[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 20 (Friday, February 8, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY 
                       ESTABLISHMENT ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, February 8, 2013

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I re-introduce a bill, the District 
of Columbia District Attorney Establishment Act of 2013, to give 
District of Columbia residents another element of the self-government 
enjoyed by all other American citizens. The bill would establish the 
Office of the District Attorney for the District of Columbia, headed by 
a district attorney elected by D.C. residents, to prosecute major local 
criminal laws of the District. Under the Home Rule Act, the U.S. 
Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, a federal entity, is 
responsible for prosecuting major local crimes here. The bill 
effectuates a 2002 advisory referendum, approved by 82 percent of D.C. 
voters, to create an office of the district attorney, headed by a 
locally elected district attorney.
  There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to D.C. 
residents, or on which they have less say, than the prosecution of 
local crimes here. A U.S. attorney has no business prosecuting the 
local criminal laws of a jurisdiction, an anachronism that is out of 
place in 21st century, home-rule D.C. The goal of the legislation is to 
put the District on par with every other local jurisdiction on local 
criminal law matters. Under the bill, the locally elected district 
attorney would become the city's chief legal officer. The U.S. Attorney 
for the District of Columbia would continue to handle federal matters, 
like the other U.S. attorneys in our country. As presently constituted, 
the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is the largest 
in the country, only because it serves as the local city prosecutor. 
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia needs to be freed up to 
handle national security and other vital federal cases, particularly in 
the post-9/11 nation's capital.
  Amending the Home Rule Act to create a local district attorney would 
be an important step toward our goal of achieving true self-government. 
I urge my colleagues to support this important measure.

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