To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia to Maryland, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines terminates the legal status of the Federal District as a municipal corporation, ending its ability to function as a local government body, defines transfers all pending judicial proceedings from D.C. courts to Maryland courts, ensuring legal continuity for parties with active cases, and exempts reserves exclusive federal legislative authority over military lands and Coast Guard properties in D.C., with states able to serve civil and criminal process on those lands. It relies on exemptions, definition changes, compliance mandates, and repeal. The main policy areas are Federal Employment, Elections & Voting Rights, and Federal-State Relations.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. Parole Commission employees transitioning to Maryland could face reduced risk, Federal District residents with prior state domicile could gain revenue opportunities, and D.C. federal retirees receiving benefits under the Retirement Protection Act of 1997 could face reduced risk.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal Government could face higher costs, D.C. municipal government could face higher costs, and D.C. Mayor and Council could face higher barriers.
Key Provisions
- Defines terminates the legal status of the Federal District as a municipal corporation, ending its ability to function as a local government body.
- Defines transfers all pending judicial proceedings from D.C. courts to Maryland courts, ensuring legal continuity for parties with active cases.
- Exempts reserves exclusive federal legislative authority over military lands and Coast Guard properties in D.C., with states able to serve civil and criminal process on those lands.
- Defines modifies residency requirements for federal judges and U.S. attorneys to reflect the new Federal District designation and removes D.C.-specific exceptions.
- Defines renames federal courts from 'District of Columbia' to 'Federal District' throughout Title 28 of the U.S. Code to reflect the new geographic designation after retrocession.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines terminates the legal status of the Federal District as a municipal corporation, ending its ability to function as a local government body, defines transfers all pending judicial proceedings from D.C. courts to Maryland courts, ensuring legal continuity for parties with active cases, and exempts reserves exclusive federal legislative authority over military lands and Coast Guard properties in D.C., with states able to serve civil and criminal process on those lands.
Key Policy Areas
Federal Employment, Elections & Voting Rights, Federal-State Relations
Primary Purpose
The bill defines terminates the legal status of the Federal District as a municipal corporation, ending its ability to function as a local government body, defines transfers all pending judicial proceedings from D.C. courts to Maryland courts, ensuring legal continuity for parties with active cases, and exempts reserves exclusive federal legislative authority over military lands and Coast Guard properties in D.C., with states able to serve civil and criminal process on those lands.
Policy Domains
Title I - Retrocession and Federal District
Identified Gains
- U.S. Parole Commission employees transitioning to Maryland
- Federal District residents with prior state domicile
- D.C. federal retirees receiving benefits under the Retirement Protection Act of 1997
- D.C. court system employees transitioning to Maryland
- D.C. civil service employees with pre-merit system employment
Identified Costs
- Federal Government
- D.C. municipal government
- D.C. Mayor and Council
- Maryland court system
- D.C. Delegate office staff
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Griffith introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Bureau of Prisons, Coast Guard, D.C. Delegate office staff
Positive-direction: Coast Guard, D.C. Public Defender Service employees transitioning to Maryland, D.C. civil service employees with pre-merit system employment, D.C. court system, D.C. court system employees transitioning to Maryland, D.C. federal retirees receiving benefits under the Retirement Protection Act of 1997, Department of Defense, Federal agencies with D.C. location requirements, U.S. Parole Commission employees transitioning to Maryland
Negative-direction: Bureau of Prisons, D.C. Delegate office staff, D.C. Mayor and Council, D.C. municipal government, Federal government, Maryland court system, State election officials, State of Maryland
D.C. inmates in federal prison facilities, D.C. residents, Federal District residents
Positive-direction: D.C. inmates in federal prison facilities, D.C. residents, Federal District residents with prior state domicile, Litigants with pending D.C. court cases, Virginia, Maryland, and former D.C. residents
Negative-direction: Federal District residents
Organizations and agencies required to be located in D.C.
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_state"
- → State of Maryland
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "each_state"
- → Each U.S. State
- "the_state"
- → State of Maryland
- "the_federal_government"
- → Federal Government of the United States
Note: The State referred to in Title I sections 101-123 specifically means Maryland as the receiving state, while Each State in section 221 refers to all U.S. states for voting purposes.
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A person who resides in the Federal District and is qualified to vote in the State of their most recent domicile.
The area serving as the seat of the Government of the United States, as described in section 111, consisting of principal Federal monuments, the White House, Capitol Building, Supreme Court Building, and Federal office buildings adjacent to the Mall and Capitol.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology