House passes Bird-Safe Building Act

[Laura Bies]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Bird-Safe Building Act last week, as part of a larger infrastructure bill.

The bipartisan bill is designed to reduce bird mortality by calling for federal buildings to incorporate bird-safe building materials and design features. Some federal building already incorporate bird-friendly design techniques; the Bird-Safe Building Act would require the government to apply similar measures, where practicable, to all new and existing federal buildings

The infrastructure bill also included the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which would provide about $1.4 billion to state, territorial and tribal wildlife agencies for the conservation of thousands of fish and wildlife species vulnerable to extinction. 

The infrastructure package now goes to the Senate, which is working on its own infrastructure legislation and therefore unlikely to pass the House version. 

UPDATE: The Bird-Safe Building Act was also included in an energy bill, the Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act (H.R. 4447), which passed the House on Sept. 24.  The Senate has not passed an infrastructure bill and is unlikely to have time to pass an energy bill before the Congress ends in January.