An Act to amend the Public Buildings Act of 1959 in order to preserve buildings of historical or architectural significance through their use for Federal public building purposes, and to amend the Act of August 12, 1968, relating to the accessibility of certain buildings to the physically handicapped.
Public Law 94-541 · S. 865 · 94th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Gerald Ford (R) on Oct 18, 1976 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Sen. James Buckley (I-NY)
Cosponsors (9): Sen. Howard Baker, Sen. Jennings Randolph,
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
=Title I: Public Buildings Cooperative Use Act= - Amends the Public Buildings Act of 1959 and the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 to require the Administrator of General Services, when acquiring or managing space necessary for Federal agencies, to: (1) utilize space in buildings of historic, architectural, or cultural significance where feasible; (2) encourage the location of commercial, cultural, educational, or recreational activities within or near public buildings; and (3) encourage the public use of public buildings outside of regular Federal working hours.
Requires the Administrator to place on the access level of Federal buildings those activities requiring regular public contact.
=Title II:= Directs the United States Postal Service, in consultation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to prescribe such standards for the design, construction, and alteration of its buildings to insure whenever possible that physically handicapped persons will have ready access to, and use of, such buildings.
Requires the Administrator to report annually to Congress with respect to his activities and those of other departments with regard to standards issued, revised, repealed, or waived under the Act to insure that certain buildings financed with Federal funds are so designed and constructed as to be accessible to the physically handicapped.
Requires the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board to report annually to the Public Works Committee of the Senate on its actions to insure compliance with Federal standards designed to make public buildings accessible to the handicapped.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Oct 18, 1976Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public law 94-541.
- Oct 7, 1976PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Oct 1, 1976Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to House amendments.
- Sep 29, 1976FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 15134.
- CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
- Sep 3, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
- Aug 1, 1975FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- Jul 31, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
- Feb 27, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.