Judiciary & Public Safety Public Hearing

Council of the District of Columbia COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY Notice of Public Hearing 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004 COUNCILMEMBER CHARLES ALLEN, CHAIRPERSON Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety Announces a Public Hearing on Bill 23-0324, the "Restore the Vote Amendment Act of 2019" Thursday, October 10, 2019,10:00 a.m. Room 500, John A. Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 On Thursday, October 10,2019, Councilmember Charles Allen, Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, will convene a public hearing to discuss Bill 23-0324, the "Restore the Vote Amendment Act of 2019". The hearing will take place in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., at 10:00 a.m. Please note that the Committee will also be holding an evening field hearing in the community on the bill later in the fall. The stated purpose of B23-0324 is to amend the District of Columbia Election Code of 1955 to extend voting rights to residents currently incarcerated for felony convictions. This would include otherwise qualified residents convicted of a felony and pending transfer to the Bureau of Prisons, as well as those currently incarcerated in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities throughout the country. The proposed applicability date would be January 1, 2021. Currently, non-incarcerated District residents with criminal records are fully enfranchised, as well as residents currently incarcerated for misdemeanors or those incarcerated in the District and awaiting trial for a felony offense. District residents are not considered incarcerated if they have completed a court-ordered sentence of confinement and subsequently reside in a halfway house or other community supervision center, or if they are otherwise on court-ordered supervision. A Board of Elections voting guide for incarcerated and returning citizens is available here: https://www.dcboe.org/getattachment/Data-Resources-Forms/Forms-and- Resources/RetumingCitizens 4-30-18.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US. The Committee invites the public to testify or to submit written testimony. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearing should contact the Committee via email at iudiciarv@dccouncil.us and provide their name, telephone number, organizational affiliation, and title (if any), by close of business Mondav. October 7. Representatives of organizations will be allowed a maximum of five minutes for oral testimony, and individuals will be allowed a maximum of three minutes. 1 Witnesses should bring twenty copies of their written testimony and, if possible, also submit a copy of their testimony electronically in advance to iudiciarv@dccouncil.us. For witnesses who are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements will be made part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted to the Committee at iudiciarv@dccouncil.us. The record will close at the end of the business day on Thursday, October 24. 2