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District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act
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.
Summary
This bill transfers prosecution authority for District of Columbia criminal laws from the federal U.S. Attorney to a local prosecutor's office designated by DC under its own local law. Currently, the U.S. Attorney for DC prosecutes violations of DC ordinances, regulations, and penal statutes; this bill would shift that responsibility to the locally-designated office beginning one year after DC designates such an office. The bill preserves the authority of the federal U.S. Attorney and the Attorney General to prosecute violations of federal law. Employees of the U.S. Attorney's office who transfer to the local prosecutor's office would retain their federal employee benefits during the transition.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (3)
- Jan 13, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. · house
- Jan 13, 2025 Introduced in House
- Jan 13, 2025 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E22)
More bills on these subjects (8)
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Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act”.
SEC. 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. <all>
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