Congress blocks D.C.'s own tax law—again—without D.C. having a vote
S.J.Res. 102 — A joint resolution disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025. · Filed by Rick Scott (R-FL) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 27, 2026 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This joint resolution disapproves a Washington, D.C. tax law passed by the D.C. Council on December 20, 2025, that would conform D.C. income and franchise taxes to federal tax code changes. If passed, Congress would block the D.C. Council's tax revision, preventing D.C. from implementing its own tax policy changes.
Why we flagged it
This is a Congressional Review Act-style disapproval resolution targeting a local D.C. tax law. It uses federal override power to block a D.C. Council legislative action, stripping the District of Home Rule authority over its own tax code.
What the text implies
- D.C. residents have no voting representation in Congress, yet Congress retains veto power over D.C. legislation under the Home Rule Act — this resolution exemplifies that structural democratic deficit.
- The D.C. Council's tax conformity act likely aimed to align D.C. tax law with 2025 federal tax code changes; blocking it may leave D.C. tax code misaligned with federal law, creating compliance complexity for D.C. taxpayers and businesses.
- The resolution is sponsored entirely by Republican senators from other states, suggesting partisan rather than D.C.-constituent-driven motivation — D.C. has no Senate representation to defend its own legislation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
D.C. residents lose the ability to have their locally elected representatives adjust tax policy; Congress is overriding local democratic choice. The bill strips D.C. of Home Rule authority to manage its own tax code, a core self-governance power.
Named in the bill
District of Columbia Council, U.S. Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025, District of Columbia Home Rule Act
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 8 Republicans.
- Jan 27, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 27, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
- Feb 4, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Paul without amendment.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Mar 2026 to Mar 2026. Those filings disclosed $19,750,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 253 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Rick Scott, the sponsor, reported $69,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $19,750,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,430 characters) on Jul 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Mar 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress blocks D.C.'s own tax law—again—without D.C. having a vote” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sjres102 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.