[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 138 (Tuesday, August 4, 2020)]
[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

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                       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.

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