S. 2688 — District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act

This section transfers command authority over the District of Columbia National Guard from the President of the United States to the Mayor of the District of Columbia by amending multiple provisions of the D.C. Official Code. Specifically, it (1) designates the Mayor as Commander-in-Chief; (2) authorizes the Mayor to manage the reserve corps; (3) empowers the Mayor to appoint, examine, and retire commissioned officers (with examination board recommendations routed through the Commanding General to the Mayor); (4) enables the Mayor to call the Guard to duty; and (5) grants the Mayor authority over general courts-martial. (As background, the D.C. National Guard is the only National Guard unit under direct federal Presidential command rather than a state governor.)

This section amends multiple provisions of title 10, U.S. Code, concerning the District of Columbia National Guard by replacing "the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard" with "the Mayor of the District of Columbia" with respect to (1) failure to satisfactorily perform prescribed training; (2) appointments of the chief, vice chief, and other senior officers of the National Guard Bureau; (3) consent for active duty or relocation of units; and (4) consent for relocation of units. (Thus, these authorities shift from the military commanding general to the civilian Mayor.)

This section makes conforming amendments to title 32, United States Code, governing the National Guard, primarily to replace references to the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard with the Mayor of the District of Columbia in provisions concerning (1) maintenance of other troops, (2) drug interdiction and counter-drug activities, (3) appointment of adjutant general and fiscal officer, (4) relief from National Guard duty, (5) orders to active Guard and Reserve duty, (6) personnel matters, (7) National Guard Challenge program, and (8) issuance of supplies. The section also (1) strikes District of Columbia-specific parenthetical language from the maintenance of other troops provision (§109(c)) and subsection (b) of the appointment of adjutant general provision (§314); (2) redesignates subsections in §314; (3) adds the District of Columbia to the definition of "state" in the additional assistance provision (§113); and (4) revises the heading of the active Guard and Reserve duty provision (§328) and related table of sections to reflect "authority of chief executive."