Surplus Property Act

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox U.S. legislation

| shorttitle = Surplus Property Act

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| longtitle = An Act to aid the reconversion from a war to a peace economy through the distribution of Government surplus property and to establish a Surplus Property Board to effectuate the same, and for other purposes.

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| nickname = Surplus Property Act of 1944

| enacted by = 78th

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| cite public law = {{uspl|78|457}}

| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|58|765}}, Chap. 479

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| title amended = 50a U.S.C.: War and National Defense{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2014-title50/html/USCODE-2014-title50-app.htm |title=Title 50, Appendix - War and National Defense |website=United States Code ~ Title 50a Omitted or Repealed |publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office |access-date=2024-02-10 |archive-date=2024-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107075805/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2014-title50/html/USCODE-2014-title50-app.htm |url-status=live }}

| sections created = 50 Appendix U.S.C. §§ 1611-1646{{cite web |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/uscode/uscode1946-00405/uscode1946-004050a041/uscode1946-004050a041.pdf |title=United States Code: Surplus Property Act of 1944, 50a U.S.C. §§ 1611-1646 |year=1946 |series=Title 50: War, Appendix |website=Law Library of Congress |publisher=United States Library of Congress |pages=5886-5867 |access-date=2024-02-10 |archive-date=2024-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107075755/https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/uscode/uscode1946-00405/uscode1946-004050a041/uscode1946-004050a041.pdf |url-status=live }}

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| introducedin = House

| introducedbill = {{USBill|78|H.R.|5125}}

| introducedby = William M. Colmer (D–MS)

| introduceddate = June 23, 1944{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1944/06/23/house-section |title=Surplus Property Act of 1944 ~ House Bill H.R. 1525 |date=June 23, 1944 |trans-title=Disposal of Surplus Government Property and Plants |volume=90 |issue=5 |website=78th Congressional Record of United States House of Representatives |publisher=U.S. Congress.gov |page=6680}}

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| signedpresident = Franklin D. Roosevelt

| signeddate = October 3, 1944

| amendments = Fulbright Act of 1946

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Surplus Property Act of 1944 (ch. 479, {{USStat|58|765}}, {{USC|50A|1611}} et seq., enacted October 3, 1944) is an act of the United States Congress that was enacted to provide for the disposal of surplus government property to "a State, political subdivision of a State, or tax-supported organization". It authorized a three-member board, known as the Surplus Property Board, a structure that was replaced within a year by an agency run by a single administrator. Many of its provisions were repealed on July 1, 1949.{{cite web|author=Harry S. Truman|title=Special Message to the Congress on the Need for a Modern System for the Management of Government Property|date=1948-03-05|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13123|author-link=Harry S. Truman}}