Chapter 1A. Criminal Code Reform Commission.

§ 3–151. Establishment of the Criminal Code Reform Commission.

(a) There is established for the District of Columbia the Criminal Code Reform Commission ("Commission"), which shall be an independent office responsible to the Council.

(b) The Commission shall be composed of the Executive Director and such staff as necessary to complete the work of the Commission.

(c)(1) The Executive Director shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Council, in consultation with the chairperson of the Council committee with jurisdiction over the Commission, subject to the approval of a majority of the Council. The Executive Director shall serve for a term of 3 years.

(2) Repealed.

(3) The Executive Director shall receive an annual salary consistent with the District of Columbia Government Salary Schedule for Excepted Service (ES) employees, at no lower than Grade 10, exclusive of fringe benefits. The Executive Director serving as of July 13, 2022, shall receive such salary retroactive to March 26, 2022.

(d) The Executive Director shall:

(1) Be a member in good standing of the District of Columbia Bar;

(2) Be responsible for and oversee the daily operations of the Commission;

(3) Supervise Commission staff; and

(4) Develop and institute internal policies, procedures, and processes to ensure efficient operations.

(e) All employees of the Commission shall be, or shall become no later than 180 days after hire, District residents.

§ 3–152. Duties of the Criminal Code Reform Commission.

(a) By March 31, 2021, the Commission shall submit to the Mayor and the Council comprehensive criminal code reform recommendations that revise the language of the District's criminal statutes to:

(1) Use clear and plain language;

(2) Apply consistent, clearly articulated definitions;

(3) Describe all elements, including mental states, that must be proven;

(4) Reduce unnecessary overlap and gaps between criminal offenses;

(5) Eliminate archaic and unused offenses;

(6) Adjust penalties, fines, and the gradation of offenses to provide for proportionate penalties;

(7) Organize existing criminal statutes in a logical order;

(8) Identify any crimes defined in common law that should be codified, and propose recommended language for codification, as appropriate;

(9) Identify criminal statutes that have been held to be unconstitutional and recommend their removal or amendment;

(10) Propose such other amendments as the Commission believes are necessary; and

(11) Enable the adoption of Title 22 as an enacted title of the District of Columbia Official Code.

(b) The comprehensive criminal code reform recommendations required by subsection (a) of this section shall be in the form of a report that:

(1) Includes draft legislation or other specific steps for implementing the recommendations;

(2) Includes charging, sentencing, and other relevant statistics regarding the offenses affected by the recommendations; and

(3) Explains how and why the recommendations change existing District law.

(c) In preparing the comprehensive criminal code reform recommendations required by subsection (a) of this section, the Commission shall:

(1) Consult with the Code Revision Advisory Group established pursuant to § 3-153; and

(2) Review criminal code reforms in other jurisdictions, recommend changes to criminal offenses by the American Law Institute, and survey best practices recommended by criminal law experts.

(d) The Commission shall provide, upon request by the Council, or may provide on its own initiative, a legal or policy analysis of proposed legislation or best practices concerning criminal offenses, procedures, or reforms, including information on existing District law, the laws of other jurisdictions, and model legislation.

(e) The Commission may consult with other District of Columbia, federal, and state agencies, conduct community outreach, perform trainings, and engage in other activities to advance the Commission's statutory duties.

(f)(1) The Commission may request access to all books, accounts, records, reports, findings, and all other papers, things, or property belonging to or in use by any department, agency, or other instrumentality of the District government that are necessary to fulfill its statutory duties.

(2) Upon such a request from the Commission, any department, agency, or other instrumentality of the District government shall provide the requested information to the Commission to the extent permitted by law.

§ 3–153. Code Revision Advisory Group.

(a) The Commission shall establish a Code Revision Advisory Group ("Advisory Group") to review and provide information and suggestions on proposals prepared by the Commission related to the comprehensive criminal code reform recommendations required by § 3-152(a). The Advisory Group shall consist of 5 voting members and 2 nonvoting members as follows:

(1) The voting members of the Advisory Group shall consist of the following:

(A) The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia or the United States Attorney's designee;

(B) The Director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia or the Director's designee;

(D) Two professionals from established organizations, including institutions of higher education, devoted to the research and analysis of criminal justice issues, appointed by the Council;

(2) The non-voting members of the Commission shall consist of the following:

(A) The Chairperson of the Council committee with jurisdiction over the Commission or the Chairperson's designee; and

(B) The Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice or the Deputy Mayor's designee.

(b) Meetings of the Advisory Group shall be conducted by the Commission's Executive Director, with meetings scheduled by the Executive Director as necessary to fulfill the statutory responsibilities of the Commission.

(c) The Commission shall provide drafts of its recommended reforms to criminal statutes to the Advisory Group in the form of reports. Advisory Group members may provide to the Commission written comments in response to those recommendations within a reasonable period of time, to be determined by the Executive Director, but not less than one month.

(d) The Commission shall consider all written comments that are timely received from Advisory Group members under subsection (c) of this section and propose all final recommendations to the Council based on the comments received.

(e) The voting members of the Advisory Group shall vote to approve the final recommendations proposed by the Commission, with a majority of voting members necessary to approve the recommendations, before their submittal to the Council and the Mayor under § 3-152(a).

(f) The Commission shall compile and make publicly available a record of all written comments received from Advisory Group members under subsection (c) of this section.

(g) The Advisory Group shall expire as of March 31, 2021; provided, that nothing shall prohibit the Executive Director from soliciting the assistance of former members of the Advisory Group, or their respective agencies, in fulfilling its ongoing mission.

§ 3–154. Reporting requirements.

(a) Until March 31, 2021, the Commission shall file quarterly reports with the Council that provide a summary of activities during the prior quarter.

(b) Before March 31, 2021, the Commission shall file a report with the Council that includes:

(1) A summary and copy of all recommendations for reforms to criminal statutes developed by the Commission during the previous calendar year;

(2) A summary and copy of comments received from the Advisory Group during the previous calendar year and their disposition;

(3) A summary of other Commission activities during the previous calendar year;

(4) A description of any problems discovered with prior Commission work or changes to prior work that are necessary due to legislative changes or court rulings;

(5) A description of any issues that could delay or prevent the Commission from timely fulfilling its statutory duties; and

(6) A work plan and schedule, or revisions to an existing work plan and schedule, for carrying out the responsibilities of the Commission to meet statutory requirements.

(c) Beginning November 15, 2024, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall file a report with the Council detailing its activities during the previous fiscal year and its preliminary work plan for the new fiscal year.

§ 3–155. Transition from District of Columbia Sentencing and Criminal Code Reform Commission.

(a) All functions, authority, programs, positions, personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds available or to be made available to the Criminal Code Revision Project previously established pursuant to § 3-101.01 [repealed], are transferred to the Criminal Code Reform Commission.

(b) All rules, orders, obligations, determinations, grants, contracts, licenses, and agreements of the Criminal Code Revision Project transferred to the Criminal Code Reform Commission under subsection (a) of this section shall continue in effect according to their terms until lawfully amended, repealed, or modified.

§ 3–156. Sunset. [Repealed]

Repealed.