Norton's Bills to Rename Post Office for Dr. Height and to Fill Vacancies on Counil Goes to Markup

Norton's Bills to Rename Post Office for Dr. Height and to Allow D.C. to Fill Vacancies on City Council Going to Markup Thursday

September 22, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- On Thursday, September 23, immediately following the a full committee hearing at 10:00 a.m. in room HVC-210 of the Capitol Visitor Center, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will markup three of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) bills. H.R. 5702 will amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to reduce the waiting period for holding special elections to fill vacancies on the D.C. Council. This bill remains important in light of the upcoming vacancies created by the recent elections of Council Chair Vincent Gray and Councilmember Kwame Brown. In 2006, Ward 4 and Ward 7 council posts remained vacant for months during a municipal election year because current law requires the city to wait 114 days before holding a special election to fill a vacant seat. Norton's bill, done in consultation with the local government, however, will reduce that waiting period to 70 days. Enactment by Congress is necessary because this is a District charter provision which only Congress can amend.

H.R. 6118 would rename the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, in Washington, DC, as the "Dorothy I. Height Post Office Building" in honor of the longtime president of the National Council of Negro Women, "Godmother" of the civil rights movement, and feminist leader, Dr. Dorothy I. Height.

H.R. 5367 the D.C. Courts and Public Defender Service Act of 2010, will permit the Public Defender Service for the District, which is funded by the federal government, to purchase professional liability insurance for its attorneys, staff and board members. In addition, H.R. 5367 authorizes certain judges to delay ongoing proceedings in court, without penalty, in event of an emergency. The bill also will reduce the required term of service for judges in the Family Court Division of the Superior Court from five years to three years, easing the efforts to recruit judges.

Norton said, "I am very appreciative to my good friend, Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Ed Towns for scheduling all three of my bills on tomorrow's calendar. Bills to amend the District's special elections laws, designating a post office in honor of the late, great Dr. Height, and improving the efficiency of our law enforcement and judicial system are all important to enact without delay. I look forward to moving all three bills to the floor before Congress adjourns this year."

WHO: The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)

WHAT: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Markup of H.R. 5367, H.R. 5702, and H.R. 6118

WHERE: Capitol Visitor Center, Room HVC-210

WHEN: Thursday, September 23, immediately following the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 10:00 a.m. hearing