II 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4185 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 15, 2014 
Received 
AN ACT 
To revise certain authorities of the District of Columbia 
courts, the Court Services and Offender Supervision 
Agency for the District of Columbia, and the Public 
Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 
Courts, Public Defender Service, and Court Services and 
Offender Supervision Agency Act of 2014’’. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORITIES OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION TO COLLECT DEBTS AND ERRO-
NEOUS PAYMENTS FROM EMPLOYEES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 17 of title 11, Dis-
trict of Columbia Official Code, is amended by add-
ing at the end of subchapter II the following new 
section: 
‘‘§ 11–1733. Collection, compromise, and waiver of em-
ployee debts and erroneous payments 
‘‘(a) COLLECTION OF DEBTS AND ERRONEOUS PAY-
MENTS MADE TO EMPLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO COLLECT.—If the Execu-
tive Officer determines that an employee or former 
employee of the District of Columbia Courts is in-
debted to the District of Columbia Courts because of 
an erroneous payment made to or on behalf of the 
employee, or any other debt, the Executive Officer 
may collect the amount of the indebtedness in ac-
cordance with this subsection. 
‘‘(2) TIMING OF COLLECTION.—Any debt au-
thorized to be collected under this subsection may be 
collected in monthly installments or at officially es-
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tablished regular pay period intervals, by deduction 
in reasonable amounts from the current pay of the 
employee. 
‘‘(3) SOURCE OF DEDUCTIONS.—Deductions de-
scribed in paragraph (2) may be made from any 
wages, salary, compensation, remuneration for serv-
ices, or other authorized pay, including but not lim-
ited to incentive pay, back pay, and lump sum leave 
payments, but not including retirement pay. 
‘‘(4) LIMIT
ON
AMOUNT.—The amount de-
ducted with respect to an employee for any period 
may not exceed 20 percent of the employee’s dispos-
able pay, except that a greater percentage may be 
deducted upon consent of the employee involved. 
‘‘(5) COLLECTIONS
AFTER
EMPLOYMENT.—If 
an employee’s employment ends before collection of 
the amount of the employee’s indebtedness is com-
pleted, deductions may be made from later non-peri-
odic government payments of any nature due the 
former employee, except retirement pay, and such 
deductions may be made without regard to the limit 
under paragraph (4). 
‘‘(b) NOTICE AND HEARING REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (3), prior to initiating any proceedings under 
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subsection (a) to collect any indebtedness of an indi-
vidual, the Executive Officer shall provide the indi-
vidual with— 
‘‘(A) a minimum of 30 days written notice, 
informing such individual of the nature and 
amount of the indebtedness determined by the 
District of Columbia Courts to be due, the in-
tention of the Courts to initiate proceedings to 
collect the debt through deductions from pay, 
and an explanation of the rights of the indi-
vidual under this section; 
‘‘(B) an opportunity to inspect and copy 
Court records relating to the debt; 
‘‘(C) an opportunity to enter into a written 
agreement with the Courts, under terms agree-
able to the Executive Officer, to establish a 
schedule for the repayment of the debt; and 
‘‘(D) an opportunity for a hearing in ac-
cordance with paragraph (2) on the determina-
tion of the Courts concerning the existence or 
the amount of the debt, and in the case of an 
individual whose repayment schedule is estab-
lished other than by a written agreement pursu-
ant to subparagraph (C), concerning the terms 
of the repayment schedule. 
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‘‘(2) PROCEDURES FOR HEARINGS.— 
‘‘(A) AVAILABILITY OF HEARING UPON RE-
QUEST.—A hearing under this paragraph shall 
be provided if the individual, on or before the 
fifteenth day following receipt of the notice de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(A), and in accordance 
with such procedures as the Executive Officer 
may prescribe, files a petition requesting such a 
hearing. 
‘‘(B) BASIS
FOR
HEARING.—Unless the 
hearing officer determines that the existence or 
the amount of the debt turns on an issue of 
credibility or veracity or cannot be resolved by 
a review of the documentary evidence, the hear-
ing shall be on the written submissions. 
‘‘(C) 
STAY
OF
COLLECTION
PRO-
CEEDINGS.—The timely filing of a petition for 
hearing shall stay the commencement of collec-
tion proceedings. 
‘‘(D) INDEPENDENT OFFICER.—A hearing 
under this paragraph shall be conducted by an 
independent hearing officer appointed in ac-
cordance with regulations promulgated under 
subsection (e). 
