Introduction of the District of Columbia Electronic Transmittal of Legislation Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Electronic Transmittal of Legislation Act, which would permit the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia to transmit legislation to Congress in the form of the Chairman's choosing, including in electronic form. This bill would modernize the method D.C. legislation is transmitted to Congress. I introduced a similar version of this bill earlier this year.

The D.C. Home Rule Act (HRA) requires the Chairman to transmit legislation to Congress for a review period before the legislation may take effect. The legislation takes effect after a review period, unless a resolution of disapproval is enacted into law during the review period. While the HRA is silent on the method of transmittal, House and Senate precedent require that the legislation be physically transmitted to Congress. Physical transmittal imposes costs in terms of time on the Council, the House and Senate Parliamentarians, the Speaker, the President of the Senate, the House clerk, the Senate Secretary, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The Council engages in a 12-step process to comply with the physical transmittal requirement:

Step 1: Write individualized cover letters.

Step 2: The Chairman physically signs the cover letters.

Step 3: Arrange a time to get the cover letters from the Chairman.

Step 4: Print two copies of the bill and two copies of the committee report to deliver to the Speaker and to the President of the Senate.

Step 5: Arrange a time for delivery to the Speaker's office.

Step 6: Arrange a time for delivery to the President of the Senate's office.

Step 7: Arrange for two D.C. employees to drive to the Capitol. (Two staffers are required because parking restrictions require a driver and a delivery person.)

Step 8: Drive to the Capitol.

Step 9: Deliver the documents to the Speaker's office and get a signed receipt.

Step 10: Deliver the documents to the President of the Senate's office and get a signed receipt.

Step 11: Assign the congressional review period based on the receipts.

Step 12: File the receipts.

The aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol highlighted the burdens of physical transmittal. After temporary fencing was installed around the Capitol, D.C. employees could not enter the Capitol, delaying transmittal until D.C. employees and congressional staff developed a workaround. D.C. employees and congressional staff met outside the fencing so the D.C. employees could physically transmit the legislation.

Today, when we live in the era of e-mail, there is no reason to continue to require an increasingly ancient process, when these documents could be transmitted electronically instead, saving a tremendous amount of time and effort.

I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill.

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