Russ Feingold: “This amendment extends the authority of the General Services Administration to convey surplus property to local…”

“This amendment extends the authority of the General Services Administration to convey surplus property to local governments for law enforcement purposes for two years until the end of December 2002. This amendment will help a number of communities across the country seeking to use surplus property to protect their citizens and provide safe, secure facilities for their police departments. Without this amendment, the authority to convey surplus property for law enforcement purposes would expire at the end of July, 2000. Communities that want to use the GSA process, and have counted upon doing so, to negotiate the use of property for law enforcement purposes at a reduced cost would have been shut out in the matter of a few weeks. In fact, Mr. President, I have just such a situation in my own home state. The City of Kewaunee, Wisconsin wants to acquire the city's Army Reserve Center, which is a former federal armory building. The City intends to use the property as a municipal building in which they would house their police force and other municipal offices.”