Government affairs
Legislative Updates
The House has passed the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer (FAST) Act of 2016 (H.R. 4465).
Introduced by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), H.R. 4465 calls for selling and consolidating nearly 254,000 federal properties—including postal properties—deemed to be underutilized.
If passed, the legislation specifically would create a “Public Buildings Reform Board” to determine which federal properties should be closed. Two-thirds of the board would be appointed by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); the remaining members would be appointed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
Under H.R. 4465, this board would face a strict mandate to sell $8 billion worth of federal property in the first six years, with nearly $40 million authorized to fund the board’s recommendations.
The bill also calls for the creation of a database of all federal properties considered excess, surplus, underutilized or unutilized, as a means of preventing a future stockpiling of under-utilized property.
Similar legislation (S. 2375) was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), but the Senate’s measure hasn’t gained any traction since it was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
