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A RESOLUTION
21-474
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
May 3, 2016
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend section 47-2844 of the District of Columbia Official Code to enable the Mayor to suspend or revoke the business license of any business engaged in the buying or selling of a synthetic drug and to enable the Chief of Police to seal a business licensee’s premises for up to 96 hours for the buying or selling of a synthetic drug; and to amend the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Civil Infractions Act of 1985 to designate the sale of a synthetic drug as a per se imminent danger to the health or safety of District residents and provide for an administrative hearing after the sealing of a business licensee’s premises.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that this resolution may be cited as the “Sale of Synthetic Drugs Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2016”.
Sec. 2. (a) There exists an immediate need to amend section 47-2844 of the District of Columbia Official Code to enable the Mayor to suspend or revoke the business license of any business engaged in the buying or selling of a synthetic drug and to enable the Chief of Police to seal a business licensee’s premises for up to 96 hours for the buying or selling of a synthetic drug; and to amend the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Civil Infractions Act of 1985 to designate the sale of a synthetic drug as a per se imminent danger to the health or safety of District residents and provide for an administrative hearing after the sealing of a business licensee’s premises.
(b) On June 30, 2015, the Council of the District of Columbia passed the Sale of Synthetic Drugs Emergency Amendment Act of 2015, effective July 10, 2015 (D.C. Act 21-100; 62 DCR 9689). This emergency legislation expired on October 8, 2015.
(c) The Council passed identical temporary legislation, the Sale of Synthetic Drugs Temporary Amendment Act of 2015, effective October 21, 2015 (D.C. Law 21-34; 62 DCR 10898), on July 14, 2015. This temporary legislation will expire on June 2, 2016.
(d) The permanent version of this legislation, the Sale of Synthetic Drugs Amendment Act of 2015, as introduced on July 18, 2015 (Bill 21-0261), is pending in the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee held a hearing on the bill on September 16, 2015.
(e) In order to prevent a gap in the law before the permanent legislation moves forward, it is necessary to pass this identical emergency and temporary legislation.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Sale of Synthetic Drugs Emergency Amendment Act of 2016 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
