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 pursu-
ant 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 Colum-
bia, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 
Civil Enforcement Equality Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. AUTHORIZING PAYMENTS BY DISTRICT OF COLUM-
BIA PURSUANT TO CONTINGENCY FEE AR-
RANGEMENTS FOR LEGAL SERVICES. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—If the Attorney General of the 
District of Columbia enters into a contract with private 
counsel for the provision of legal services in claims and 
other legal matters affecting the interests of the District 
of Columbia and the contract includes a contingency fee 
arrangement, the District of Columbia may make pay-
ments pursuant to such arrangement without regard to 
whether the funds used for the payments are deposited 
in accounts of the District of Columbia or provided in an 
appropriation, notwithstanding any provision of title 31, 
United States Code, or any other law of the United States 
or the District of Columbia. 
(b) CONDITIONS FOR CONTRACTS.—Any contract de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall be subject to the require-
ments of the Procurement Practices Reform Act of 2010 
(sec. 2–351.01 et seq., D.C. Official Code). The amount 
of the fee payable for legal services furnished under any 
such contract may not exceed the fee that counsel engaged 
in the private practice of law in the District of Columbia 
typically charges clients for furnishing similar legal serv-
ices, as determined by the Attorney General of the District 
of Columbia. 
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(c) RESTRICTION.—The District of Columbia may 
not enter into a contingency fee arrangement in a claim 
or other legal matter seeking the recovery of Federal 
funds. 
(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, a ‘‘contingency fee 
arrangement’’ means a provision in a contract described 
in subsection (a) under which the costs, expenses, and fees 
the private counsel charges for legal services are payable 
from the amount recovered. 
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 
respect to fiscal year 2018 and each succeeding fiscal year. 
Æ 
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