Legislation Clinic Students Work On Important, Diverse Legislation with D.C. Council

Since the inception of the Legislation Clinic in 1990 under the co-direction of the late Dave Clarke and Professor Robert Burgdorf, students in the Clinic have done legislative work on a wide variety of engaging and significant issues. This continues to be true in the Spring '02 semester, as Clinic students are working with offices of the Council of the District of Columbia on a broad range of projects.

Kimya Bradshaw, '02, is working for the Chairman of the D.C. Council, Linda Cropp, in the office of the Committee of the Whole. She is doing in-depth research and analysis to assist in the preparation of an Attorney General Report the Committee is developing.

Demeteris Hale, '03, is working for Councilmember Jim Graham, chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, Property Management, and Latino Affairs. She has worked on responses to legal and legislative questions from constituents, on the issue of District of Columbia government agency compliance with directives of the Office of Latino Affairs, on pit bull legislation, and on parking legislation.

Darren Johnson, '03, is working for Councilmember Carol Schwartz and the Committee on Public Works on measures to safeguard D.C. school children by requiring additional vaccinations against highly infectious diseases, and on assisting advancement toward Council passage of Child Restraint Act legislation.

Holly Joseph, '02, is working with the Education, Libraries, and Recreation Committee, chaired by Councilmember Kevin Chavous. She has researched issues of elected versus appointed school boards and of conflicts of interest among special education advocates; she is presently summarizing recent budget reports to inform current budget deliberations.

Aaron Price, '03, is working on several assignments in the office of Councilmember Phil Mendelson (At-Large). One of his projects involved anti-deficiency legislation designed to establish a D.C. law to assist District agency heads and managers in controlling overspending and unauthorized financial commitments; he has researched federal anti-deficiency laws and federal pre-emption issues. He also has investigated DC Medicaid reimbursement practices, including overspending of Medicaid allocations in some major District agencies. The assignment culminated in the preparation of questions for an oversight hearing regarding the D.C.Public Schools and D.C. Department of Mental Health. Finally, he is researching District law regarding adoption, with a view toward making the adoption process in the District a model for the nation in terms of process efficiency and focus on the best interest of adoptive children.

Tihesha Trower, '03, has been working with the office of Councilmember Adrian Fenty on various projects, including development of proposed refinements to the Equal Opportunity for Local, Small, or Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Act to assist the participation of disadvantaged businesses, developing amendments to the Tax Parity Act to address D.C. budget shortfalls, researching a potential initiative to restrict the sales of 40-ounce containers of malt liquor, and researching the budgets of various D.C. agencies to help inform current budget deliberations.

As this partial summary of their work indicates, UDC-DCSL Legislation Clinic students are continuing to have a substantial impact assisting in the development of the District's laws at the same time as they are gaining invaluable educational insights into the lawmaking process.