Norton Announces Committee Markup of Her Bill Revoking SEC's Independent Leasing Authority, Tomorrow

Statement

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that her Securities and Exchange Commission Real Estate Leasing Authority Revocation Act, which would revoke the independent real estate leasing authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will be marked up by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure tomorrow, Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. The markup will be livestreamed on the committee's website.

"Thank you, Chair DeFazio, for scheduling the markup on this important bill," Norton said. "It is inefficient, wasteful, and redundant to have the SEC involved in the nuances of real estate decisions when the General Services Administration exists for that very reason. The SEC should focus on its core mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation--not on real estate procurements, which are outside its expertise. Congress created this problem by granting the SEC independent leasing authority, and now Congress must fix it by revoking that authority. I look forward to passage of this important bill."

Under the bill, the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal government's real estate arm, would handle SEC real estate procurements. Congress granted the SEC independent leasing authority in 1990, before Norton was in Congress. Since then, the SEC has wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars as it has stumbled through leasing mistake after leasing mistake.

Norton first introduced this bill in 2011, after the SEC engaged in an improper sole-source procurement of nearly one million square feet of leased space. Then-SEC Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro promised in a congressional hearing that the SEC would allow GSA to handle its real estate procurements to avoid such issues in the future. However, the SEC subsequently vetoed a multi-million-dollar procurement completed on its behalf by GSA. The SEC then refused to document its concerns to Congress, and justified its actions using the leasing authority it had previously promised not to use. In September 2021, GSA entered into a headquarters lease for the SEC, and the SEC said it will use GSA in future real estate procurements, but Norton's bill would ensure the SEC uses GSA in the future.

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