District of Columbia v. Washington Home, 79-1053.

• Decision Date: 28 May 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-1053.,79-1053.
• Citation: 415 A.2d 1349
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA et al., Appellants, v. The WASHINGTON HOME OWNERSHIP COUNCIL, INC., Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 1349

415 A.2d 1349

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA et al., Appellants, v. The WASHINGTON HOME OWNERSHIP COUNCIL, INC., Appellee.

No. 79-1053.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued En Banc November 26, 1979.

Decided May 28, 1980.

David P. Sutton, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., with whom Judith W. Rogers, Corp. Counsel, Richard W. Barton, Deputy Corp. Counsel, and James J. Stanford, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellant District of Columbia.

Jerry D. Anker, Washington, D. C., with whom Leslie D. Michelson and Kerry Alan Scanlon, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellants Metropolitan Washington Planning and Housing Association, Inc., et al.

Stephen M. Sacks, Washington, D. C., with whom Thomas E. Silfen and Linda G. Moore, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellee.

Before NEWMAN, Chief Judge, and KELLY,^* KERN, GALLAGHER, NEBEKER, HARRIS, MACK, FERREN, and PRYOR, Associate Judges.

FERREN, Associate Judge:

This case presents one question: under the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (Home Rule Act), D.C.Code 1979 Supp., § 1-146(a), does the District Council have authority to respond to "emergency circumstances" by adopting successive, substantially identical 90-day acts addressed to the same, ongoing emergency, without a second reading or congressional review, as is required for passage of permanent legislation? Alleging that the Council does not have such authority, The Washington Home Ownership Council, Inc. (WHOC)¹ brought a three-count action for declaratory and injunctive relief against the District of Columbia, challenging the validity of three series of emergency acts imposing moratoriums on conversion of rental property to condominium and cooperative units, and regulating the sale of converted units. The Metropolitan Washington Planning and Housing Association, Inc. and a group of tenants' organizations intervened as defendants.² After a hearing on cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled for the plaintiff, WHOC.³ The court accordingly enjoined enforcement of the one challenged act then in effect, the Emergency Condominium and Cooperative Conversion Stabilization Act of 1979, E.A. 3-95 (approved August 27, 1979). The District and the intervenors have appealed.⁴ We affirm the trial court's judgment.

I.

On occasion we have interpreted the Home Rule Act to determine whether the Council had exceeded its authority. For example, in McIntosh v. Washington, D.C. App., 395 A.2d 744 (1978), we upheld the Council's authority to enact the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, whereas in Bishop v. District of Columbia, D.C.App., 411 A.2d 997 (1980) (en banc), we invalidated § 605 of the Revenue Act of 1975, and in Capitol Hill Restoration Society, Inc. v. Moore, D.C.App., 410 A.2d 184 (1979), we nullified the Council's effort to confer jurisdiction upon this court for direct review of determinations under the Historic Sites Subdivision Amendment of 1976.

In exercising our review function, we have acknowledged that "the core and primary purpose of the Home Rule Act . . . was to relieve Congress of the burden of legislating upon essentially local matters `to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the constitutional mandate.' D.C.Code 1978 Supp., § 1-121(a)." McIntosh, supra at 753 (footnote omitted). We also have stressed, however, that the Act only "delegates to the Council legislative power over `all rightful subjects of legislation within the District.'" Id. at 750 n. 11 (quoting D.C.Code 1978, § 1-124) (emphasis added). Thus, we have perceived that our role — indeed our duty — is to interpret the Act without undue deference to either legislative body, but always with a central focus: the intent of Congress.⁵

II.

Under the Home Rule Act, the District of Columbia Council is empowered to pass legislation by a majority vote after two readings, at least 13 days apart. D.C. Code 1979 Supp. § 1-146(a).⁶ If the Mayor does not veto the act within 10 days, (or if the Council overrides a veto by a two-thirds vote), it becomes effective after a 30 legislative-day layover in Congress, unless disapproved by concurrent resolution. D.C.Code 1979 Supp., §§ 1-144(e), -147(c)(1).⁷ The second-reading requirement was adopted to give notice of a pending proposal so that "the public and interested parties can discuss this legislation" before passage. Staff of the House Comm. on the District of Columbia, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., Home Rule for The District of Columbia 1973-1974 at 1042 (Comm. Print 1974) (hereafter cited as Home Rule History) (statement of Rep. Thomas M. Rees).⁸ The 30 legislative-day layover was imposed as an orderly way for Congress to carry out its constitutional responsibility to legislate for the District.⁹

In contrast, the Council may pass "emergency" legislation by a vote of two-thirds of the members if "emergency circumstances make it necessary that an act be passed after a single reading, or that it take effect immediately upon enactment." § 1-146(a). However, "such act shall be effective for a period of not to exceed ninety days." Id.

