District of Columbia Law Revision Commission Act
PL 93-379 (H.R.12832), enacted 08/21/1974

480 
PUBLIC LAW 93-379^AUG. 21, 1974 
[88 STAT. 
16 u s e 1609. 
Forest Service 
field offices. 
42 u s e 3122. 
Information and 
data, utilization. 
16 u s e 1610. 
SEC. 10. (a) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM DEFINED.—Congress declares 
that the National Forest System consists of units of federally owned 
forest, range, and related lands throughout the United States and its 
territories, united into a nationally significant sj^stem dedicated to the 
long-term benefit for present and future generations, and that it is the 
purpose of this section to include all such areas into one integral 
system. The "National Forest System" shall include all national 
forest lands reserved or withdrawn from the public domain of the 
United States, all national forest lands acquired through purchase, 
exchange, donation, or other means, the national grasslands and land 
utilization projects administered under title I I I of the Bankhead-
Jones Farm Tenant Act (50 Stat. 525, 7 U.S.C. 1010-1012), and other 
lands, waters, or interests therein which are administered by the 
Forest Service or are designated for administration through the For-
est Service as a part of the system. 
(b) The on-the-ground field offices, field supervisory offices, and 
legional offices of the Forest Service shall be so situated as to provide 
the optimum level of convenient, useful services to the public, giving 
priority to the maintenance and location of facilities in rural areas and 
towns near the national forest and Forest Service program locations 
in accordance with the standards in section 901(b) of the Act of 
November 30,1970 (84 Stat. 1383), as amended. 
SEC. 11. RENEWABLE RESOURCES.—In carrying out this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall utilize information and data available 
from other Fe^ral, State, and private organizations and shall avoid 
duplication and overlap of resource assessment and program planning 
efforts of other Federal agencies. The term "renewable resources" 
shall be construed to involve those matters within the scope of respon-
sibilities and authorities of the Forest Service on the date of this Act. 
Approved August 17, 1974. 
August 21. 1974 
[H.R. 12832] 
Public Law 93-379 
AN ACT 
To create a Law Revision Commission for the District of Columbia, and to 
establish a municipal code for the District of Columbia. 
The District of 
eolumbia Law 
Revision eom-
mission Act. 
D . e . Code 49-
401 note. 
District,of 
Columbia Law 
Revision Com-
mission. 
Establishment. 
D . e . Code 49-
401. 
Membership. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representati'ves of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may 
be cited as "the District of Columbia Law Revision Commission Act". 
SEC 2. (a) There is established in the District of Columbia a 
District of Columbia Law Revision Commission (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the "Commission") which shall consist of fifteen 
members appointed as follows: 
(1) Two members shall be appointed by the President of the 
United States. 
(2) One member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives. 
(3) One member shall be appointed by the President pro 
tempore of the Senate. 
(4) One member shall be appointed by the minority leader of 
the House of Representatives. 
88 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 93-379-AUG. 21, 1974 
481 
(5) One member shall be appointed by the minority leader of 
the Senate. 
(6) Three members shall be appointed by the Commissioner 
of the District of Columbia, one of whom shall be a nonlawyer. 
and one of M'hom shall be a member of the law faculty of a law 
school in the District of Columbia. 
(7) One member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the 
District of Columbia Council. 
(8) Two members shall be appointed by the Joint Committee on 
Judicial x\dministration in the District of Columbia. 
(9) One member shall be appointed by the District of Colum-
bia Corporation Counsel. 
(10) Two members shall be appointed by the Board of (xover-
nors of the District of Columbia unified bar. 
(b) No person may be appointed as a member of the Commission 
citizenship re-
unless he is a citizen of the United States. At least eight persons ''"''•^"^" • 
appointed to the Commission shall be bona fide residents of the District 
of Columbia who have maintained an actual place of abode in the Dis-
trict of Columbia for at least the ninety days immediately prior to 
their appointments as such members. The remaining persons appointed 
as members of the Commission shall be residents of the National Cap-
ital Region, as defined in the Act of June 6, 1924 (D.C. Code, 
sec. 1-1001 et seq.) (establishing the National Capital Planning 
4ousc7i. 
Commission), who have maintained an actual place of abode in the 
National Capital Region for at least ninety days immediately prior to 
their appointments as such members. 
(c) Members of the Commission shall serve for four-year terms and 
'^^'•'"• 
may be reappointed. 
(d) The Chairman of the Commission shall be selected by the mem-
bers of the Commission from among their number. 
(e) Each appointment of members of the Commission shall be made. 
Non-partisan 
without regard to political party affiliation, on the basis of the ability ^P^°'" ""^^ • 
of that person to perform his duties with the Commission. 
(f) Appointments made to fill vacancies on the Commission shall 
be made in the same manner, and on the same basis, as original 
appointments to the Commission are made. A member appointed to fill 
a vacancy shall serve until the expiration of the term of the member 
whose vacancy he was appointed to fill. 
(g) Members and the Chairman of the Commission shall be entitled 
compensation. 
to receive $100 for each day (including traveltime) during which 
they are engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the 
Commission, except no member or Chairman shall receive more than 
$5,000 for the i^erformance of such duties during any twelve-month 
period. 
(h) While away from their homes or regular places of business in ^^^""^^^ 
the performance of the duties of the Commission, members, including 
the Chairman, of the Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, 
including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as per-
sons employed intermittently in the Government service are allowed 
expenses under section 5703(b) of title 5 of the United States Code. 
ex-
penses. 
482 
PUBLIC LAW 93-379-AUG. 21, 1974 
[88 STAT. 
