Report on State of Real Estate Portfolio of Gsa

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6480) to direct the Administrator of General Services to submit a report to Congress on the state of the real estate portfolio of the Public Building Service, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 6480

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. REPORT ON STATE OF REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO OF GSA.

(a) In General.--Not later than January 31 of each year, the Administrator of General Services shall 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 on the state of the real estate portfolio of the Public Building Service for the previous calendar year.

(b) Contents.--The report under subsection (a) shall include, with respect to the real estate portfolio of the Public Building Service--

(1) the number of leases signed;

(2) the number of leases terminated;

(3) the total number of leased spaces;

(4) the amount of square footage leased;

(5) the amount of square footage occupied;

(6) the amount of vacant leased space;

(7) the number of buildings owned;

(8) top customers by square feet and annual rent;

(9) completed new construction, major repair and alteration projects;

(10) financial indicators that measure and analyze space utilization, operating costs per square foot, cost-avoidance due to building disposals and lease terminations, and deferred maintenance liabilities;

(11) which, if any, Federal buildings were disposed of by the Office of Real Property Disposition of the General Services Administration; and

(12) General Services Administration and tenant agency plans for relocating Federal agencies housed in federally owned space that the General Services Administration plans to dispose of and leased space that the General Services Administration has not renewed, including how the relocations will be paid for and whether or not the agency tenant requested the relocations.

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Mr. TAYLOR. 6480.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6480 directs the Administrator of General Services to submit a report to Congress on the state of the real estate portfolio of GSA's Public Buildings Service.

I thank the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management ranking member, Mr. Stanton, along with the subcommittee chairman, Mr. Perry, for their work on this legislation.

H.R. 6480 improves transparency and supports congressional oversight of the GSA's real estate portfolio by directing the GSA to begin reissuing its state of the portfolio report. The GSA used to produce a state of the portfolio report that contained critical and useful information each year.

The report provided the taxpayer and Congress with a clear accounting of the GSA's real estate holdings, including a breakdown of costs and liabilities and updates on deferred maintenance.

Since the GSA stopped issuing this report nearly one decade ago, the information has become less accessible. This bill will ensure that the GSA reissues these reports to improve congressional oversight and ensure that the GSA is accountable to the American taxpayer.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will increase transparency of GSA's real estate holdings and ensure there is greater accountability to the American taxpayer for the management of our Federal real estate portfolio.

I urge support of H.R. 6480, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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