Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety

Welcome to the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, chaired by Councilmember Charles Allen. The Committee oversees 35 agencies, boards, and commissions under a few broad topics: police, fire, and EMS; criminal justice; corrections; victim's rights and advocates; US Attorney's Office; Office of the Attorney General; Board of Elections; homeland security. For a full list, visit the Committee's official landing page on the Council of the District of Columbia.

On this page, we hope to provide access to key documents for the business of the Committee available to the public. For public documents related to the work of the Committee, including agendas, witness lists, committee reports, and more, please use this public dropbox folder. 

We are seeking applications for a Fall Legal Intern - information on how to apply here!

Are you new or unfamiliar with the Committee process? Here's a quick primer:

1) When a new piece of legislation is introduced to the Council of the District of Columbia, it is commonly referred to a smaller committee to look at the merits of the bill and take in public testimony. If it relates to matters of the Judiciary and Public Safety, that means it comes to us.

2) Once the committee has a bill, we schedule a hearing to invite public witnesses. Common witnesses offering testimony include nonprofits working in the subject matter, concerned citizens, businesses, and government witnesses from agencies working the subject area.

3) After collecting public testimony, the Committee staff prepares a Committee Report on the bill and circulates the bill to all five members of the Committee for the next hearing -- a markup hearing where additional testimony may be offered before the Committee votes on the bill. 

4) If the majority of the Committee votes to approve the bill, it returns to the full Council of the Whole.