[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 43 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1065-H1067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FASTA REFORM ACT OF 2023
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 6277) to amend the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of
2016 to improve such Act, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6277
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 ``FASTA Reform Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL ASSETS SALE AND TRANSFER
ACT OF 2016.
(a) In General.--The Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act
of 2016 (40 U.S.C. 1303 note) is amended--
(1) in section 2--
(A) in paragraph (9) by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (10) by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(11) implementing innovative methods for the sale,
redevelopment, consolidation, or lease of Federal buildings
and facilities, including the use of no cost, nonappropriated
contracts for expert real estate services to obtain the
highest and best value for the taxpayer.'';
(2) in section 3(5)(B)(viii) by inserting ``, other than
office buildings and warehouses,'' after ``Properties'';
(3) in section 5(b) by striking ``Five Board members'' and
inserting ``Four Board members'';
(4) in section 7 by adding at the end the following:
``(c) Return to Civil Service.--An Executive Director
selected from the civil service (as such term is defined in
section 2101 of
[[Page H1066]]
title 5, United States Code) shall be entitled to return to
the civil service after service to the Board ends if the
Executive Director's service to the Board ends for reasons
other than misconduct, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.'';
(5) in section 8--
(A) in subsection (b)--
(i) by striking ``and the Director of OMB''; and
(ii) by inserting ``for a period of not less than 1 year''
before ``to assist the Board'';
(B) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(C) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Hiring of Term Employees.--The Executive Director,
with approval of the Board, may utilize the Office of
Personnel Management to hire employees for terms not to
exceed 2 years pursuant to the Office of Personnel Management
guidance for nonstatus appointments in the competitive
service.'';
(6) in section 10 by striking ``6 years after the date on
which the Board members are appointed pursuant to section 4''
and inserting ``on December 31, 2026'';
(7) in section 11(a)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking ``the
Administrator and the Director of OMB'' and inserting ``the
Administrator, the Director of OMB, and the Board'';
(B) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking ``and'' before ``square footage''; and
(ii) by inserting ``, amount of acreage associated with the
property, and whether the property is on a campus or larger
facility'' before the period at the end; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Consolidation plans.--Any agency plans to
consolidate, reconfigure, or otherwise reduce the use of
owned and leased property.'';
(8) in section 12--
(A) in subsection (b)(2) by striking the second sentence
and inserting ``In the case of a failure by an agency to
comply with a request of the Board, the Board shall notify
the committees listed in section 5(c), the relevant
congressional committees of jurisdiction for the agency, and
the inspector general of the agency of such failure.'';
(B) by redesignating subsections (d) through (i) as
subsections (e) through (j), respectively;
(C) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
``(d) Preparation of Properties for Disposal.--At the
request of, and in coordination with, the Board, a Federal
agency may undertake any analyses and due diligence as
necessary to prepare a property for disposition so that the
property may be included in the recommendations of the Board
under subsection (h), including completion of the
requirements of section 306108 of title 54, United States
Code, for historic preservation and identification of the
likely highest and best use of the property subsequent to
disposition.'';
(D) in subsection (h) (as so redesignated)--
(i) in paragraph (1)--
(I) in subparagraph (A) by striking ``and'' at the end;
(II) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C);
and
(III) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
``(B) the process to be followed by Federal agencies to
carry out the actions described under subparagraph (A),
including the use of no cost, nonappropriated contracts for
expert real estate services and other innovative methods, to
obtain the highest and best value for the taxpayer; and'';
and
(ii) in paragraph (2) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) Third round.--During the period beginning on the day
after the transmittal of the second report and ending on the
day before the termination of the Board under section 10, the
Board may transmit to the Director of OMB a third report
required under paragraph (1).''; and
(E) by adding at the end the following:
``(k) Report to Congress.--The Board shall periodically
submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Environment and Public Works of the Senate a report
containing any recommendations on consolidations, exchanges,
sales, lease reductions, and redevelopments that are not
included in the transmissions submitted under subsection (h),
or approved by the Director of OMB under section 13, but
which the majority of the Board concludes meets the goals of
this Act.'';
(9) in section 13--
(A) in subsection (a) by striking ``subsections (b) and
(g)'' and inserting ``subsections (b) and (h)''; and
(B) in subsection (c)(4)--
(i) by inserting ``, in whole or in part,'' before
``received under paragraph (3)''; and
(ii) by striking ``revised'' the second place it appears;
(10) in section 20 by striking subsection (b) and inserting
the following:
``(b) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section,
including the amendments made by this section, shall take
effect on the date on which the Board transmits the second
report under section 12(h)(2)(B) and shall apply to proceeds
from--
``(1) transactions contained in such report; and
``(2) any transactions conducted after the termination of
the Board pursuant to section 10.'';
(11) in section 21(b) by adding at the end the following:
``(9) Whether the Federal real property is on a campus or
similar facility and, if so, identification of such campus or
facility and related details, including total acreage.''; and
(12) by inserting after section 25 the following:
``SEC. 26. ACCESS TO FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY COUNCIL MEETINGS
AND REPORTS.
