District Of Columbia 2025-2026 Regular Session

District Of Columbia Council Bill B26-0188 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
3	3	OFFICE OF COUNCILMEMBER BROOKE PINTO
4	4	THE JOHN A. WILSON BUILDING
5	5	1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., SUITE 106
6	6	WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	10	March 24, 2025
11	11
12	12	Nyasha Howard, Secretary
13	13	Council of the District of Columbia
14	14	1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
15	15	Washington, DC 20004
16	16
17	17	Dear Secretary Howard,
18	18
19	19	Today, along with Councilmember Anita Bonds, I am introducing the “Pretrial Detention
20	20	Amendment Act of 2025.”
21	21
22	22	District law generally provides that when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, the person
23	23	should be released prior to trial (either with or without conditions) unless a judge finds that the
24	24	person either (1) is a flight risk, or (2) presents a danger to the community.
25	25	1
26	26	If a judge finds that
27	27	no conditions imposed on a person would reasonably assure the safety of others, or that no
28	28	condition would assure the person’s required appearance in court, then the law directs the judge to
29	29	order the person detained pretrial.
30	30	2
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33	33	In certain situations, there is a “rebuttable presumption” that a person presents a flight risk or a
34	34	danger to the community and therefore should be detained prior to trial. A rebuttable presumption
35	35	is an inference that the court presumes to be conclusive about the facts presented until or unless
36	36	that inference is challenged or “rebutted” with counter-evidence.
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38	38	In these cases, to release a
39	39	person, a court can only release a person if it finds that evidence has rebutted the presumption.
40	40
41	41	B25-0395, the Prioritizing Public Safety Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 (“PPSE”), and
42	42	subsequently B25-0345, the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 (“Secure DC”) made
43	43	changes to pretrial detention. Previously, before PPSE and Secure DC, there was no general
44	44	presumption of detention when a court found probable cause to believe that a person has committed
45	45	a crime of violence. Almost all of the situations in which the rebuttable presumption applied
46	46	required that the individual committed (or at least had been charged with) a crime prior to the
47	47	crime at issue in the case.
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49	49	PPSE and Secure DC expanded the rebuttable presumption to apply to all charges of crimes of
50	50	violence, regardless of whether the individual has previously been convicted or charged with a
51	51	crime. It also expanded detention for youth who have committed an offense while armed,
52	52	carjacking, sexual abuse or unarmed murder. Secure DC was amended to sunset those provisions,
53	53	which are currently set to expire on July 15, 2025. This bill would remove the sunset and make
54	54	these changes permanent.
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56	56	1
57	57	D.C. Code § 23-1321(a)-(b).
58	58	2
59	59	D.C. Code § 23-1322.
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61	61	Legal Information Institute, Rebuttable presumption, available here.
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65	65	Should you have any questions about this legislation, please contact my Committee and Legislative
66	66	Director, Linn Groft, at lgroft@dccouncil.gov.
67	67
68	68	Thank you,
69	69
70	70
71	71
72	72	Brooke Pinto
73	73	Ward 2 Councilmember
74	74	Chairwoman, Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety
75	75	Council of the District of Columbia
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77	77
78	78	_____________________________ _____________________________ 1
79	79	Councilmember Anita Bonds Councilmember Brooke Pinto 2
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85	85	A BILL 8
86	86	9
87	87	_________________________ 10
88	88	11
89	89	IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 12
90	90	13
91	91	_________________________ 14
92	92	15
93	93	16
94	94	To amend the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 to remove the sunset date of certain 17
95	95	pretrial detention provisions. 18
96	96	19
97	97	BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 20
98	98	act may be cited as the “Pretrial Detention Amendment Act of 2025”. 21
99	99	Sec. 2. The Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024, effective June 8, 2024 (D.C. 22
100	100	Law 25-175; 71 DCR 2732), is amended as follows: 23
101	101	(a) Section 18(c)(2) is repealed. 24
102	102	(b) Section 30(k) is repealed. 25
103	103	Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 26
104	104	The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 27
105	105	impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 28
106	106	approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1- 301.47a). 29
107	107	Sec. 4. Effective date. 30
108	108	This act shall take effect after approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 31
109	109	Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30- day period of congressional review as 32 provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 33
110	110	24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1- 206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 34
111	111	Columbia Register. 35
112	112	36