Washington, D.C. Residents Voting Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 980 To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia to Maryland, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 10, 2023 Mr. GRIFFITH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Accountability, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia to Maryland, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Washington, D.C. Residents Voting Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—RETROCESSION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO MARYLAND VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 980 IH Subtitle A—Retrocession Sec. 101. Retrocession of District of Columbia to Maryland. Sec. 102. Proclamation regarding acceptance of retrocession by Maryland. Subtitle B—Federal District as Seat of Government of United States Sec. 111. Description of Federal District. Sec. 112. National Guard. Sec. 113. Effect of retrocession on laws in effect in seat of Government of United States. Sec. 114. Termination of legal status of seat of Government of United States as municipal corporation. Subtitle C—General Provisions Sec. 121. Pending actions and proceedings. Sec. 122. Effect on judicial proceedings pending in District of Columbia. Sec. 123. Effect on existing contracts. TITLE II—INTERESTS OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Subtitle A—Property Sec. 201. Title to property. Sec. 202. Treatment of military lands. Subtitle B—Federal Courts Sec. 211. Residency requirements for certain Federal officials. Sec. 212. Renaming of Federal courts. Sec. 213. Conforming amendments relating to Department of Justice. Subtitle C—Federal Elections Sec. 221. Permitting individuals residing in Federal District to vote in Federal elections in State of most recent domicile. Sec. 222. Repeal of Office of District of Columbia Delegate. Sec. 223. Repeal of law providing for participation of seat of government in election of President and Vice-President. TITLE III—TEMPORARY CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN AUTHORITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Subtitle A—Continuation of Benefits for Certain Employees of District of Columbia Sec. 301. Federal benefit payments under certain retirement programs. Sec. 302. Continuation of Federal civil service benefits for employees first em- ployed prior to establishment of District of Columbia merit personnel system. Sec. 303. Obligations of Federal Government under judges’ retirement pro- gram. Sec. 304. Employees of Public Defender Service. Sec. 305. Employees exercising authority over parole and supervision. Sec. 306. Employees of courts and court system. Subtitle B—Other Programs and Authorities VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 980 IH Sec. 311. Designation of District of Columbia felons to facilities of Bureau of Prisons. Sec. 312. Application of the College Access Act. Sec. 313. Application of the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act. Sec. 314. Federal planning commissions. Sec. 315. Role of Army Corps of Engineers in supplying water. Sec. 316. Requirements to be located in District of Columbia. TITLE IV—GENERAL PROVISIONS Sec. 401. Definition. Sec. 402. Effect on other laws. Sec. 403. Effective date. TITLE I—RETROCESSION OF DIS- 1 TRICT OF COLUMBIA TO 2 MARYLAND 3 Subtitle A—Retrocession 4 SEC. 101. RETROCESSION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO 5 MARYLAND. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon the issuance of a proclama- 7 tion by the President under section 102(b) and except as 8 provided in subsection (b), the territory ceded to Congress 9 by the State of Maryland to serve as the District consti- 10 tuting the permanent seat of the Government of the 11 United States is ceded and relinquished to the State of 12 Maryland. 13 (b) CONTINUATION OF FEDERAL CONTROL OVER 14 FEDERAL DISTRICT.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 15 the Federal District described in section 111 shall not be 16 ceded and relinquished to the State of Maryland and shall 17 continue to serve as the permanent seat of the Govern- 18 ment of the United States, and Congress shall continue 19 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 980 IH to exercise exclusive legislative authority and control over 1 such District. 2 SEC. 102. PROCLAMATION REGARDING ACCEPTANCE OF 3 RETROCESSION BY MARYLAND. 4 (a) ENACTMENT OF LAW ACCEPTING RETROCES- 5 SION.