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ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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A RESOLUTION
26-216
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
October 7, 2025
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend section 1507 of the
Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the District of Columbia Establishment Act of
2001 to change the date by which the Prearrest Diversion Task Force shall issue initial
recommendations for prearrest diversion of certain misdemeanor offenses and categories
of persons to July 2026; and to amend Title 20 of the District of Columbia Official Code
to allow for notice of request for formal probate, notice from a foreign personal
representative of a decedent who owned any property located in the District of Columbia,
and notice of appointment to interested persons, creditors and unknown heirs in a legal
periodical or newspaper of general circulation in the District.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Prearrest Diversion Task Force Recommendations Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2025”.
Sec. 2. (a) Section 1507 of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for the District of
Columbia Establishment Act of 2001, effective June 8, 2024 (D.C. Law 25-175; D.C. Official
Code § 22-4237) (“Secure DC”), requires the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (“CJCC”)
to establish a Prearrest Diversion Task Force (“Task Force”) to review best practices and make
recommendations to implement prearrest diversion of certain misdemeanor offenses and for
certain categories of persons identified by the Task Force as being appropriate for diversion. The
Task Force was initially required to begin meeting within 3 months after the applicability date of
Secure DC and issue its initial recommendations within one year after the applicability date of
Secure DC. However, due to CJCC staffing constraints, the Task Force was not able to begin
meeting until June 2025.
(b) On December 17, 2024, the Council passed on final reading the Strengthening
Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024, effective March 21, 2025 (D.C. Law 25-302;
72 DCR 780) (“Strengthening Probate Act”), which proposed to modernize and update the legal
and administrative processes and procedures around probate for District residents and estate
lawyers, consistent with the recommendations of the Working Group’s 2022 report.
Subsequently, the Council adopted emergency legislation on July 14, 2025, to make technical
amendments as some of the language had proven unadministrable and unclear, leading to delays
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in appointing personal representatives and precluding access to decedents’ estate assets. Probate
proceedings require a publication of a notice. Currently the law says that various notices must be
published in a legal periodical, which can limit access to residents and has also interfered with
the law’s implementation.
(c) Emergency legislation is necessary to update the deadlines in Secure DC to accurately
reflect feasible timelines for the Task Force and to amend our probate laws to expand
permissible publications to include newspapers in order to ensure access to publications and
implementability of the original law.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances in
section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Prearrest Diversion
Task Force Recommendations Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single
reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.