Appropriations for FY2002: District of Columbia (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 10, 2002 |
| Report Number |
RL31013 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Eugene Boyd and Michael K. Fauntroy, Government and Finance Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
On December 21, 2001, President Bush signed into law the District of Columbia Appropriations
Act
for FY2002, P.L. 107-96 (formerly H.R. 2944 ). Two weeks earlier, the House on
December 6, 2001, and the Senate on December 7, 2001, approved the conference report
accompanying H.R. 2944 , after resolving significant differences in the general
provisions of their respective versions of the act. The act, which appropriates $408 million in special
federal payments, includes $16 million for reimbursement to the District for the cost of providing
security for a cancelled World Bank and International Monetary Fund meeting, and for security
planning in the wake of the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
In addition, the act approves the city's $5.3 billion operating budget for the current fiscal year. The
act lifts the ban on the use of District funds for a domestic partners health insurance act approved
by the city council and signed by the mayor in 1992. Congress has maintained the prohibition on
the use of federal and District funds for needle exchange programs, rejecting a Senate provision that
would have lifted the prohibition on the use of District funds for such activities. The act lifts the
restriction on the location of such activities near public and charter schools. The act, as passed by
Congress, requires the District of Columbia public schools to submit to Congress a report that
identifies all judgments against the DC public schools under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act.
The District's FY2002 budget request was submitted to Congress on May 25, 2001. The city
budget request included $199 million in federal payments to the District of Columbia. The city's
budget proposal included $5.3 billion in general operating fund expenditures, and $611 million in
enterprise funds. The budget also included $78 million in funding for the newly created Health Care
Safety Net Administration, which replaced the city's discredited Public Benefits Corporation.
Earlier in 2001, House and Senate District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittees held
hearings that focused on child and family services, and proposed reforms of the family division of
the District of Columbia Superior Court. P.L. 107-96 includes $24 million for a new Family Court
Division of the District's Superior Court, including $500,000 for the Child and Family Services
Agency. The committees also held hearings on the courts, corrections, the fiscal condition of the
city, and the future role of the Chief Financial Officer.
On April 30, 2001, the control board, which was created by Congress to address the city's fiscal
and governance problems, approved a resolution that abolished the Public Benefits Corporation and
transferred responsibility for the administration of health care services to the Health Care Safety Net
Administration. The Authority also awarded a contract for health care services to Greater Southeast
Community Hospital and the Health Care Alliance.
