Norton Introduces a DC Legislative Autonomy Bill as the Senate Marks Up DC Voting Rights (2/10/09)
Norton Introduces a D.C. Legislative Autonomy Bill as the Senate Marks Up the D.C. Voting Rights Bill on Wednesday
February 10, 2009
Washington, DC-With the Senate mark-up of the D.C. voting rights bill scheduled for tomorrow, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) moved today on another one of her bills in the "Free and Equal D.C. Series" by introducing the District of Columbia Legislative Autonomy Act of 2009. The bill would end discriminatory and unnecessary congressional review of D.C. laws that "have long been obsolete, demeaning, and cumbersome," and involves a procedure no longer used by Congress. The D.C. House Voting Rights Act will be voted on tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over D.C. matters.
The Legislative Autonomy bill, introduced today, would eliminate the congressional review period of 30 days for civil laws and 60 days for criminal laws, which often stretch for months because only days when Congress is in session are counted. Norton believes that passage is possible this year because Congress no longer uses resolutions of disapproval, but instead uses attachments to appropriations in seeking to overturn D.C. laws. "The District strongly opposes all methods of overturning its legitimate local laws, but it is particularly unfair to require the city council to engage in the tortuous legislative review process that Congress itself has discarded," Norton said. Last week, Norton introduced the D.C. Budget Autonomy Act, which eliminates congressional oversight of the D.C. budget, and would go far toward eliminating nullification of D.C. law through appropriation riders, as well.
The required hold on all D.C. bills forces the Council to pass most legislation several times as emergency and temporary bills to ensure that city operations and - and civilian and business life - continue uninterrupted. However, Congress can intervene into District matters using existing constitutional provisions until the District achieves statehood. Norton said that legislative autonomy would give the District the right to enact local laws free from virtually all federal interference, "a basic tenet of self-government here and throughout the world."
Last week, Norton introduced the D.C. Budget Autonomy Act to allow the city to enact its own local budget without annual congressional oversight. Both bills are part of Norton's "Free and Equal D.C. Series" to give the city control over its core functions without congressional intrusion, and to transfer provisions in the Home Rule Act to the District. Go to https://www.norton.house.gov/ for Congresswoman Norton's full statement of introduction.
As the D.C. House Voting Rights Act moves forward in the Senate, the Congresswoman said that we must move on "all fronts at once." She said that she deeply appreciates that the Senate committee, chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the lead co-sponsor on the bill, with its Ranking Member, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who was one of eight Republicans who voted for the bill last session, will mark-up the Senate version of her voting rights bill tomorrow. As the 111th Congress opened, Lieberman said he would put the D.C. bill on his first mark-up session. The House held its hearing January 27, and its mark-up is expected soon. The Congresswoman is confident that she has the votes to pass her voting rights bill in the Senate this year.