CONYERS Bill To Add More Judges To Detroit Bankruptcy Court Set To Become Law; Helps Residents Seekk Economic Relief

Conyers Bill Included as part of Legislation Providing Funds for Disaster Relief

Washington, D.C. –H.R. 2266, a $36.5 billion humanitarian aid package for victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate passed the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and is now set to become law. The bill includes an amended version of Congressman John Conyers’ (MI-13) legislation that will extend 14 temporary bankruptcy judgeships and establish four additional bankruptcy judgeships across the Nation.  The bill extends the temporary bankruptcy judgeship in the Eastern District of Michigan as well as authorizes an additional bankruptcy judgeship for that District, which serves the City of Detroit.  

According to the Judicial Conference, without extending the temporary judgeship and adding another judgeship for the Eastern District of Michigan, the District’s caseload would exceed by 40 percent of the caseload standard for a federal judicial district.  The legislation passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives on October 12^th, the U.S. Senate on October 24^th and now heads to the president’s desk for signature.

Congressman Conyers released the following statement:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“This legislation will ensure that citizens of Detroit, especially those facing economic distress, are able to obtain financial relief from a fully-staffed bankruptcy court.  While I would have preferred the original version of my legislation, which would have made these judgeships permanent, I am pleased that Congress took action.  

“H.R. 2266 also contains much needed economic aid to those who were harmed by recent hurricanes and wildfires and provides critical debt relief to the citizens of Puerto Rico by forgiving certain flood insurance obligations and loans owed by the Commonwealth.

“This aid package reflects how our Nation -- when called upon to address overwhelming devastation resulting from natural disaster and economic distress -- can come together to provide critical aid to those most in need.”

In addition to extending a temporary bankruptcy judgeship and adding an additional bankruptcy judge in Detroit, this legislation will expand temporary judgeships in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Virginia. The legislation also adds additional bankruptcy judges in Delaware and Maryland.  The Judicial Conference of the United States has warned that without this legislation, the Nation’s bankruptcy courts would “face a serious and, in many cases, debilitating workload crisis if these temporary judgeships were to expire.” 

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Conyers Commends VA Governor McAuliffe on Restoration of Ex-Offender Voting Rights

Washington, D.C. – Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that he used his executive authority to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 ex-offenders. As a result, ex-offenders in Virginia who are not in prison, on probation or parole will be permitted to register and vote in the upcoming presidential election.  House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), commended his actions with the following statement:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“The actions of Governor McAuliffe are a welcome example of the importance of expanding voting rights at a time when many throughout the nation are experiencing an increase in barriers to the ballot box.  Denying voting rights to ex-offenders robs them of the opportunity to fully participate and contribute to their society.  This gesture of faith to the ex-offender community can serve as an inspiration to both their families and wider communities about the necessity of speaking to the government through the ballot.”

Conyers observed that, “The challenge we face today is not ballot integrity, but the need to expand opportunities around the franchise, so that voting is fairly and equally open to all Americans.  Far too many have been denied the right to vote, even long years after paying their debt to society.  Disenfranchisement laws isolate and alienate ex-offenders, and have been shown to serve as one more obstacle in their attempt to successfully reintegrate into society.  I hope that the example of Virginia starts a trend for the remaining states in the nation that still have barriers to ex-offender voting.”

Ranking Member Conyers is a long-standing champion of the Democracy Restoration Act of 2015 (H.R. 1459), which was re-introduced this Congress. This legislation would create uniform federal standards for returning the voting rights of ex-offenders to vote in federal elections. 

Democracy Restoration Act of 2015 by Beverly Tran

Section-By-Section of HR 1459 the Democracy Restoration Act by Beverly Tran

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Trouble on Tap: A Briefing on the Water Crisis in Detroit, Toledo, and West Virginia.

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, February 26, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) held a briefing organized by faith-based human rights group Unitarian Universalist Service Committee focusing on the affordability of water to the nation's poorest and most vulnerable.  The briefing, held in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, was organized in the context of soaring costs of water to consumers nationally, the continuation of the widely-criticized water shut off policy in Detroit, and the implications of these trends for America's urban and rural water and wastewater services.  In addition to Rep. Conyers, Reps. Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18), Charles Rangel (D-New York), and Earl Blumenauer (OR-3), were also honorary hosts of the event.

Panelists included: Detroit attorney Alice Jennings, a lead attorney in a federal class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of community organizations and Detroit residents affected by the city's mass water shutoffs; Economist Roger Colton, the developer of the original Detroit Water and Sewer Affordability Plan who testified as an expert witness in the city’s 2014 bankruptcy case;  David Gatton, the director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Council on Metro Economies; and Patricia Jones, the Senior Program Leader for Environmental Justice at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, who is an international expert on the human right to water and coordinated the 2011 and 2014 United Nations missions of the Special Rapporteur to Detroit. Noted writer and scholar Michael Shank, Director of Media Strategy of Climate Nexus, moderated the briefing.

In his remarks, Rep. Conyers emphasized that ensuring the human right to water is “an economic, social, and health issue that we can all get behind.  It doesn’t have any partisan aspect to it.”  In an op-ed published earlier this week, Rep. Conyers advocates for the full implementation of the “water affordability plan passed by Detroit's City Council in 2006 to account for residents' financial need in water billing and to prevent discrimination in access.”  He also stressed the need for “need strong local, state, and federal investment in infrastructure around the country.”

During the briefing, Jennings stated that “just last year, there were 33,000 homes shut off, and only 18,000 restored.  That means that 15,000 potential homes are without water.”  Patricia Jones called on federal agencies “to provide immediate assistance to the thousands in Detroit in harm’s way today.”

Michael Shank highlighted that Detroit’s water system is not alone in facing challenges in covering its costs.  “A survey last month of 368 water utility companies in America suggested that two-thirds of the utilities have insufficient funds to cover their costs and will likely increase fees to make up for the shortfall,” he said.

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