Panel clears House bill on federal computer donations
Legislation directs agencies to give excess electronic equipment to educational organizations.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday passed a revised bill requiring federal agencies to donate excess computers and electronic equipment to educational organizations.
The committee passed an amendment offered by House Oversight and Government Reform Management Subcommittee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., that narrowed the bill, which previously directed agencies to transfer the equipment to entities including nonprofits, towns, counties and libraries. Both the amendment and bill passed by unanimous voice votes.
Sponsored by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., the measure requires agencies to identify and donate unneeded computers, computer parts, printers and fax machines to schools or community-based educational organizations.
The bill, which expands on a 1996 executive order in which President Clinton encouraged agencies to transfer electronic equipment to schools in low-income areas, requires agencies to give preference to recipients designated as enterprise or empowerment zones by the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The bill makes the General Services Administration responsible for coordinating most of the transfers and requires the agency to report to Congress within 18 months on its enactment of the act.