unused or underused office space on the 

15 market for sale; and 

16 (2) Federal agencies should be able to sell their 

17 unused offices to provide for greater fiscal responsi18 bility and better stewardship of taxpayer dollars. 

19 SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF GSA VERIFICATION REQUIREMENT. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 524 of title 40, United 

21 States Code, is amended— 

22 (1) by striking subsection (a); 

23 (2) in subsection (b)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1) by striking the semi25 colon and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 


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1 (B) by striking paragraph (2); and 

2 (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

3 paragraph (2); and 

4 (3) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 

5 subsections (a) and (b), respectively. 

6 (b) PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSAL.—Section 545 of title 

7 40, United States Code, is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (b)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (7) by striking the semi10 colon and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

11 (B) by striking paragraph (8); and 

12 (C) by redesignating paragraph (9) as 

13 paragraph (8); and 

14 (2) in subsection (d)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘NEGOTIATED SALE AT

16 FIXED PRICE’’ and all that follows through 

17 ‘‘The Administrator may’’ and inserting ‘‘NE18 GOTIATED SALE AT FIXED PRICE.—The Ad19 ministrator may’’; and 

20 (B) by striking paragraph (2). 

21 (c) REAL PROPERTY.—Chapter 5 of title 40, United 

22 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 574 the 

23 following new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 575. Proceeds from sale of certain agency property 

2 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub3 chapter, proceeds from the sale of excess property or sur4 plus property by an agency pursuant to section 102- 

5 75.255 of title 41, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be 

6 deposited into the General Fund of the Treasury where 

7 such amounts shall be— 

8 ‘‘(1) dedicated to the sole purpose of deficit re9 duction; and 

10 ‘‘(2) prohibited from use as an offset for other 

11 spending increases or revenue reductions.’’. 

12 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap13 ter 5 of title 40, United States Code, is amended by insert14 ing after the item relating to section 574 the following 

15 new item: 

‘‘575. Proceeds from sale of certain agency property.’’. 

16 (e) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

18 General Services shall issue such regulations as are nec19 essary to update section 102–75.255 of title 41, Code of 

20 Federal Regulations, to authorize executive agencies to 

21 dispose of surplus property and excess property without 

22 making the property available to other executive agencies 

23 or State and local governments before such disposal. 

24 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘excess 

25 property’’, ‘‘executive agency’’, and ‘‘surplus property’’ 


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1 have the meaning given such terms in section 102 of title 

2 40, United States Code. 

3 SEC. 4. GSA REPORTS. 

4 (a) REVIEW.—Not later than 18 months after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years there6 after, the Administrator of General Services, in coordina7 tion with the Congressional Research Service, shall submit 

8 to Congress a report containing the information described 

9 in subsection (b). 

10 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required 

11 under subsection (a) shall contain the following: 

12 (1) A survey of all unused or vacant office 

13 space held by each executive agency and rec14 ommendations for reducing each agency’s real prop15 erty assets, selling such assets in an efficient man16 ner, and addressing any potential safety hazards as17 sociated with vacant office space. 

18 (2) A survey of all the underutilized or partially 

19 empty agency office space held by each executive 

20 agency and recommendations for reducing each 

21 agency’s real property assets, selling such assets in 

22 an efficient manner, and addressing any potential 

23 safety hazards associated with partially empty office 

24 space. 


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1 (3) For each excess property and surplus prop2 erty disposed of by an executive agency, an indica3 tion of— 

4 (A) the date and method of disposal; and 

5 (B) the proceeds obtained from the disposi6 tion of such disposal. 

7 (4) For all excess property and surplus prop8 erty disposed of by all executive agencies, an indica9 tion of 

10 (A) the amount of time required to fully 

11 dispose of excess property and surplus property 

12 under the custody and control of all executive 

13 agencies; and 

14 (B) the cost to dispose of excess property 

15 and surplus property under the custody and 

16 control of all executive agencies. 

17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘excess 

18 property’’, ‘‘executive agency’’, and ‘‘surplus property’’ 

19 have the meaning given such terms in section 102 of title 

20 40, United States Code. 

Æ 


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