Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act

Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act

This bill declares U.S. policy applicable to public buildings and establishes the President's Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture.

The policy includes that

• applicable federal public buildings should uplift and beautify public spaces, command respect from the general public, be visually identifiable as civic buildings, respect regional architectural heritage, and meet other specified criteria;
• in the District of Columbia, classical architecture is the preferred and default architecture for federal public buildings absent exceptional factors;
• buildings that do not meet specified criteria should be considered for redesign where feasible and economical, particularly with respect to the exterior of the applicable federal building; and
• the General Services Administration (GSA) should seek input from future users of the applicable federal public buildings and the general public in the community where such buildings will be located before selecting an architectural firm or design style and give the general public's input substantial consideration.

The GSA must adhere to the policy. If the GSA proposes to approve a design for a new applicable federal public building that diverges from the preferred architecture, it must notify the Office of the Domestic Policy Advisor and Congress not later than 30 days before the date on which the GSA could reject the design without incurring substantial expenditures and describe the reasons for proposing to approve the design.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov