District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2007

Bill: 109-s-3660
Sponsor: Sen. Brownback, Sam [R-KS]
Introduced: 2006-07-13 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Abortion
Administration of justice
Administrative remedies
Alcoholism
Appropriations
Arts, Culture, Religion
Baseball
Biological warfare
Boycott
Budget surpluses
Charter schools
Chief financial officers
Child welfare
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
College costs
Community policing
Congressional districts
Congressional oversight
Congressional reporting requirements
Congressional voting
Contraceptives
Cost of living adjustments
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal statistics
Department of the Treasury
Disabled
District of Columbia
Domestic partners
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Drug law enforcement
Drug legalization
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency Management
Environmental Protection
Families
Fathers
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to housing
Federal law enforcement officers
Finance and Financial Sector
Financial statements
Fines (Penalties)
Forensic medicine
Foster home care
Government Operations and Politics
Government procurement
Halfway houses
Health
Higher education
Homicide
Housing and Community Development
Laboratories
Land transfers
Law
Leases
Legal fees
Legislation
Libraries
Local budgets
Local laws
Local officials
Marijuana
Marriage
Mass rapid transit
Medicinal plants
Minorities
Needle exchange programs
Parole
Pest control
Pretrial procedure
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Public defenders
Religion
Religious liberty
Reprogramming of appropriated funds
Scholarships
School choice
Science, Technology, Communications
Sewerage
Social Welfare
Special education
Sports and Recreation
Stadiums
Statehood (American politics)
Student loan funds
Subways
Terrorism
Traffic accidents and safety
Transportation and Public Works
Water Resources Development
Waterfronts

Summary:
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: 
District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2007 - Makes appropriations to the District of Columbia for FY2007, including amounts for the federal payments: (1) for District of Columbia Resident Tuition Support; (2) for emergency planning and security costs in the District; (3) to District of Columbia Courts; (4) for Defender Services in District of Columbia Courts; (5) to the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (including transfer of funds); (6) to the DC Public Defender Service for salaries and expenses; (7) to the DC Water and Sewer Authority; (8) to the Department of Transportation in the District for the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative; (9) to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; (10) to the Department of Transportation in the District to operate a downtown circulator transit system; (11) for foster care improvement in the District; (12) to the Chief Financial Officer of the District; (13) for a DC Public School improvement program; (14) for a bioterrorism and forensics laboratory; (15) for marriage development, improvement, and promotion; (16) for upgrading and expanding the capacity of the Navy Yard Metro Station; and (17) for a new, state-of-the-art central library.
 
Appropriates specified sums out of the District's general fund and/or other funds for the current fiscal year for certain operating expenses (with specified limitations). 
 Subjects the allocation and expenditure of appropriated amounts to &quot;Title II--District of Columbia Funds&quot; of the Fiscal Year 2006 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan submitted to Congress by the District of Columbia on June 6, 2005.
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

 
District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2007 - Makes appropriations to the District of Columbia for FY2007, including amounts for the federal payments: (1) for District of Columbia Resident Tuition Support; (2) for emergency planning and security costs in the District; (3) to District of Columbia Courts; (4) for Defender Services in District of Columbia Courts; (5) to the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (including transfer of funds); (6) to the DC Public Defender Service for salaries and expenses; (7) to the DC Water and Sewer Authority; (8) to the Department of Transportation in the District for the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative; (9) to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; (10) to the Department of Transportation in the District to operate a downtown circulator transit system; (11) for foster care improvement in the District; (12) to the Chief Financial Officer of the District; (13) for a DC Public School improvement program; (14) for a bioterrorism and forensics laboratory; (15) for marriage development, improvement, and promotion; (16) for upgrading and expanding the capacity of the Navy Yard Metro Station; and (17) for a new, state-of-the-art central library.
 
Appropriates specified sums out of the District's general fund and/or other funds for the current fiscal year for certain operating expenses (with specified limitations). 
 Subjects the allocation and expenditure of appropriated amounts to &quot;Title II--District of Columbia Funds&quot; of the Fiscal Year 2006 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan submitted to Congress by the District of Columbia on June 6, 2005. 

General Provisions
 - Sets forth authorized or prohibited uses of funds appropriated by this Act identical or similar to corresponding provisions of the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2006. 
(Sec. 104) Authorizes the District to use local funds provided in this Act to carry out lobbying activities on any matter other than: (1) the promotion or support of any boycott; or (2) statehood for the District or voting representation in Congress for the District. 
States that nothing in this Act may be construed to prohibit any elected official from advocating with respect to any such issues. 
(Sec. 105) Authorizes the District government to approve and execute reprogramming and transfer requests of local funds under this Act through FY2007. 
(Sec. 110) Bars the use of funds under this Act to implement or enforce: (1) the District of Columbia Health Care Benefits Expansion Act of 1992 (also known as the District Domestic Partner Act); or (2) any system of registration of unmarried, cohabiting couples for purposes of extending them benefits on the same basis as such benefits are extended to legally married couples. 
(Sec. 114) Prohibits the use of federal funds contained in this Act by the District of Columbia Corporation Counsel or any other District government officer or entity to provide assistance for any petition drive or civil action which seeks to require Congress to provide for voting representation in Congress for the District. 
(Sec. 115) Prohibits the use of federal funds contained in this Act for any program of distributing sterile needles or syringes for the hypodermic injection of any illegal drug. Requires individuals or entities who do so to account for all funds used for such program separately from any funds contained in this Act.
 
(Sec. 116) Prohibits the use of funds contained in this Act 60 days after its enactment to pay the salary of any chief financial officer of any District government office who has not filed a certification with the Mayor and CFO that the officer understands the duties and restrictions applicable, including reports required as a result of this Act or its amendments.
 
