The condition of federal courthouses around the country is in a deepening state of crisis, compelling the Judiciary to ask Congress for authority to directly manage properties that are essential to carrying out its constitutional mission.
Legislative Need for Real Property Authority
The Judicial Branch is seeking pilot legislation for Real Property Authority (RPA) to:
- Empower the Judiciary to coordinate directly with Congress on critical courthouse needs;
- Give the Judiciary control to allocate funding based on the Branch’s priorities and assessments of critical infrastructure needs, without directly competing with Executive Branch needs and priorities; and
- Ensure that the Judiciary has independent control over the buildings it occupies to safely fulfill its constitutional mission more effectively.
How Real Property Authority Would Work
With RPA, the Judiciary would negotiate directly with Congress on real property funding and be directly accountable for how those funds are spent. The Judiciary would invest in projects that directly serve the administration of justice.
As examples, the Judiciary could:
- Prioritize broad-scale repair of failed elevators, which have put the public, court employees, and judges at risk;
- Ensure immediate response to storm and water-damage events that get worse over time, and fast-track repairs of facilities rendered inoperative by weather and other emergencies; and
- More efficiently manage day-to-day building operations without working through additional bureaucratic layers.