[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 30, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL PROSECUTOR HOME RULE ACT 
                                OF 2019

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 30, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of 
Columbia Local Prosecutor Home Rule Act of 2019 to give District of 
Columbia residents another important element of the self-government 
enjoyed by all other American citizens, including those in the U.S. 
territories. The bill would establish a local prosecutor's office 
designated under local law to prosecute all local crimes in the 
District. Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the 
District of Columbia, a federal entity, is responsible for prosecuting 
most local crimes committed by adults here, which is the greater part 
of its caseload, in addition to prosecuting federal crimes. This bill 
is special because it effectuates a 2002 advisory referendum, approved 
by 82 percent of D.C. voters, to create a local prosecutor's office.
  There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to D.C. 
residents on which they have less say than the prosecution of local 
crimes here. A U.S. Attorney has no business prosecuting the local 
crimes of a jurisdiction, an anachronism that is out of place in any 
American self-governing jurisdiction. In fact, the territories of the 
United States--Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American 
Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands--all have local prosecutors to 
prosecute local crimes. The absence of a local D.C. prosecutor is one 
more anachronism from the pre-home rule days when D.C. had no local 
government. The goal of this bill is to give the District the same 
jurisdiction over the criminal justice matters that state, local and 
territorial jurisdictions justifiably regard as mandatory.
  Amending federal law to create a local prosecutor 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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