§ 5540 — Disposal Of Used Or Surplus Furniture And Equipment By Chief Administrative Officer Of House; Procedure; Deposit Of Receipts

(1) The Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives may dispose of used equipment of the House of Representatives, by trade-in or sale, directly or through the General Services Administration. Any direct disposal under the preceding sentence shall be in accordance with normal business practice and shall be at fair market value. Receipts from disposals under the first sentence of this section (together with receipts from sale of transcripts, waste paper and other items provided by law, and receipts for missing or damaged equipment) shall be deposited in the Treasury for credit to the appropriate account of the House of Representatives, and shall be available for expenditure in accordance with applicable law. For purposes of the previous sentence, in the case of receipts from the sale or disposal of any audio or video transcripts prepared by the House Recording Studio, the “appropriate account of the House of Representatives” shall be the account of the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives. (2) If disposal in accordance with paragraph (1) is not feasible because of age, location, condition, or any other relevant factor, the Chief Administrative Officer may donate the equipment to the government of a State, to a local government, or to an organization that is described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of title 26. Except as provided in paragraph (3), a donation under this paragraph— (A) shall be at no cost to the Government; and (B) may be made only if the used equipment has no recoverable value because disposal in accordance with paragraph (1), under the most favorable terms available to the Government, would result in a loss to the Government. (A) In the case of computer-related equipment, during fiscal year 1998 the Chief Administrative Officer may donate directly the equipment to a public elementary or secondary school of the District of Columbia without regard to whether the donation meets the requirements of the second sentence of paragraph (2), except that the total number of workstations donated as a result of this paragraph may not exceed 1,000. (B) In this paragraph— (i) the term “computer-related equipment” includes desktops, laptops, printers, file servers, and peripherals which are appropriate for use in public school education; (ii) the terms “public elementary school” and “public secondary school” have the meaning given the terms elementary school and secondary school in section 7801 of title 20; and (iii) the term “workstation” includes desktops and peripherals, file servers and peripherals, laptops and peripherals, printers and peripherals, and workstations and peripherals. (C) The Committee on House Oversight shall have authority to issue regulations to carry out this paragraph. (4) The Committee on House Oversight of the House of Representatives shall have authority to prescribe regulations to carry out this subsection. (5) As used in this section— (A) the term “State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and a territory or possession of the United States; and (B) the term “used equipment” means such used or surplus equipment (including furniture and motor vehicles) as the Committee on House Oversight of the House of Representatives may prescribe by regulation.