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 B24-0489, the “Expanding Fee Waivers for Low-Income Litigants Act of 2021” Thursday, January 6, 2022, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Virtual Hearing via Zoom To Watch Live: https://www.facebook.com/CMcharlesallen/ On Thursday, January 6, 2022, Councilmember Charles Allen, Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, will convene a public hearing to consider Bill 24-0489, the “Expanding Fee Waivers for Low-Income Litigants Act of 2021”. The hearing will be conducted virtually via Zoom from 9:30 a.m. to no later than 12:30 p.m. The stated purpose of B24-0489, the “Expanding Fee Waivers for Low-Income Litigants Act of 2021”, is to amend Chapter 7 of Title 15 of the District of Columbia Official Code to expand access to justice by changing presumptive eligibility for waiver of prepayment of court fees and costs to guaranteed eligibility for fee waivers and by expanding the category of litigants who are guaranteed fee waivers. The Committee invites the public to provide oral and written testimony. Public witnesses seeking to provide oral testimony at the Committee’s hearing must thoroughly review the following instructions: • Anyone wishing to provide oral testimony must email the Committee at judiciary@dccouncil.us with their name, telephone number, organizational affiliation, and title (if any), by the close of business on Monday, January 3. • The Committee will approve witnesses’ registrations based on the total time allotted for public testimony. The Committee will also determine the order of witnesses’ testimony. • Representatives of organizations will be allowed a maximum of five minutes for oral testimony, and individuals (and any subsequent representatives of the same organizations) will be allowed a maximum of three minutes. In order to accommodate additional public witnesses, the Committee may reduce witnesses’ allotted time for testimony but will inform witnesses if it plans to do so. 1  • Witnesses are not permitted to yield their time to, or substitute their testimony for, the testimony of another individual or organization. • If possible, witnesses should submit a copy of their testimony electronically in advance to judiciary@dccouncil.us. • Witnesses who anticipate needing language interpretation are requested to inform the Committee as soon as possible, but no later than five business days before the hearing. The Committee will make every effort to fulfill timely requests; however, requests received fewer than five business days before the hearing may not be fulfilled. 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 judiciary@dccouncil.us. The record will close at the end of the business day on Friday, January 21. 2