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Committee advances bill to restore DC police collective-bargaining rights over discipline; Democrats cite local control and funding concerns

3432088 · May 22, 2025

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Summary

HR 2096, the Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act of 2025, would restore collective-bargaining rights on discipline for Metropolitan Police Department officers and repeal certain DC Council policing reforms; the committee ordered the bill favorably reported by recorded vote 23-18.

The Oversight and Reform Committee voted to order HR 2096 favorably reported. The bill would restore collective-bargaining authority over disciplinary matters for Metropolitan Police Department officers, extend or restore disciplinary timelines, and repeal certain provisions of the District of Columbia’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.

Chairman Comer said the legislation is needed to support recruitment and retention of D.C. police officers and to restore due-process protections he said were removed by local legislation. The bill would also repeal a D.C. Council requirement to post time and place of adverse-action hearings to a public website, which the sponsor said exposed officers to harassment.

Ranking Member Lynch opposed the bill, noting that violent crime in D.C. has fallen and arguing that the committee should instead address the $1 billion cut to D.C.’s local budget. Lynch and other Democrats also said that local officials and many past D.C. police chiefs supported portions of the reform law and that the committee should not repeal locally enacted police-discipline provisions.

The committee adopted the substitute amendment and ordered HR 2096 favorably reported; the clerk reported the recorded vote: ayes 23, nays 18. Members entered letters from the D.C. mayor and D.C. Council opposing the bill into the record.