(Sec. 117) Provides that nothing in this Act may be construed to prevent the Council or the Mayor of the District of Columbia from addressing the issue of the provision of contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans. Expresses the intent of Congress that any legislation enacted on such issue should include a &quot;conscience clause&quot; which provides exceptions for religious beliefs and moral convictions.
 
(Sec. 118) Requires the Mayor to report quarterly to specified congressional committees on the following District issues: (1) crime; (2) access to substance and alcohol abuse treatment; (3) management of parolees and pretrial violent offenders; (4) education; (5) improvement in basic District services, including rat control and abatement; (6) application for and management of federal grants; and (7) indicators of child well-being.
 
(Sec. 120) Prohibits funds contained in this Act from being made available to pay: (1) the fees in excess of $4,000 of an attorney who represents a party or defends an action, including an administrative proceeding, brought against the DC Public Schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); or (2) the fees of an attorney or firm whom the CFO determines to have a pecuniary interest, either through an attorney, officer or employee of the firm, in any special education diagnostic services, schools, or other special education service providers.
 
 
(Sec. 121) Directs the CFO to require attorneys in special education cases brought under IDEA in the District to certify in writing, along with other specified disclosures, that the attorney or representative rendered any and all services for which they receive awards, including those received under a settlement agreement or as part of an administrative proceeding, under IDEA.
 
 
(Sec. 122) Allows an increase in the amount appropriated by this Act by not more than $42 million from funds identified in the comprehensive annual financial report as the District's FY2006 unexpended general fund surplus.
 
Requires the CFO to certify that the use of such funds is not anticipated to have a negative impact on the District's long-term financial, fiscal, and economic vitality.
 
Limits the use of such funds to: (1) one-time expenditures; (2) expenditures to avoid deficit spending; (3) debt reduction; (4) program needs; and (5) expenditures to avoid revenue shortfalls.
 
Prohibits such funds from being: (1) used to fund District government agencies under court-ordered receivership; or (2) obligated or expended without the approval of congressional appropriations committees in advance.
 
(Sec. 123) Authorizes the CFO to conduct short-term borrowing from the emergency and contingency reserve funds, subject to specified conditions.
 
(Sec. 124) Allows the increase of the amount appropriated as District funds pursuant to this Act by an aggregate amount of: (1) not more than 25%, in the case of amounts proposed to be allocated as &quot;Other-Type Funds&quot; in the Fiscal Year 2007 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan submitted to Congress by the District; and (2) not more than 6%, in the case of any other amounts proposed to be allocated in such Proposed Budget and Financial Plan.
 
Requires the CFO to certify the increase in revenue and that the use of such funds is not anticipated to have a negative impact on the District's long-term financial, fiscal, or economic health.
 
Prohibits the funds from being: (1) used to fund District government agencies under court-ordered receivership; or (2) obligated or expended without the approval of congressional appropriations committees in advance.
 
(Sec. 125) Prohibits the use of funds contained in this Act to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act or any tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) derivative.
 
Provides that the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998, also known as Initiative 59, approved by the electors of the District on November 3, 1998, shall not take effect.
 
(Sec. 126) Prohibits the expenditure of funds appropriated under this Act for abortions except where the mother's life would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in cases of rape or incest.
 
(Sec. 127) Exempts the entire process used by the CFO to acquire all kinds of goods, works, and services by contractual means, including but not limited to purchase, lease, or rental, from the District of Columbia's Procurement Practices Act if such exemption takes effect as if enacted in D.C. Law 11-259 and remains in effect through FY2007.
 
(Sec. 129) Allows amounts appropriated in this Act as operating funds to be transferred to the District's enterprise and capital funds. Requires such transferred amounts to retain appropriation authority consistent with the provisions of this Act.
 
(Sec. 130) Exempts funds appropriated in this Act and subsequent appropriations Acts for the direct loan fund and the credit enhancement fund from the Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act requirements with respect to special rules regarding certain contracts.
 
(Sec. 131) Makes an eligible student who received a scholarship for the 2004-2005 school year or the 2005-2006 school year under the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act of 2003 eligible to receive a scholarship for the second or any succeeding year of his or her participation in the program, provided the student comes from a household whose income does not exceed 300% of the poverty line.
 
(Sec. 132) Requires the CFO to prepare and submit annually to the Mayor of the District, for inclusion in the annual budget of the District government, annual estimates of the expenditures and appropriations necessary for the year for the operations of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer operations and all other District accounting, budget, and financial management personnel (including personnel of executive branch independent agencies) that report to the Office.
 
Prohibits the DC Council from revising such estimates.
 
(Sec. 133) Extends through FY2007 the CFO's authority with respect to personnel and the preparation of fiscal impact statements during a control year.
 
(Sec. 134) Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to adjust the salary of the CFO to an annual rate equal to 1.5 times the rate of basic pay payable for level I of the Executive Schedule.
 
(Sec. 135) Prohibits the term of the current CFO as of enactment of this Act from ending before June 30, 2008.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 517.
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: Committee on Appropriations. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Brownback. With written report No. 109-281.
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: Committee on Appropriations. Original measure reported to Senate by Senator Brownback. With written report No. 109-281.
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: Committee on Appropriations ordered to be reported an original measure.
action_date: 2006-07-13
text: Introduced in Senate
action_date: 2006-06-22
text: Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on District of Columbia. Hearings held prior to introduction and/or referral. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 109-334, pt. 2.
action_date: 2006-03-14
text: Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on District of Columbia. Hearings held prior to introduction and/or referral.