The Council considers a situation to be an emergency when immediate legislative action is required for "Nile preservation of the public peace, health, safety and general welfare." Emergency Condominium and Cooperative Control Resolution of 1979, Res. 3-126, 25 D.C.Reg. 10370, 10372 (June 1, 1979); accord, Lifschitz v. City of Miami Beach, 339 So.2d 232, 234 (Fla.App.1976), cert. denied, 348 So.2d 949 (Fla.1977); Padberg v. Roos, 404 S.W.2d 161, 168 (Mo.1966) (en banc).

Faced with a serious shortage of rental housing in the District because of widespread conversion of rental housing to condominium and cooperative property, the Council perceived a need "to impose temporary controls on the conversion of rental properties to condominium or cooperative status and thus to stabilize rental housing in the District of Columbia." Res. 3-126, supra. Accordingly, to preserve to status quo until permanent legislation could be devised, the Council passed three series of emergency acts imposing moratoriums on such conversion and regulating the sale of converted units.¹⁰

WHOC does not dispute that the Council acted in response to a genuine emergency.¹¹ Nor does the District contend that different emergencies prompted adoption of the acts within each count of WHOC's complaint; each count admittedly reflects substantially identical, successive measures directed at the same, ongoing emergency.¹² Thus, all parties agree on the statement of the issue.

The dispute stems from the District's position that the only procedural limitation in § 1-146(a) on passage of "an act" in emergency circumstances is a two-thirds vote of the Council, and that the 90-day temporal limitation refers only to the particular emergency act itself, not more broadly to the substantive provisions of the act. According to the District, there is no prohibition against adoption — without a second reading or referral to Congress — of successive, substantially identical acts directed at the same emergency.

The trial court rejected this construction. It held "that the Council may not, through its emergency power, continue in effect substantially the same substantive provisions of law for more than ninety days without a second reading of the act." Washington Home Ownership Council, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 107 Wash.D.L.Rptr. 1985, 1993 (Nov. 9, 1979). This interpretation accords more closely with the concept announced in the House of Representatives Committee Report on the proposed Home Rule Act, which stated that "[w]hen the Council acts in an emergency fashion, . . . its action shall be effective for not more than ninety days." Home Rule History at 1462 (emphasis added). Nonetheless, because the statutory language is not conclusive, we examine the scheme of the Home Rule Act, as illuminated by additional legislative history.

III.

A. According to WHOC, the Council's "emergency" power in § 1-146(a) to dispense with the second-reading and congressional layover requirements is an exception to the basic scheme, not an alternate route to long-term legislation. More specifically, WHOC challenges the District's view that the 90-day limitation on "such act" is applicable, separately, to each emergency act as such, without regard to the substance of the legislation. WHOC argues that this view is inconsistent with the exceptional nature of the emergency power because it would permit adoption of consecutive emergency acts to the point where they effectively amount to permanent legislation. WHOC stresses that Congress did not intend this alternative to the second-reading and congressional layover requirements.

In reply, the District concedes that under its reading of the statute, the Council could pass an unbroken succession of emergency acts extending over years — as in this case — limited only by the requirement that the Council find an "emergency." The District, therefore, argues in effect that Congress intended two alternative legislative tracks; the Council can choose between regular or emergency legislative procedures solely by reference to its own perception of the circumstances.

The District premises its argument not only on its literal reading of the "such act" clause in § 1-146(a), but also on the protections against abuse inherent in the two-thirds voting requirement for emergency measures. According to the District, Congress intended this additional obstacle to Council action as a sufficient offset to the second-reading and congressional layover requirements. The District argues that the two-thirds vote is an adequate safeguard because no substantial protections are lost when the emergency procedure is used. It stresses that the 90-day limitation on emergency acts effectively serves the purpose of the second-reading requirement, since the public will be on notice after the first such act that...