D.C. Courts and Public Defender Service Act of 2011
Public Law 112-229 · S. 1379 · 112th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Dec 28, 2012 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
D.C. Courts and Public Defender Service Act of 2011 - Amends the District of Columbia Official Code to require the chief judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to: (1) call biennial or, as under current law, annual judicial conferences; and (2) summon active magistrate judges to such conferences.
Authorizes the chief judges of the District Superior Court and of the District Court of Appeals to toll or delay judicial proceedings in certain natural disaster or other emergency situations.
Limits such toll or delay to 14 days, unless the chief judge determines, with the consent of the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration, that an emergency situation requires additional extensions.
Authorizes the Executive Officer of the District of Columbia courts to enter into agreements to provide the Mayor of the District with equipment, supplies, and services and credit reimbursements received from the Mayor for them to the appropriation of the District of Columbia courts against which they were charged.
Amends the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 to require the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, to the extent its Director considers appropriate, to provide representation for and hold harmless, or provide liability insurance for, any employee, member of the Board of Trustees, or officer of the Service for money damages arising out of any claim, proceeding, or case at law relating to the furnishing of representational, management, or related services while acting within the scope of that person's office or employment, including employment actions, injury, loss of liberty, property damage, loss of property, personal injury, or death arising from the officer's or employee's malpractice or negligence.
Reduces from five to three years the term an individual may be assigned to serve as a judge of the Family Court of the Superior Court.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 17 actions.
- Dec 28, 2012Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 112-229.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 17, 2012FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Dec 13, 2012FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 1379.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Chaffetz moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Jul 10, 2012FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
- Jul 9, 2012FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Voice Vote.
- Jun 25, 2012CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 436.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Lieberman with an amendment. With written report No. 112-178.
- Oct 19, 2011CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
- Jul 18, 2011CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.