The House of Representatives has approved legislation that aims to reduce the inventory of excess federal properties while redeveloping valuable assets. The House cleared the bill, the Civilian Property Realignment Act, on Feb. 7 by a 259-164 vote. If enacted, the legislation would provide opportunities for the redevelopment of federal buildings.
The measure, introduced by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), now heads to the Senate. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate but it has just one sponsor and no action has been taken on it.
Modeled after the Dept. of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program, the House-passed bill would create a nine-member commission to review the federal real estate inventory and make recommendations to Congress about selling or redeveloping high-value properties, consolidating federal space and streamlining the disposal of assets deemed unneeded.
Denham, who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on public buildings, said, “In fiscal year 2009, the federal government wasted more than $1.7 billion in operating under-used buildings. This is outrageous.”