District of Columbia Special Elections Home Rule Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8018 To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to permit the District of Columbia to establish the timing of special elections for local office in the District of Columbia. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 11, 2020 Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to permit the District of Columbia to establish the timing of special elections for local office in 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 Special Elections Home Rule Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TIMING OF SPECIAL ELECTIONS FOR LOCAL OF- 6 FICE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 7 (a) COUNCIL.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8018.IH H8018 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8018 IH (1) CHAIR.—The first sentence of section 1 401(b)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule 2 Act (sec. 1–204.01(b)(3), D.C. Official Code) is 3 amended to read as follows: ‘‘To fill a vacancy in the 4 Office of Chairman, the Board of Elections shall 5 hold a special election in the District in accordance 6 with such procedures, including procedures estab- 7 lishing the time of the election, as may be estab- 8 lished by law of the District of Columbia.’’. 9 (2) MEMBERS ELECTED FROM WARDS.—The 10 first sentence of section 401(d)(1) of such Act (sec. 11 1–204.01(d)(1), D.C. Official Code) is amended to 12 read as follows: ‘‘In the event of a vacancy in the 13 Council of a member elected from a ward, the Board 14 of Elections shall hold a special election in the Dis- 15 trict in accordance with such procedures, including 16 procedures establishing the time of the election, as 17 may be established by law of the District of Colum- 18 bia.’’. 19 (3) MEMBERS ELECTED AT-LARGE.—The sec- 20 ond sentence of section 401(d)(2) of such Act (sec. 21 1–204.01(d)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘and such 22 special election’’ and all that follows and inserting 23 the following: ‘‘and such special election shall be 24 held in accordance with such procedures, including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8018.IH H8018 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8018 IH procedures establishing the time of the election, as 1 may be established by law of the District of Colum- 2 bia.’’. 3 (b) MAYOR.—The first sentence of section 421(c)(2) 4 of such Act (sec. 1–204.21(c)(2), D.C. Official Code) is 5 amended to read as follows: ‘‘To fill a vacancy in the Of- 6 fice of Mayor, the Board of Elections shall hold a special 7 election in the District in accordance with such proce- 8 dures, including procedures establishing the time of the 9 election, as may be established by law of the District of 10 Columbia.’’. 11 (c) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The first sentence of sec- 12 tion 435(b)(1) of such Act (sec. 1–204.35(b)(1), D.C. Of- 13 ficial Code) is amended by striking ‘‘the Board of Elec- 14 tions’’ and all that follows and inserting the following: 15 ‘‘the Board of Elections shall hold a special election in 16 the District in accordance with such procedures, including 17 procedures establishing the time of the election, as may 18 be established by law of the District of Columbia.’’. 19 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 20 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 21 respect to vacancies occurring after the expiration of the 22 one-year period which begins on the date of the enactment 23 of this Act. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8018.IH H8018 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS