I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 919 

To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of General 

Services to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features 

into public buildings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 30, 2019 

Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. COHEN, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. 

MCNERNEY, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of General Services to incorporate bird-safe 

building materials and design features into public buildings, 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 ‘‘Bird-Safe Buildings 

5 Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. USE OF BIRD-SAFE BUILDING MATERIALS AND DE2 SIGN FEATURES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 40, United 

4 States Code, is further amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘§ 3319. Use of bird-safe building materials and de7 sign features 

8 ‘‘(a) CONSTRUCTION, ALTERATION, AND ACQUISI9 TION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.—Each public building con10 structed, acquired, or of which more than 50 percent of 

11 the facade is substantially altered (in the opinion of the 

12 Commissioner of Public Buildings) by the Administrator 

13 of General Services shall meet, to the maximum extent 

14 practicable, as determined by the Administrator, the fol15 lowing standards: 

16 ‘‘(1) At least 90 percent of the exposed facade 

17 material from ground level to 40 feet— 

18 ‘‘(A) shall not be composed of glass; or 

19 ‘‘(B) shall be composed of glass employ20 ing— 

21 ‘‘(i) elements that preclude bird colli22 sions without completely obscuring vision, 

23 such as secondary facades, netting, 

24 screens, shutters, and exterior shades; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) ultraviolet (UV) patterned glass 

2 that contains UV-reflective or contrasting 

3 patterns that are visible to birds; 

4 ‘‘(iii) patterns on glass designed in ac5 cordance with a rule that restricts hori6 zontal spaces to less than 2 inches high 

7 and vertical spaces to less than 4 inches 

8 wide, commonly referred to as the ‘2 × 4 

9 rule’; 

10 ‘‘(iv) opaque, etched, stained, frosted, 

11 or translucent glass; or 

12 ‘‘(v) any combination of the methods 

13 described in this subparagraph. 

14 ‘‘(2) At least 60 percent of the exposed facade 

15 material above 40 feet shall meet the standard de16 scribed in paragraph (1)(A) or (1)(B). 

17 ‘‘(3) There shall not be any transparent pas18 sageways or corners. 

19 ‘‘(4) All glass adjacent to atria or courtyards 

20 containing water features, plants, and other mate21 rials attractive to birds shall meet the standard de22 scribed in paragraph (1)(B). 

23 ‘‘(5) Outside lighting shall be appropriately 

24 shielded and minimized subject to security and other 

25 mission related requirements. 


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1 ‘‘(b) MONITORING.—The Administrator shall take 

2 such actions as may be necessary to ensure that actual 

3 bird mortality is monitored at each public building. 

4 ‘‘(c) EXISTING BUILDINGS AND LIGHTING.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, where 

6 practicable and consistent with security and other 

7 mission related requirements, as determined by the 

8 Administrator, shall reduce exterior building and site 

9 lighting for each public building. This paragraph 

10 shall not apply to buildings in which the Adminis11 trator does not have control of the exterior building 

12 and site lighting. 

13 ‘‘(2) USE OF AUTOMATIC CONTROL TECH14 NOLOGIES.—In carrying out paragraph (1), the Ad15 ministrator shall make use of automatic control 

16 technologies, including timers, photo-sensors, and in17 frared and motion detectors. 

18 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL METHODS.—In carrying out the 

19 requirements of this section, the Administrator may em20 ploy any available methods and strategies that are in ac21 cordance with existing effective best practices to reduce 

22 bird mortality. 

23 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTION FOR SIGNIFICANT COST.—The re24 quirements of this section shall not apply to any acquisi25 tion or substantial alteration described in subsection (a) 


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1 if the Administrator, after consideration of multiple op2 tions, determines that the use of the required building ma3 terials and design features would result in a significant 

4 additional cost for the project. 

5 ‘‘(f) EXEMPT BUILDINGS.—This section shall not 

6 apply to— 

7 ‘‘(1) any building or site listed, or eligible for 

8 listing, on the National Register of Historic Places; 

9 ‘‘(2) the White House and its grounds; 

10 ‘‘(3) the Supreme Court building and its 

11 grounds; or 

12 ‘‘(4) the United States Capitol and its related 

13 buildings and grounds.’’. 

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

15 at the beginning of chapter 33 of title 40, United States 

16 Code, is further amended by adding at the end the fol17 lowing new item: 

‘‘3319. Use of bird-safe building materials and design features.’’. 

Æ 


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