To amend title 40, United States Code, to eliminate the leasing authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for other purposes.
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill strips the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its power to independently lease office space and gives that authority to the General Services Administration (GSA). Instead of the SEC negotiating its own real estate deals, the GSA will now handle all SEC office leases. The bill also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review how many other federal agencies still have independent leasing powers.
Who Benefits and How
The General Services Administration gains expanded authority and budget control, as it will now manage SEC office leases in addition to its existing portfolio. Real estate brokers and property owners who work with GSA may see increased business opportunities. Government oversight advocates benefit from increased centralization and standardization of federal leasing practices, which could improve cost control and transparency.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The SEC loses operational flexibility and must now go through GSA bureaucracy for all office space decisions, potentially slowing down its ability to respond to changing space needs. Real estate professionals who previously dealt directly with the SEC may lose existing relationships and contracts. The GAO faces additional reporting requirements to track independent leasing authorities across the federal government.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits the SEC from leasing any general purpose office space on its own after the bill becomes law
- Transfers all SEC leasing authority to the GSA Administrator
- Protects existing SEC leases from cancellation (grandfather clause)
- Requires GAO to update its 2016 report on which federal agencies can still lease space independently
- Directs GAO to study how often agencies with independent leasing power actually use GSA services instead
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Revokes the Securities and Exchange Commission's independent authority to lease general purpose office space, transferring this authority to the General Services Administration.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Centralize federal real estate leasing under GSA to improve efficiency and oversight, following 2016 GAO recommendations on independent leasing authorities"
Likely Beneficiaries
- General Services Administration (GSA)
- Federal real estate management oversight advocates
- Companies providing services to GSA
Likely Burden Bearers
- Securities and Exchange Commission (loses autonomy)
- SEC-preferred real estate vendors
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_commission"
- → Securities and Exchange Commission
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of General Services
- "the_comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (Government Accountability Office)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Administrator of General Services, who assumes leasing authority for SEC space
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology