COUNCIL SETS ASIDE D.C. DRUG INITIATIVE CALLING FOR TREATMENT

Measure Approved by Voters Lacks Funds; Lawmakers Look to Congress
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Mayor Williams opposes eliminating the threat of jail for drug users.

Last month's voter initiative giving nonviolent drug criminals the right to
treatment instead of jail was shelved by the D.C. Council yesterday on its
busy final meeting of the year.

On a day of wide-ranging legislative action affecting everything from trees
to homeless shelters to labor laws, the council voted 12 to 1 to not
implement the new drug rules unless Congress approves millions of dollars in
funding to pay for them -- a turn of events city officials called unlikely.

The action marked the fifth time in recent years that the council has moved
to block or invalidate voter initiatives, including measures to limit
campaign contributions to council members and the number of terms they can
serve.

The drug initiative passed with 78 percent of the vote Nov. 5. But it
belatedly ran into stiff opposition from city leaders, including Mayor
Anthony A. Williams (D), who is waging a court fight to stop it.

He and others argued that the change would be costly and would,
paradoxically, undermine efforts to encourage compliance with drug treatment
plans by eliminating the threat of jail. Administration officials said
Williams would probably sign the council's bill but also keep up the court
fight.

Officials estimated that the drug program could cost as much as $23 million
a year in a budget already facing severe pressures from a weak economy. Any
savings from fewer jail stays would go to the federal government, which pays
to house the city's felons.

Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) led the push to prohibit the use of
locally collected tax dollars to pay for the voter initiative.

"Their intent was certainly not to create a budget deficit in the city,"
said Cropp, who said she favored providing more drug treatment as an
alternative to jail. "The will of the people will go forward, just not
without appropriate funding."

The lone vote against the bill came from council member Adrian M. Fenty
(D-Ward 4), who said afterward, "I just don't think the council of the
District of Columbia should override citizens' initiatives."

Opio L. Sokoni, an organizer for the Drug Policy Alliance, the
Washington-based group that pushed the initiative, praised the council's
action. "This is exactly what we wanted," Sokoni said. "The D.C. budget is
in crisis. Our real fight is with Congress."

But Fenty said it was unlikely that a Republican Congress would designate
new funding to pay for the drug treatment effort, particularly if it
weakened other criminal sanctions such as jail.

"That has no chance of passing," said Fenty, expressing a sentiment widely
shared by city officials.

Also yesterday:

* The council approved $660,000 for emergency services for the homeless. The
money was included in a bill that approved $50 million in city spending
while this year's budget is trapped in Congress. All but the money for the
homeless was already budgeted to be spent this year.

* A tree preservation bill debated for the past 18 months was approved, over
the objections of many in the business community. It levies fees of $35 per
inch for cutting down trees with circumferences of 55 inches of more. The
minimum fee is $1,925.

The bill, sponsored by council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), survived
efforts yesterday by council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) to
exempt homeowners.

The Sierra Club praised the vote. Real estate industry lobbyist Damian
O'Doherty dubbed the bill "a stocking stuffer for the environmental lobby.
The homeowner gets the coal."

* Labor leaders scored a victory when the council voted to require that
hotel developers receiving city funding sign pacts with workers.

* The council voted to delay a new business license requirement from taking
effect until May. It was originally scheduled to begin in September but ran
into intense opposition from business interests because it subjected those
earning as little as $2,000 in private enterprises to new bureaucracy and
fees.

* The council gave courts new power to temporarily commit those found
mentally incompetent to stand trial for crimes. The period, not to exceed 48
hours, would allow officials to maintain custody while initiating
proceedings for long-term commitment. The bill was in response to the
October slaying of congressional intern Claude Rashad McCants, allegedly by
a mentally ill man who had been found unfit to stand trial on prior criminal
charges but was released pending a hearing on civil commitment.

* A bill requiring that police develop procedures for recording
interrogations also passed.