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 B24-0656, the “Paternity Establishment Amendment Act of 2022” Thursday, May 5, 2022, 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Virtual Hearing via Zoom To Watch Live: https://www.facebook.com/CMcharlesallen On Thursday, May 5, 2022, Councilmember Charles Allen, Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, will convene a public hearing to consider Bill 24-0656, the “Paternity Establishment Amendment Act of 2022”. The hearing will be conducted virtually via Zoom from 10:00 a.m. to no later than 12:30 p.m. The stated purpose of B24-0656, the “Paternity Establishment Amendment Act of 2022”, is to amend Chapter 9 of Title 16 of the District of Columbia Official Code to eliminate a conclusive presumption of paternity established by an acknowledgement of paternity made in the District where it is proven that all the statutory requirements for the acknowledgement were not fully met, to allow a paternity acknowledgment or determination made in the District to be challenged in Superior Court based on fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, to provide that court-ordered DNA test results excluding the parentage of a person whose paternity has been established by acknowledgement or adjudication or proving to a scientific certainty that another person is the father of a child shall be evidence of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact which might require the setting side of the acknowledgment or determination, and to make conforming amendments. 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 Friday, April 29. • 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. 1  • 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. • 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 Thursday, May 19. 2