District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act

Bill: 119-hr-356
Sponsor: full_name: Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Introduced: 2025-01-13
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation

Criminal procedure and sentencing

District of Columbia

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Intergovernmental relations

Law enforcement administration and funding

Legislative rules and procedure

State and local government operations
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-13
text: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-13
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act</strong></p><p>This bill shifts the responsibility for prosecuting all violations of the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the District of Columbia (DC) to a local prosecutor's office.</p><p>Currently, the responsibility for prosecuting such violations is shared between DC and the federal government. Generally, the local Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia prosecutes crimes committed by juveniles and criminal violations of municipal regulations, and the federal&nbsp;U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia prosecutes all other crimes.</p><p>The bill also specifies that current employees of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia who continue to be employed by the local prosecutor's office retain their eligibility as federal employees for purposes of health insurance, retirement, and&nbsp;other federal benefits.</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 356 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 13, 2025 Ms. Norton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform A BILL To assign the responsibility for conducting prosecutions for violations of the laws of the District of Columbia to the head of a local prosecutor’s office designated under local law of the District of Columbia.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act . 2. Responsibility of local prosecutor’s office for conduct of all District of Columbia prosecutions (a) In general Section 23–101, D.C. Official Code, is amended by striking subsections (a) through (f) and inserting the following: (a) Prosecutions for violations of all police or municipal ordinances or regulations of the District of Columbia and for violations of all penal statutes of the District of Columbia in the nature of police or municipal regulations shall be conducted in the name of the District of Columbia by the head of the local prosecutor’s office or the assistants of the head of such office, except as may otherwise be provided in any such ordinance, regulation, or statute of the District of Columbia. (b) In this section, the local prosecutor’s office is the office designated under local law of the District of Columbia as the office responsible for conducting prosecutions under this section. (c) Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the Attorney General of the United States or the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia to exercise jurisdiction concerning violations of the laws of the United States. . (b) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to violations of District of Columbia ordinances, regulations, and statutes which occur after the expiration of the 1-year period which begins on the date on which a local law of the District of Columbia which designates the local prosecutor’s office for purposes of section 23–101(b), D.C. Official Code (as amended by subsection (a)), takes effect. (c) Retention of federal benefits by continuing employees With respect to any individual who is an employee of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia as of the day before the date described in subsection (b) and continues to be employed by the local prosecutor’s office designated for purposes of section 23–101(b), D.C. Official Code (as amended by subsection (a))— (1) such individual shall continue to be treated as an employee of the Federal Government for purposes of receiving benefits under any chapter of subpart G of part III of title 5, United States Code; and (2) such designated local prosecutor’s office shall be treated as the employing agency of the individual with respect to such benefits.