District of Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 281 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 12, 2021 Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 4 Prosecutor Home Rule Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.IH H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 281 IH SEC. 2. RESPONSIBILITY OF LOCAL PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE 1 FOR CONDUCT OF ALL DISTRICT OF COLUM- 2 BIA PROSECUTIONS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 23–101, D.C. Official 4 Code, is amended by striking subsections (a) through (f) 5 and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(a) Prosecutions for violations of all police or munic- 7 ipal ordinances or regulations of the District of Columbia 8 and for violations of all penal statutes of the District of 9 Columbia in the nature of police or municipal regulations 10 shall be conducted in the name of the District of Columbia 11 by the head of the local prosecutor’s office or the assist- 12 ants of the head of such office, except as may otherwise 13 be provided in any such ordinance, regulation, or statute. 14 ‘‘(b) An indictment or information brought in the 15 name of the United States in the United States District 16 Court for the District of Columbia may include charges 17 of offenses prosecutable by the District of Columbia if the 18 head of the local prosecutor’s office consents to the inclu- 19 sion of such charges in writing. 20 ‘‘(c) An indictment or information brought in the 21 name of the District of Columbia in the Superior Court 22 of the District of Columbia may be joined for trial in the 23 United States District Court for the District of Columbia 24 with an indictment or information brought in that court 25 if the offenses charged therein could have been joined in 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.IH H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 281 IH the same indictment or information and if the head of the 1 local prosecutor’s office consents to such joinder. 2 ‘‘(d) In this section, the ‘local prosecutor’s office’ is 3 the office designated under local law of the District of Co- 4 lumbia as the office responsible for conducting prosecu- 5 tions under this section. 6 ‘‘(e) Nothing in this section shall affect the authority 7 of the Attorney General of the United States or the United 8 States Attorney for the District of Columbia to exercise 9 jurisdiction concerning violations of the laws of the United 10 States.’’. 11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 12 (1) APPEALS.—Section 23–104, D.C. Official 13 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel’’ 14 each place it appears in subsections (a)(1), (b), and 15 (d), and inserting ‘‘head of the local prosecutor’s of- 16 fice (as defined in section 23–101(d))’’. 17 (2) PROCEEDINGS TO ESTABLISH PREVIOUS 18 CONVICTIONS.—Section 23–111(a)(1), D.C. Official 19 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel’’ 20 and inserting ‘‘head of the local prosecutor’s office 21 (as defined in section 23–101(d))’’. 22 (3) DEFINITION OF PROSECUTOR.—Section 23– 23 501(3), D.C. Official Code, is amended by striking 24 ‘‘Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia’’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.IH H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 281 IH and inserting ‘‘head of the local prosecutor’s office 1 (as defined in section 23–101(d))’’. 2 (4) DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY SEIZED UNDER 3 SEARCH WARRANT.—Section 23–525, D.C. Official 4 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel 5 for the District of Columbia’’ and inserting ‘‘head of 6 the local prosecutor’s office (as defined in section 7 23–101(d))’’. 8 (5) DEPOSIT OF SEIZED CURRENCY.—Section 9 23–532(b)(1), D.C. Official Code, is amended by 10 striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel for the District of Co- 11 lumbia’’ and inserting ‘‘head of the local prosecu- 12 tor’s office (as defined in section 23–101(d))’’. 13 (6) CONSULTATION IN PROMULGATION OF REG- 14 ULATIONS REGARDING WARRANT AND ARREST PRO- 15 CEDURES.—Section 23–533, D.C. Official Code, is 16 amended by striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘head of the local prosecutor’s office (as de- 18 fined in section 23–101(d))’’. 19 (7) RECOMMENDATIONS BY PRETRIAL SERV- 20 ICES AGENCY REGARDING RELEASE OR DETENTION; 21 NOTICE REGARDING FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH CON- 22 DITIONS OF RELEASE.—Section 23–1303, D.C. Offi- 23 cial Code, is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H281.IH H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 281 IH (A) in the sixth sentence of subsection (a), 1 by striking ‘‘Corporation Counsel of the District 2 of Columbia’’ and inserting ‘‘head of the local 3 prosecutor’s office (as defined in section 23– 4 101(d))’’; and 5 (B) in subsection (h)(5), by striking ‘‘Cor- 6 poration Counsel of the District of Columbia’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘head of the local prosecutor’s of- 8 fice (as defined in section 23–101(d))’’. 9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 10 this section shall apply with respect to violations of Dis- 11 trict of Columbia ordinances, regulations, and statutes 12 which occur after the expiration of the 6-month period 13 which begins on the date on which a local law of the Dis- 14 trict of Columbia which designates the local prosecutor’s 15 office for purposes of section 23–101(d), D.C. Official 16 Code (as amended by subsection (a)) takes effect. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Feb 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H281.IH H281 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS