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1 1 (February 27, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/goveksd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: aCongressional ~ Research Service Congressional Disapproval of District of Columbia Laws Under the Home Rule Act February 27, 2023 The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, as amended (also known as the District of Columbia Home Rule Act), includes provisions establishing a special parliamentary mechanism by which Congress can disapprove laws enacted by the District of Columbia. Under Section 602(c) of the Home Rule Act, with few exceptions, the chair of the DC city council must transmit a copy of each act passed by the council and signed by the mayor, as well as enactments stemming from ballot initiatives or referenda, to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. The law in question is to take effect upon the expiration of a specified layover period following the date the law was transmitted to Congress unless it is first overturned by a joint resolution of disapproval. The act establishes special fast track procedures that the Senate might use to consider such a disapproval resolution. The length of the congressional layover period for DC laws differs based on the type of law enacted. Any law codified in Titles 22 (Criminal Offenses and Penalties), 23 (Criminal Procedure), or 24 (Prisoners and Their Treatment) of the DC Code must lie over for 60 days before going into force. All other DC laws become effective upon the expiration of a period of 30 calendar days or upon the date prescribed by the act itself, whichever is later. Calculations of these 30- and 60-calendar day layover periods exclude Saturdays, Sundays, federal holidays, and days on which neither the House nor the Senate is in session because of an adjournment sine die or pursuant to an adjournment resolution. Under the act, any Member of the House or Senate may introduce a joint resolution disapproving a law of the District of Columbia at any time after the law has been submitted to Congress but before the expiration of the layover periods described above. The act stipulates the text of a disapproval resolution. All joint resolutions, when introduced, are referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the House and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in the Senate. Once a joint disapproval resolution is referred, a committee may choose to mark it up but may not report committee amendments to it. For those joint resolutions aimed at DC laws codified in the DC criminal code, a discharge mechanism is potentially available. For such acts, if a committee to which a disapproval resolution has been referred has not reported it by the expiration of a 20-calendar-day period after its introduction, a privileged motion to discharge the committee of it or any joint resolution aimed at the same DC law is in order. The motion to discharge is debatable for one hour, equally divided, and can be Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN12119 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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