—Retrocession under section 101 shall not take 6 place unless the State of Maryland enacts legislation to 7 accept such retrocession. 8 (b) PROCLAMATION BY PRESIDENT.—Not later than 9 30 days after the State of Maryland enacts legislation ac- 10 cepting the retrocession under section 101, the President 11 shall issue a proclamation announcing such acceptance 12 and declaring that the territory ceded to Congress by the 13 State of Maryland to serve as the District constituting the 14 permanent seat of the Government of the United States 15 has been ceded back to the State of Maryland. 16 Subtitle B—Federal District as Seat 17 of Government of United States 18 SEC. 111. DESCRIPTION OF FEDERAL DISTRICT. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (c), (d), 20 and (e), upon the retrocession under section 101, the Fed- 21 eral District shall consist of the property described in sub- 22 section (b) and shall include the principal Federal monu- 23 ments, the White House, the Capitol Building, the United 24 States Supreme Court Building, and the Federal execu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 980 IH tive, legislative, and judicial office buildings located adja- 1 cent to the Mall and the Capitol Building (as such terms 2 are used in section 8501(a) of title 40, United States 3 Code). 4 (b) GENERAL DESCRIPTION.—Upon the retrocession 5 under section 101, the boundaries of the Federal District 6 shall be as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the 7 southern right-of-way of F Street NE and the eastern 8 right-of-way of 2nd Street NE— 9 (1) thence south along said eastern right-of-way 10 of 2nd Street NE to its intersection with the north- 11 eastern right-of-way of Maryland Avenue NE; 12 (2) thence southwest along said northeastern 13 right-of-way of Maryland Avenue NE to its intersec- 14 tion with the northern right-of-way of Constitution 15 Avenue NE; 16 (3) thence west along said northern right-of- 17 way of Constitution Avenue NE to its intersection 18 with the eastern right-of-way of 1st Street NE; 19 (4) thence south along said eastern right-of-way 20 of 1st Street NE to its intersection with the south- 21 eastern right-of-way of Maryland Avenue NE; 22 (5) thence northeast along said southeastern 23 right-of-way of Maryland Avenue NE to its intersec- 24 tion with the eastern right-of-way of 2nd Street SE; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 980 IH (6) thence south along said eastern right-of-way 1 of 2nd Street SE to the eastern right-of-way of 2nd 2 Street SE; 3 (7) thence south along said eastern right-of-way 4 of 2nd Street SE to its intersection with the north- 5 ern property boundary of the property designated as 6 Square 760 Lot 803; 7 (8) thence east along said northern property 8 boundary of Square 760 Lot 803 to its intersection 9 with the western right-of-way of 3rd Street SE; 10 (9) thence south along said western right-of- 11 way of 3rd Street SE to its intersection with the 12 northern right-of-way of Independence Avenue SE; 13 (10) thence west along said northern right-of- 14 way of Independence Avenue SE to its intersection 15 with the northwestern right-of-way of Pennsylvania 16 Avenue SE; 17 (11) thence northwest along said northwestern 18 right-of-way of Pennsylvania Avenue SE to its inter- 19 section with the eastern right-of-way of 2nd Street 20 SE; 21 (12) thence south along said eastern right-of- 22 way of 2nd Street SE to its intersection with the 23 southern right-of-way of C Street SE; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 980 IH (13) thence west along said southern right-of- 1 way of C Street SE to its intersection with the east- 2 ern right-of-way of 1st Street SE; 3 (14) thence south along said eastern right-of- 4 way of 1st Street SE to its intersection with the 5 southern right-of-way of D Street SE; 6 (15) thence west along said southern right-of- 7 way of D Street SE to its intersection with the east- 8 ern right-of-way of South Capitol Street; 9 (16) thence south along said eastern right-of- 10 way of South Capitol Street to its intersection with 11 the northwestern right-of-way of Canal Street SE; 12 (17) thence southeast along said northwestern 13 right-of-way of Canal Street SE to its intersection 14 with the southern right-of-way of E Street SE; 15 (18) thence east along said southern right-of- 16 way of said E Street SE to its intersection with the 17 western right-of-way of 1st Street SE; 18 (19) thence south along said western right-of- 19 way of 1st Street SE to its intersection