District of Columbia home rule


District of Columbia home rule is the District of Columbia residents' ability to govern their local affairs. The District is the federal district; as such, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever".
Before 1874 and since 1973, Congress has allowed certain powers of government to be carried out by locally elected officials. However, Congress maintains the power to overturn local laws and exercises greater oversight of the district than exists for any U.S. state. Furthermore, the District's elected government exists under the grace of Congress and could theoretically be revoked at any time.
A separate yet related controversy is the District's lack of voting representation in Congress. The district's unique status creates a situation where District of Columbia residents have neither complete control over their local government nor voting representation in the body with complete control.
In 2015, the District of Columbia became a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

Constitutional provisions

explained the need for a federal district on January 23, 1788, in the Federalist No. 43, arguing that the national capital needed to be distinct from the states, in order to provide for its own maintenance and safety. An attack on the Congress at Philadelphia by a mob of angry soldiers, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, had emphasized the need for the government to see to its own security. Therefore, the authority to establish a federal capital was provided in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which states that Congress shall have the power:
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States

The phrase "exclusive legislation in all Cases whatsoever" has been interpreted to mean that Congress is the ultimate authority over the District, thereby limiting local self-government by the District of Columbia's residents. However, the Founding Fathers envisioned that Congress would devolve some of this power to the local level. For example, Madison stated in the Federalist No. 43 that "a municipal legislature for local purposes, derived from their own suffrages, will of course be allowed them."

