Sponsors
Introduced June 10, 2025 by H. Morgan Griffith · Last progress June 10, 2025
The bill moves most D.C. territory into Maryland control and preserves core federal sites and many federal benefits, trading clearer local/state governance and benefit continuity for residents and governments against changed laws, representation and significant fiscal, legal, and administrative transition costs and timing uncertainty.
Residents and local governments in the retroceded area: most local governance, land-use and municipal responsibility shift to the State of Maryland, giving Maryland clear title and control over most former D.C. territory.
Federal government and the public: key federal properties (principal monuments, core federal buildings, and defense/Coast Guard tracts in use) remain under U.S. title and control, preserving the permanent seat of government and national-security sites.
Homeowners, agencies, and officials across jurisdictions: clearer boundaries, residency rules, statutory names, and an identified effective-date trigger (survey + residency clarifications + proclamation/repeal mechanism) reduce ambiguity around who governs which areas and when changes take effect.
Residents and property owners in retroceded areas: will face changes in laws, taxes, and political representation when Maryland law and governance replace D.C. law, creating direct impacts on daily life and pocketbooks.
Maryland taxpayers and state budget-makers (and potentially federal taxpayers): the State becomes legally responsible for many former D.C. obligations and infrastructure, creating likely fiscal costs, liabilities, and new service responsibilities.
Federal agencies, practitioners, and affected residents: amending numerous federal statutes, updating regulations, maps and administrative systems during the transition will impose significant legal and administrative costs and create opportunities for confusion or errors.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Most of the District of Columbia would be returned to Maryland while a smaller Federal District around core federal sites remains under exclusive federal control, with legal and pension protections preserved.
Transfers most of the territory now part of the District of Columbia back to the State of Maryland while keeping a smaller, defined Federal District under exclusive federal control that contains the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, principal monuments, and adjacent federal office buildings. The bill specifies precise new boundaries for the Federal District, preserves federal ownership and exclusive authority over certain defense and Coast Guard lands, protects federal and retired-employee benefits and pension obligations, and updates several federal residency and jurisdiction references to reflect the new Federal District. The act becomes effective only after a presidential proclamation and the later of that proclamation or ratification of a constitutional amendment repealing the Twenty-Third Amendment, and it preserves existing laws except where specifically changed.