with the 20 southernmost corner of the property designated as 21 Square 736S Lot 801; 22 (20) thence west along a line extended due west 23 from said corner of said property designated as 24 Square 736S Lot 801 to its intersection with the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 980 IH southwestern right-of-way of New Jersey Avenue 1 SE; 2 (21) thence southeast along said southwestern 3 right-of-way of New Jersey Avenue SE to its inter- 4 section with the northwestern right-of-way of Vir- 5 ginia Avenue SE; 6 (22) thence northwest along said northwestern 7 right-of-way of Virginia Avenue SE to its intersec- 8 tion with the western right-of-way of South Capitol 9 Street; 10 (23) thence north along said western right-of- 11 way of South Capitol Street to its intersection with 12 the southern right-of-way of E Street SW; 13 (24) thence west along said southern right-of- 14 way of E Street SW to its end; 15 (25) thence west along a line extending said 16 southern right-of-way of E Street SW westward to 17 its intersection with the eastern right-of-way of 2nd 18 Street SW; 19 (26) thence north along said eastern right-of- 20 way of 2nd Street SW to its intersection with the 21 southwestern right-of-way of Virginia Avenue SW; 22 (27) thence northwest along said southwestern 23 right-of-way of Virginia Avenue SW to its intersec- 24 tion with the western right-of-way of 3rd Street SW; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 980 IH (28) thence north along said western right-of- 1 way of 3rd Street SW to its intersection with the 2 northern right-of-way of D Street SW; 3 (29) thence west along said northern right-of- 4 way of D Street SW to its intersection with the east- 5 ern right-of-way of 4th Street SW; 6 (30) thence north along said eastern right-of- 7 way of 4th Street SW to its intersection with the 8 northern right-of-way of C Street SW; 9 (31) thence west along said northern right-of- 10 way of C Street SW to its intersection with the east- 11 ern right-of-way of 6th Street SW; 12 (32) thence north along said eastern right-of- 13 way of 6th Street SW to its intersection with the 14 northern right-of-way of Independence Avenue SW; 15 (33) thence west along said northern right-of- 16 way of Independence Avenue SW to its intersection 17 with the western right-of-way of 12th Street SW; 18 (34) thence south along said western right-of- 19 way of 12th Street SW to its intersection with the 20 northern right-of-way of D Street SW; 21 (35) thence west along said northern right-of- 22 way of D Street SW to its intersection with the east- 23 ern right-of-way of 14th Street SW; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 980 IH (36) thence south along said eastern right-of- 1 way of 14th Street SW to its intersection with the 2 northeastern boundary of the Consolidated Rail Cor- 3 poration railroad easement; 4 (37) thence southwest along said northeastern 5 boundary of the Consolidated Rail Corporation rail- 6 road easement to its intersection with the eastern 7 shore of the Potomac River; 8 (38) thence generally northwest along said east- 9 ern shore of the Potomac River to its intersection 10 with a line extending westward the northern bound- 11 ary of the property designated as Square 12 Lot 12 806; 13 (39) thence east along said line extending west- 14 ward the northern boundary of the property des- 15 ignated as Square 12 Lot 806 to the northern prop- 16 erty boundary of the property designated as Square 17 12 Lot 806, and continuing east along said northern 18 boundary of said property designated as Square 12 19 Lot 806 to its northeast corner; 20 (40) thence east along a line extending east 21 from said northeast corner of the property des- 22 ignated as Square 12 Lot 806 to its intersection 23 with the western boundary of the property des- 24 ignated as Square 33 Lot 87; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:07 Mar 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H980.IH H980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 980 IH (41) thence south along said western boundary 1 of the property designated as Square 33 Lot 87 to 2 its intersection with the northwest corner of the 3 property designated as Square 33 Lot 88; 4 (42) thence counter-clockwise around the 5 boundary of said property designated as Square 33 6 Lot 88 to its southeast corner, which is along the 7 northern right-of-way of E Street NW; 8 (43) thence east along said northern [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]