I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4678 

To permit the District of Columbia to make payments pursuant to contingency 

fee arrangements entered into by the Attorney General of the District 

of Columbia for the provision of legal services in claims and other 

legal matters affecting the interests of the District of Columbia, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 18, 2017 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To permit the District of Columbia to make payments pursuant to contingency fee arrangements entered into by 

the Attorney General of the District of Columbia for 

the provision of legal services in claims and other legal 

matters affecting the interests of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 

5 Civil Enforcement Equality Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZING PAYMENTS BY DISTRICT OF COLUM2 BIA PURSUANT TO CONTINGENCY FEE AR3 RANGEMENTS FOR LEGAL SERVICES. 

4 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—If the Attorney General of the 

5 District of Columbia enters into a contract with private 

6 counsel for the provision of legal services in claims and 

7 other legal matters affecting the interests of the District 

8 of Columbia and the contract includes a contingency fee 

9 arrangement, the District of Columbia may make pay10 ments pursuant to such arrangement without regard to 

11 whether the funds used for the payments are deposited 

12 in accounts of the District of Columbia or provided in an 

13 appropriation, notwithstanding any provision of title 31, 

14 United States Code, or any other law of the United States 

15 or the District of Columbia. 

16 (b) CONDITIONS FOR CONTRACTS.—Any contract de17 scribed in subsection (a) shall be subject to the require18 ments of the Procurement Practices Reform Act of 2010 

19 (sec. 2–351.01 et seq., D.C. Official Code). The amount 

20 of the fee payable for legal services furnished under any 

21 such contract may not exceed the fee that counsel engaged 

22 in the private practice of law in the District of Columbia 

23 typically charges clients for furnishing similar legal serv24 ices, as determined by the Attorney General of the District 

25 of Columbia. 


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1 (c) RESTRICTION.—The District of Columbia may 

2 not enter into a contingency fee arrangement in a claim 

3 or other legal matter seeking the recovery of Federal 

4 funds. 

5 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, a ‘‘contingency fee 

6 arrangement’’ means a provision in a contract described 

7 in subsection (a) under which the costs, expenses, and fees 

8 the private counsel charges for legal services are payable 

9 from the amount recovered. 

10 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 

11 respect to fiscal year 2018 and each succeeding fiscal year. 

Æ 


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