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‘‘(E) 
DEADLINE
FOR
DECISION.—The 
hearing officer shall issue a final decision re-
garding the questions covered by the hearing at 
the earliest practicable date, but not later than 
60 days after the hearing. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—Paragraphs (1) and (2) 
shall not apply to routine intra-Courts adjustments 
of pay that are attributable to clerical or administra-
tive errors or delays in processing pay documents 
that have occurred within the 4 pay periods pre-
ceding the adjustment and to any adjustment that 
amounts to $50 or less, if at the time of such ad-
justment, or as soon thereafter as practical, the indi-
vidual is provided written notice of the nature and 
the amount of the adjustment and a point of contact 
for contesting such adjustment. 
‘‘(c) COMPROMISE.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY
TO
COMPROMISE
CLAIMS.— 
The Executive Officer may— 
‘‘(A) compromise a claim to collect an in-
debtedness under this section if the amount in-
volved is not more than $100,000; and 
‘‘(B) suspend or end collection action on 
such a claim if it appears that no person liable 
on the claim has the present or prospective abil-
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ity to pay a significant amount of the claim or 
if the cost of collecting the claim is likely to be 
more than the amount recovered. 
‘‘(2) EFFECT OF COMPROMISE.—A compromise 
under this subsection is final and conclusive unless 
gotten by fraud, misrepresentation, presenting a 
false claim, or mutual mistake of fact. 
‘‘(3) NO LIABILITY OF OFFICIAL RESPONSIBLE 
FOR COMPROMISE.—An accountable official is not 
liable for an amount paid or for the value of prop-
erty lost or damaged if the amount or value is not 
recovered because of a compromise under this sub-
section. 
‘‘(d) WAIVER OF CLAIM.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE CLAIMS.—Upon ap-
plication from a person liable on a claim to collect 
an indebtedness under this section, the Executive 
Officer may, with written justification, waive the 
claim if collection would be— 
‘‘(A) against equity; 
‘‘(B) against good conscience; and 
‘‘(C) not in the best interests of the 
Courts. 
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‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORITY.—The Exec-
utive Officer may not exercise the authority under 
this subsection to waive a claim if— 
‘‘(A) in the Executive Officer’s opinion, 
there exists, in connection with the claim, an in-
dication of fraud, misrepresentation, fault, or 
lack of good faith on the part of the employee, 
former employee, or any other person having an 
interest in obtaining a waiver of the claim; or 
‘‘(B) the application for waiver is received 
in the Executive Officer’s office after the expi-
ration of 3 years immediately following the date 
on which the erroneous payment was discovered 
or 3 years after the date of the enactment of 
this section, whichever is later, except if the 
claim involves money owed for Federal health 
benefits, Federal life insurance, or Federal re-
tirement benefits. 
‘‘(3) DENIAL OF APPLICATION FOR WAIVER.— 
A decision by the Executive Officer to deny an appli-
cation for a waiver under this subsection shall be the 
final administrative decision of the District govern-
ment. 
‘‘(4) REFUND
OF
AMOUNTS
ALREADY
COL-
LECTED AGAINST CLAIM SUBSEQUENTLY WAIVED.— 
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If the Courts have been reimbursed for a claim 
under this section in whole or in part, and a waiver 
of the claim is then granted, the employee or former 
employee shall be entitled to a refund of the amount 
of the reimbursement upon application for that re-
fund, so long as the application is received not later 
than 2 years after the effective date of the waiver. 
‘‘(5) EFFECT ON ACCOUNTS OF COURTS.—In 
the audit and settlement of accounts of any account-
able official, full credit shall be given for any 
amounts with respect to which collection by the 
Courts is waived under this subsection. 
‘‘(6) VALIDITY OF PAYMENTS.—An erroneous 
payment or debt, the collection of which is waived 
under this subsection, is a valid payment for all pur-
poses. 
‘‘(7) NO EFFECT ON OTHER AUTHORITIES.— 
Nothing contained in this subsection shall be con-
strued to affect in any way the authority under any 
other statute to litigate, settle, compromise, or waive 
any claim of the District of Columbia. 
‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Executive Officer’s author-
ity under this section shall be subject to regulations pro-
mulgated by the Joint Committee on Judicial Administra-
tion.’’. 
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