Personnel. 
5 u s e 5101, 
5311. 
Information, 
availability. 
Contract 
authority. 
Duties. 
D.C. Code 49-
402. 
(i) The Commission may appoint and fix the compensation of such 
personnel as it deems advisable. Such personnel shall be appointed 
subject to the provisions of title 5 of the United States Code, govern-
ing appointments in the competitive service, and shall be paid in 
accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter II of 
chapter 5o of such title relating to classification and General Sched-
ule pay rates. Persons appointed to the staif of the Commission shall 
be so appointed solely on the basis of their ability to perform the duties 
of the (Commission without regard to political party 
affiliation. 
Employees of the Commission shall be regarded as employees of the 
District of Columbia government. 
(j) The Commission, acting through its Chairman, may request from 
any department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch 
of the Federal and District governments, including independent agen-
cies, any information for carrying out the purposes of this Act; and 
each department, agency, instrumentality, and independent agency is 
authorized and directed, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish to 
the Commission the requested information. 
(k) The Commission may enter into contracts with Federal or 
State agencies, private firms, institutions, and individuals for the 
conduct of research or surveys, the preparation of reports, and other 
activities necessary to the discharge of its duties. 
(I) The Commission may establish such advisory groups, commit-
tees, and subcommittees, consisting of members or nonmembers, as it 
deems necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act. 
SEC. 3. (a) It shall be the duty of the Commission to— 
(1) examine the common law and statutes relating to the Dis-
trict of Columbia, the ordinances, regulations, resolutions, and 
acts of the District of Columbia Council, and all relevant judicial 
decisions for the purpose of discovering defects and anachronisms 
in the law relating to the District of Columbia and recommending 
needed reforms; 
(2) receive and consider proposed changes in the law rec-
ommended by the American Law Institute, the Conference of 
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, any bar association or 
other learned bodies; 
(3) receive and consider suggestions from judges, justices, 
public officials, lawyers, and the public generally as to defects and 
anachronisms in the law relating to the District of Columbia; and 
(4) recommend, from time to time, to the Congress, and where 
appropriate to the Commissioner of the District of Columbia and 
to the District of Columbia Council, such changes in the law 
relating to the District of Columbia as it deems necessary to 
modify or eliminate antiquated and inequitable rules of law, and 
to bring the law relating to the District of Columbia, both civil 
and criminal, into harmony with modern conditions. 
In carrying out its duties under this Act, the Commission shall give 
special consideration to the examination of the common law and stat-
utes relating to the criminal law in the District of Columbia, and all 
Termination 
date. 
88 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 93-379-AUG. 21, 1974 
483 
relevant judicial decisions, for the purpose of discovering defects and 
anachronisms in the law relating to the criminal law in the District 
of Columbia and recommending needed reforms. 
(b) In addition to those duties of the Commission specified in 
subsection 
(a), the Commission shall prepare and 
recommend 
proposed uniform rules of practice, including rules relating to the 
conduct of hearings, for administrative agencies of the District of 
Columbia, including both independent and subordinate agencies, 
which conduct on-the-record hearings. The Commission shall also 
make a study of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure 
Act for the purpose of preparing a manual, including relevant legis- i^\^^^°'^^ ^' 
lative history and legal precedents, for the guidance of the respective 
administrative agencies. 
SEC. -1. (a) The Commission shall make an annual report of its pr^s?j°Jnt*°con-
proceedings to the President, to the Congress, to the Commissioner gress, commis-
of the District of Columbia, and to the District of Columbia Council D'i°s"rict°^of^coium 
by March 31 of each year. All reports of the Commission to the bi'a,"and°Dis°ri'cT 
Congress, including reports made under section 3(a)(4), shall be o
f Columbia 
filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secre- 
D^'.'c^.'code 49-
tary of the Senate, and where appropriate, include drafts of proposed 403. 
bills to carry out any of its recommendations. 
(b) Upon the filing of the Commission's annual report at the end 
of the fourth full calendar year after the date that funds are first 
appropriated to the Commission, the Commission shall cease to exist, 
unless extended by Congress. 
SEC. 5. (a) Section 7 of the District of Columbia Administrative 
Municipal code 
Procedure Act (D.C. Code, sec. 1-1507) is amended by adding at the columMi!"""' °' 
end thereof the following: 
"(d) P^very regulation in the nature of a law or municipal ordinance 
adopted by the Council under authority specified in Reorganization 
Plan Numbered 3 of 1967, or under authority of any Act of Congress, 
^ use app. 
upon enactment, shall be codified and published in a Municipal Code 
of the District of Columbia which shall conform as closely as possible 
and shall be cross-indexed with the District of Columbia Code 
compiled by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
resentatives. The Council shall from time to time issue such supple-
ments or otherwise update and keep current the Municipal Code of 
the District of Columbia established under this subsection. The first 
such codification and publication of the Municipal Code of the Dis-
trict of Columbia shall be completed within one year after the date of 
enactment of this subsection.". 
^ (b) The District of Columbia Council shall provide for public ^^^•''- "^""^ ^^-
distribution (at cost) of the Municipal Code of the District of Colum-
bia established by the amendment made by subsection (a). 
SEC. 6. For the purpose of carrying out this Act, including the 
Appropriation. 
amendment made by this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated, 405!*^" '^"^^ "*'" 
out of moneys in the Treasury credited to the District of Columbia 
and not otherwise appropriated, such amounts as may be necessary 
to carry out the purpose of this Act. 
Approved August 21, 1974.