Lawmakers Flock to Prevent Birds From Dying in Collisions With Public Buildings

Lawmakers from across the aisle are flocking together to get the government’s landlord to take more action to prevent birds from dying crashing into public buildings.

Reps. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill., reintroduced a bill on Thursday that would direct the administrator of the General Services Administration to include to the extent possible, “features, practices and strategies to reduce bird fatalities resulting from collisions with public buildings for each public building constructed, acquired or of which more than 50% of the facade is substantially altered” by GSA.

In order to carry this out, the GSA administrator would have to develop a design guide that would lay out features for reducing bird fatalities throughout all phases of construction and for operation and maintenance of the buildings, such as by “installing interior, exterior and site lighting,” said the bill. The design guide would also include best practices that are recommended by federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations with expertise in bird conservation and representatives from green building certification systems.

The following buildings would be exempt: buildings or sites listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the White House, Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol and their respective grounds. If enacted, no later than October 1 in each fiscal year, the GSA administrator would have to obtain information on compliance and report to Congress on progress.


https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/06/lawmakers-flock-prevent-birds-dying-collisions-public-buildings/387078/