Courts get power to run their own buildings for 15 years.
S. 5194 — Judicial Space and Facilities Management Effectiveness Act of 2026 · Filed by Richard Durbin (D-IL) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill moves control of courthouse buildings from GSA to the Judicial branch. The Director of the Administrative Office can buy, lease, build, fix, and manage court buildings. This applies to up to 10 pilot districts. The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building moves to Judicial control right away. After 10 years, the buildings go back to GSA. The whole program ends after 15 years.
Who it affects
People who use federal courthouses may see faster repairs and changes. Federal agencies that use court space may pay new fees. The Judicial branch gains new power to spend money on buildings.
One thing to notice
The Judiciary can spend over $10 million on projects with only notice to Congress. This replaces the yearly budget approval Congress normally does.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Jul 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (text: CR S4385-4390)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (41,989 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
“Courts get power to run their own buildings for 15 years.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5194/simple Report an error