[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H9922-H9923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AMENDING FEDERAL PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ACT OF 1949 TO 
 AUTHORIZE TRANSFER TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF CERTAIN SURPLUS 
     PROPERTY FOR USE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OR PUBLIC SAFETY PURPOSES

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 404) to amend the Federal Property and Administrative Services 
Act of 1949 to authorize the transfer to State and local governments of 
certain surplus property for use for law enforcement or public safety 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 404

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

     SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER CERTAIN SURPLUS PROPERTY FOR 
                   USE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OR FIRE AND RESCUE 
                   PURPOSES.

       Section 203(p)(1) of the Federal Property and 
     Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 484(p)(1)) is 
     amended--
       (1) by inserting ``that is'' after ``personal property''; 
     and
       (2) by inserting ``, or that is or was part of a military 
     installation that has been closed or realigned pursuant to a 
     base closure law and that is determined by the Attorney 
     General to be needed for use by the transferee or grantee for 
     a law enforcement or fire and rescue purpose approved by the 
     Attorney General'' before the first period.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Horn] and the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cummings] 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn].
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government owns an enormous amount of 
property, including some property that it no longer needs. H.R. 404 
simplifies the process by which State and local governments are 
permitted to receive surplus Federal property on military bases for the 
benefit of their law enforcement and fire and rescue functions.
  In making this simplification, H.R. 404, authored by the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Calvert], both contributes to important State and 
local government functions and eases an administrative burden on the 
Federal Government. In 1949, the Commission on Organization of the 
Executive Branch of the Government, known as the first Hoover 
commission, appointed by President Truman, recommended the creation of 
an agency, the General Services Administration, GSA, to coordinate 
purchases, utilization and disposal of real and personal property for 
the Federal Government.
  The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 set 
forth the rules for the disposal of surplus Federal real estate. 
Normally, when one agency no longer needs property, the General 
Services Administration screens the excess property to determine 
whether another Federal agency needs it. If not, the property is 
declared surplus.
  The Federal Property Act created a series of public benefit discounts 
whereby local governments can obtain surplus Federal real estate for a 
price below market value, generally at no cost. The current categories 
of public benefit discounts for real property include public health, 
education, recreation, national service activities, historic monuments, 
correctional facilities, and shipping ports, only in the base closure 
facilities.
  The bill before us creates a new public benefit discount by expanding 
the definition of public benefit discounts for ``correctional 
facilities'' to cover ``other law enforcement'' and ``fire and rescue'' 
activities.
  On June 3, 1997, the Subcommittee on Government Management, 
Information and Technology, which I chair, held a hearing on H.R. 404. 
Officials from Riverside County, CA, testified that they wanted to 
place a coroner's office and a law enforcement and fire training 
academy on surplus Federal property at the March Air Force Base. That 
surplus property became available through the actions of the Defense 
Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
  The county officials observed that to receive the land for these 
purposes, they would have to go through the application process with 
two Federal agencies, the Department of Education for the training 
academy and the Department of Health and Human Services for the 
coroner's office. With H.R. 404, the process would be consolidated. 
Both functions would fall under the expanded definition of correctional 
facilities and, therefore, would be handled by the Department of 
Justice.
  On June 26, 1997, the Subcommittee on Government Management, 
Information and Technology marked up H.R. 404. The subcommittee 
considered an amendment in the nature of a substitute that made 
technical corrections to the bill as introduced and voted unanimously 
to forward the substitute version to the full Committee on Government 
Reform And Oversight.
  The full committee voted unanimously to report H.R. 404 to the House 
on September 30. There was a minor amendment made to the bill after it 
was reported to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. This 
amendment limits the application of this authority to military 
facilities closed under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. The 
change was necessary in order to ensure that no Budget Act point of 
order lay against the bill.
  The amendment will not substantially alter the effect of the bill 
because closed military bases constitute over 90 percent of surplus 
Federal real property.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, we should note that this bill is a step 
toward making the Federal Government more efficient in its own 
processes and also more responsive to local needs. I urge my colleagues 
to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn] for 
bringing before the House this bill to amend the Federal Property and 
Administrative Services Act of 1949. The gentlewoman from New York 
[Mrs. Maloney], the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Government 
Management, Information and Technology, has been detained in her 
district and asked me to manage this bill, which I gladly do.
  The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight has jurisdiction 
over the Federal Property Act. It has a long history of overseeing its 
proper implementation. Under the Federal Property Act, State and local 
governments may acquire real estate that the Federal Government no 
longer needs. The Federal Property Act currently allows such surplus 
Federal property to be transferred to State and local governments at 
discounts of up to 100 percent of fair market value for certain public 
benefit purposes.
  Current public benefit discount uses include public health or 
educational uses, public parks or recreational areas, historic 
monuments, correctional institutions, port facilities, public airports 
and wildlife conservation.
  The original version of H.R. 404 would have added to that list ``law 
enforcement or public safety purposes.'' Legitimate concern was 
expressed at our hearing on this legislation over the vagueness of the 
phrase ``public safety purposes.'' During our committee's consideration 
of the bill, this problem was corrected by submitting ``fire fighting 
and rescue purposes'' for ``public safety purposes.'' We also deleted 
an unnecessary retroactive provision. I support both of these changes.

