INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2020; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 138
(Extensions of Remarks - August 04, 2020)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E723-E724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2020
______
HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of
Columbia Courts Improvement Act of 2020. This bill would make several
important changes to improve the operations of the D.C. Courts.
First, this bill would remove the consent requirement for D.C.
Superior Court magistrate judges in certain situations. Currently,
consent from the parties involved is required for a magistrate judge to
perform duties in the Civil, Criminal and Probate Divisions of the
Superior Court. Removing this requirement from the Civil and Probate
Divisions in certain matters will further the efficiency of the
judicial process. The bill also authorizes magistrate judges to issue
search and arrest warrants and gives all magistrate judges contempt
authority.
Next, the bill updates several aspects of juror service in the
Superior Court. First, it ties Superior Court juror pay to the pay
jurors receive in federal court. Currently, the Board of Judges of the
Superior Court has authority to set the pay of jurors, but it is capped
at the rate paid to federal jurors. Despite this, Superior Court jurors
are crrently paid less than federal jurors. The bill also modernizes
juror summonses by allowing jurors to complete the questionnaire
electronically, which will save the court money on postage and staff
time. The bill further allows jurors who are 70 years old or older to
be excused from jury service if the individual so chooses.
The bill also makes improvements for the employees of the courts.
D.C. Courts nonjudicial employees and Public Defender Service (PDS)
employees are deemed to be federal employees for the purposes of early
retirement provisions in federal law, but the Courts and PDS do not
currently have the permanent authority to make voluntary separation
incentive payments or ``buyouts''--to employees who separate by
voluntary retirement or by resignation, unlike the authority possessed
by federal executive and judicial branches. The D.C. Courts and PDS
currently have this authority in fiscal year 2020 under the fiscal year
2020 District of Columbia Appropriations bill, but this bill would
provide permanent authority.
Next, this bill allows the D.C. Courts to pay attorneys appointed to
represent indigent defendants in criminal proceedings and indigent
children in delinquency and need of supervision proceedings up to the
amount currently allowed in federal court. The D.C. Courts' current
rate has not been updated in eight years,
[[Page E724]]
and is $42 per hour less than the federal rate. Similarly, the bill
eliminates the $25 hourly rate fixed rate for D.C. Criminal Justice Act
investigators. Federal investigators in D.C. are currently paid $65 an
hour, and up to $75 an hour in death penalty and other complex cases.
This bill also would move the appointment and removal of the Register
of Wills (ROW) and supervisory responsibilities from the Superior Court
and the Chief Judge of the Superior Court; respectively, to the
Executive Officer of the D.C. Courts. This change would provide the
Executive Officer oversight of the personnel for the entire Probate
Division, including the ROW, which will improve efficiency in making
personnel decisions and in the overall administration of the Probate
Division.
While both the federal government and the District of Columbia
government have statutory authority to give retroactive pay increase to
employees on board at the time the increase is ordered and to employees
who have retired (not resigned) or died between the date the increase
becomes effective and the date it is ordered, the D.C. Courts do not
have this authority. This bill corrects this deficiency.
The bill also makes corrections to portions of the D.C. Code that
reference the Domestic Violence Division where it still refers to its
old name, the Domestic Violence Unit, and updates how title 11 of the
D.C. Code references individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Under the Home Rule Act, Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over
title 11 of the D.C. Code (relating to organization and jurisdiction of
the local D.C. Courts). Because of this, in recent history, legislation
to improve the operations of the D.C. Courts has been enacted into law
every few years. I hope this bill will likewise be adopted, and
hopefully in a bipatisan manner.
I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
____________________