[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 738 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 738

  To provide that certain Federal property shall be made available to 
   State and local governments before being made available to other 
                   entities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 1999

 Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in addition to the 
Committees on Armed Services, and International Relations, 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


 
  To provide that certain Federal property shall be made available to 
   State and local governments before being made available to other 
                   entities, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Taxpayer Oversight of Surplus 
Property Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) The provisions in Public Law 94-519 established a 
        system to ensure the fair and equitable allocation of Federal 
        surplus personal property to eligible recipients, including law 
        enforcement agencies, school systems, medical institutions, 
        libraries, homeless assistance providers, and units of local 
        government;
            (2) the benefits of the Federal personal property 
        utilization and donation program are measured in terms of 
        United States dollars which are not spent by the donees on new 
        and expensive property;
            (3) Members of Congress and State and local officials have 
        an obligation to oversee the fair and equitable distribution of 
        Government property, thereby ensuring accountability to the 
        taxpayers of the United States;
            (4) the owners of surplus Federal property are the people 
        of the United States, and the Federal Government is merely its 
        public custodian;
            (5) the efforts of the State agencies in distributing 
        surplus property have enabled thousands of United States 
        taxpayers to acquire items such as office equipment, clothing, 
        furniture, motor vehicles, forklifts, aircraft, boats, and 
        generators which have been declared surplus to the needs of the 
        Federal Government;
            (6) the effectiveness of the current system for donation of 
        surplus Federal personal property has been undermined by 
        programs that mandate that property be made available on a 
        priority basis to foreign entities before the safety, health, 
        education, and training needs of taxpayers of the United States 
        are met; and
            (7) new legislation is needed to move the priority of 
        property transfers through foreign assistance programs to a 
        level below that of domestic use transfers of excess personal 
        property to Federal agencies.

SEC. 3. PRIORITY TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR THE TRANSFER OF 
              NONLETHAL EXCESS SUPPLIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

    Section 2547 of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``The Secretary of 
        Defense'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``Subject to subsection 
        (d), the Secretary of Defense'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d) Nonlethal excess supplies of the Department of Defense shall 
be made available to a State, a local government of a State, a 
territory, or a possession, upon the request of the State, local 
government, territory, or possession pursuant to authority provided in 
another provision of law before such supplies are made available for 
humanitarian relief purposes under this section. The President may make 
such supplies available for humanitarian purposes before such supplies 
are made available to a State, local government, territory, or 
possession under this subsection in order to respond to an emergency 
precipitated by a natural disaster.''.

SEC. 4. TRANSFERS OF PROPERTY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN FOREIGN 
              COUNTRIES.

    Section 607 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2357(d)) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
                as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;
                    ((B) by striking ``(d) The'' and inserting ``(d)(1) 
                Except as provided in paragraph (3), the''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) No property may be transferred under paragraph (1) unless the 
Administrator of General Services determines that there is no Federal 
or State use requirement for the property under any other provision of 
law.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the transfer of 
confiscated property to foreign countries.''.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON DISPOSAL AND DONATION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator of General Services shall review all statutes 
relating to the disposal and donation of surplus personal property and 
submit to Congress a report on such statutes including--
            (1) the effectiveness of programs administered under such 
        statutes (except for any program that grants access to personal 
        property by local communities impacted by the closure of a 
        military base), and the amount and type of property 
        administered under each such program during the 2 most recent 
        fiscal years; and
            (2) legislative recommendations to integrate and 
        consolidate all such programs to be administered by a single 
        Federal authority working with State agencies while 
        accomplishing the purposes of such programs.
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