[[Page H9923]]

  The manager's amendment to H.R. 404 before us today also restricts 
the use of this new public benefit discount to property that was 
originally part of a military installation which has been closed or 
realigned under a base closure statute. This was done because of 
budgetary concerns with the bill as it passed committee.
  I support H.R. 404, as amended. Law enforcement and fire and rescue 
purposes are legitimate reasons for State and local governments to 
acquire surplus Federal property at a discount. I also want to thank 
the majority for working with the minority to come up with a very, very 
good bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert].
  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Long Beach, CA 
[Mr. Horn], my good friend and neighbor.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to support H.R. 404. We all 
know that the cost of crime prevented and a person diverted from a life 
of crime is much less than that of a prison cell. One of the keys to 
crime deterrence is a well-trained police force.
  Due to the efforts of the Riverside Sheriff's Department in my 
district to do the right thing and emphasize police training over 
prison space, I discovered a Federal catch-22 that I believe we should 
quickly correct. When the Federal Government declares real property as 
surplus, various local entities may apply for the property at a no-cost 
basis if they use the property for some valid social purpose.
  To obtain the excess Federal property, the local entity must apply to 
a Federal agency to sponsor the no-cost transfer. As would seem 
logical, agencies usually sponsor transfers in keeping with their 
charges. The Department of Education sponsors educational facilities. 
Housing and Urban Development sponsors housing. And Department of 
Justice sponsors prisons. Therein lies the problem.
  Incredibly, the Department of Justice is prohibited by statute to 
sponsor law enforcement and/or fire and rescue training facilities. 
They can only sponsor the building of prisons. H.R. 404, as amended, 
would correct this quirk in the law and allow the Department of Justice 
to apply its considerable expertise to sponsor its excess property for 
training of law enforcement, fire and rescue officials.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a minute to thank the 60 cosponsors 
of this measure. I especially wanted to thank the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Horn] for his hard work and leadership in crafting this 
legislation and passing the measure out of committee. I wish to thank 
the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] for her support. And I 
would also like to express my gratitude to the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Bono], who also shares the area of March Air Force Base 
and testified on the bill's behalf during subcommittee hearings. 
Finally, I wish to thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Brown], the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis], the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
Davis)] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Fazio] for their strong 
support.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I just want to thank the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Horn] and I want to thank the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Calvert] for their cooperation in bringing this very important 
piece of legislation before us. Once again, I think it is a very 
important piece of legislation in that it serves a very important 
public purpose, and the bipartisanship that was displayed in bringing 
this together is very, very important.
  Mr. Speaker, we have no other requests for time. Therefore, I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we have no other witnesses. And I would simply say this 
in wrapping this up: We have had excellent cooperation from the 
Democratic staff and the Democratic Members, such as the gentleman from 
Maryland [Mr. Cummings] today. The gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. 
Maloney] has always been helpful on this, as well as many other bills.
  So I would like to thank the Democratic staff, Mark Stephenson; the 
Democratic staff emeritus, Miles Romney, who we all look to for 
guidance and institutional memory over about 25 to 35 years; and the 
staff of the gentleman from California [Mr. Calvert], Nelson Garcia, 
has been very helpful; and, of course, our own majority Republican 
staff Mark Brasher and the staff, who is the professional staff member 
assigned to surplus property, among many other duties, and Staff 
Director Russell George.
  I would simply say this in summing up: I hope that the leadership of 
the General Services Administration, the Department of Justice--and 
anybody else that is involved as a result of this statute going on the 
books--will write those regulations as rapidly as possible. This 
surplus land has waited long enough for the obvious. And this is 
another move by Congress on a bipartisan basis to assure flexibility 
within the executive branch to meet the needs of people throughout 
America when they have base closure land and they want to put certain 
types of correctional law enforcement training facilities on that land 
and a coroner's office and laboratories, as it is in this case.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kingston). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from California [Mr. Horn] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 404, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule I and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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