History of self-government

On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act provided for a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the exact area to be selected by President Washington. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the initial shape of the federal district was a square, measuring on each side, totaling. The Residence Act also provided for the selection of a three-member board of commissioners, appointed by the President, charged with overseeing the construction of the new capital.
Two other incorporated cities that predated the establishment of the District were also included within the new federal territory: Georgetown, founded in 1751, and the City of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749. A new "federal city" called the City of Washington was under construction, partly habitable, on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of the established settlement at Georgetown.
The Organic Act of 1801 officially organized the District of Columbia and placed the entire federal district under the exclusive control of Congress.
At its formation, the District consisted of five political subdivisions: the three cities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, and the unincorporated rural sections organized into two counties: Washington County, D.C. to the east of the Potomac and the Alexandria County, D.C. to the west. It included all of the present Arlington County plus part of what is now the independent city of Alexandria. The respective laws of Maryland and Virginia were declared still in force.
In 1802, the board of commissioners was disbanded, and the City of Washington was officially incorporated. The city's incorporation allowed for a local municipal government consisting of a mayor appointed by the President and two branches of a city council, popularly elected. The local colonial-era governments of Georgetown and Alexandria were also left intact. As such, the citizens of Georgetown retained their popularly elected mayor, as did the City of Alexandria. In 1812, the council was given the power to elect the mayor of the City of Washington. In 1820, the Congress granted the City of Washington a new charter, which allowed for a mayor popularly elected by voters.
The disputes became more political in 1840 when the city elected a member of the anti-Jackson Whig Party as mayor. Two weeks after the election, members of Congress submitted legislation to alter the charter of the City of Washington to remove the city's elected government. However, the bill was unable to pass the Congress due to disputes among members about the status of slavery in the District. The election of President William Henry Harrison, who was favorable to residents of the District, assured that the proposed bill would not become law.
On July 9, 1846, in response to a voter referendum, Congress retroceded the City of Alexandria and Alexandria County to Virginia.
In the years preceding and during the American Civil War, the District developed a complicated, piecemeal government. Three distinct authorities over Washington County and the two cities, Washington and Georgetown, remained intact. In 1861, as the first step toward political consolidation, those three bodies were granted shared authority over the new Metropolitan Police Department, founded to enforce the law throughout the District. Its oversight board of five commissioners named by the President included one representing Georgetown, one from the county of Washington, and three from the city of Washington.
During the Civil War, the district experienced a large increase in its population; by 1870, the District's population had grown to nearly 132,000. Despite the district's growth, District still had dirt roads and lacked basic sanitation; the situation was so bad that some members of Congress proposed moving the capital elsewhere.
To facilitate infrastructure improvements and make the district's government operate more efficiently, Congress passed the Organic Act of 1871, which created a new government for the entire federal district. This Act effectively combined the City of Washington, Georgetown, and the unincorporated area known then as Washington County into a single district government for the whole District of Columbia. In the same Organic Act, Congress created a territorial government which consisted of a legislative assembly with an upper house composed of eleven council members appointed by the President and a 22-member house of delegates elected by the people, as well as an appointed Board of Public Works charged with modernizing the district. In 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed the board's most influential member, Alexander Robey Shepherd, to the new post of governor. Shepherd authorized large-scale projects to modernize the District of Columbia but spent three times the approved budget, bankrupting the district.
In 1874, Congress abolished the District's local government in favor of direct rule. The territorial government was replaced by a three-member Board of Commissioners, consisting of two members appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and a third member selected from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, with one of the three members selected to act as President of the Board. This form of government continued for nearly a century. Between 1948 and 1966, six bills were introduced in Congress to provide some form of home rule, but none ever passed.
In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson presented to Congress a plan to reorganize the District's government designed by David Carliner. The three-commissioner system was replaced by a government headed by a single mayor-commissioner, an assistant mayor-commissioner, and a nine-member district council, all appointed by the president. The mayor-commissioner and his assistant served four-year terms, while the council served three-year terms. While the council was officially nonpartisan, no more than six council members could be of the same political party. Council members were expected to work part-time. All council members, and either the mayor-commissioner or his assistant, were required to have been residents of the District of Columbia for the three years preceding appointment. All were required to be District residents while serving their terms in office.
Council members had the quasi-legislative powers of the former Board of Commissioners, approving the budget and setting real estate tax rates. The mayor-commissioner could, without any Congressional approval, consolidate District agencies and transfer money between agencies, powers the preceding Board of Commissioners had not possessed. The mayor-commissioner could veto ordinances passed by the Council, but the Council could override the veto with a three-fourths vote.
Despite a push by many Republicans and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives to reject Johnson's plan, the House of Representatives accepted the new form of government for the District by a vote of 244 to 160. Johnson said that the new District government would be more effective and efficient.
Walter E. Washington was appointed the first mayor-commissioner, with Thomas W. Fletcher as his assistant. The first Council appointments were Chairman John W. Hechinger, Vice Chairman Walter E. Fauntroy, Stanley J. Anderson, Margaret A. Haywood, John A. Nevius, William S. Thompson, J.C. Turner, Polly Shackleton, and Joseph P. Yeldell.

1973 Home Rule Act

On December 24, 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, providing for a popularly elected mayor and 13-member Council. Each of the district's eight wards elects a single member of the council and five members, including the chairman, are elected at large.
Small neighborhood districts elect 37 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. ANCs traditionally wield a great deal of influence, and the district government routinely considers their suggestions carefully. The Council has the ability to pass local laws and ordinances. However, pursuant to the Home Rule Act all legislation passed by the District of Columbia government, including the district's local budget, remains subject to the approval of Congress.
The Home Rule Act specifically prohibits the Council from enacting certain laws that, among other restrictions, would:
The Home Rule Act prohibits the District from imposing a commuter tax on non-residents, who comprise over 60% of the district's workforce. In addition, over 50% of property in the District is also exempt from taxation. The Government Accountability Office and other organizations have estimated that these revenue restrictions create a structural deficit in the district's budget of anywhere between $470 million and over $1 billion per year. While Congress typically provides larger grants to the District for federal programs such as Medicaid and the local justice system, analysts claim that the payments do not resolve the imbalance. The proposed FY 2017 budget figures show the District raising about $10 billion in local revenue out of a proposed FY 2017 $13.4 billion budget.
In February 2025, two Republicans in Congress, Representative Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee, and Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, introduced a bill to repeal the Home Rule Act of 1973.