``The Federal Real Property Council established under
section 623 of title 40, United States Code, shall ensure
that the Board has access to any meetings of the Council and
any reports required under such section.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``Sec. 26. Access to Federal Real Property Council meetings and
reports.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) and the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
General Leave
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 6277.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
First, I would thank the Economic Development, Public Buildings and
Emergency Management Subcommittee Ranking Member Titus from Nevada for
working with me on this piece of legislation. The Federal Assets Sale
and Transfer Act, also known as FASTA, was passed in 2016 to create a
temporary board of experts to identify Federal properties for sale and
redevelopment.
Unfortunately, the process has not worked as Congress originally
envisioned, and this bill seeks to remedy that.
Federal agencies are reluctant to let go of property they don't need,
and it has become clear the board requires more authority to gather
data it needs to develop recommendations.
This bill would make a number of reforms to improve the effectiveness
of the process, including extending the board's timeline, speeding up
the effective date of incentives for agencies to put properties
forward, and giving the board access to the Federal Real Property
Council.
Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Ms. TITUS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, as you heard, FASTA, was a
bipartisan and bicameral effort led by the T & I Committee in the 114th
Congress, with the goal of improving the disposal process for unneeded
Federal real property.
FASTA established the Public Buildings Reform Board, PBRB, an
independent Federal agency, to review and recommend unused properties
for the government to sell. Once the properties were identified, the
PBRB was to work with the Office of Management and Budget and the
General Services Administration to dispose of these properties via a
new, temporary three-round process.
Since its establishment, however, the PBRB has faced significant
challenges. Although the legislation was passed in 2016, members were
not appointed until May of 2019. Furthermore, the board was unable to
conduct business for most of 2022 after two board members resigned,
leaving the agency without a quorum until November 2022.
As a result, they were unable to complete and submit to OMB their
first round of recommendations.
Overall, difficulties in doing research during the pandemic, lack of
access to funding to help the agencies prepare for dispositions, delays
in selling two particularly valuable properties in the high-value
round, and disagreements with GSA and OMB on disposition strategies
have all made the board's work challenging.
Due to these challenges and delays, I join Chairman Perry in
sponsoring the FASTA Reform Act, and I thank him for his leadership.
It requires Federal agencies to share their real property data and
consolidation plans with the board. It also enables the board to submit
recommendations to OMB on a rolling basis. It
[[Page H1067]]
gives the board control over the sales proceeds in the Asset Proceeds
and Space Management Fund. It reduces the quorum requirement for
meetings and activities from five board members to four. It permits
agencies to prepare properties for disposition, and it extends the
operation of the PBRB to December 2026.
As agencies' post-pandemic space needs evolve, efficient and
effective disposal of unneeded properties will become even more
important.
Allowing this demonstration program to complete its work will yield
important information that can mitigate several longstanding disposal
challenges and improve the size and efficiency of the Federal real
property portfolio.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan
legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Ms. TITUS. Madam Speaker, I think this is a good example of
government efficiency, saving taxpayer dollars, and working across the
aisle.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I thank the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) for his support.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus), for
her hard work on this effort. H.R. 6277 makes improvements to the
authorities of the Public Buildings Reform Board, or the PBRB,
established by the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act of 2016, or the
FASTA, to increase the number of Federal properties the board
recommends be sold or redeveloped.
By allowing for more Federal properties to be sold or redeveloped,
H.R. 6277 will ultimately reduce the cost of our Federal real estate
portfolio, resulting in savings for the taxpayers.
Madam Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6277.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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