Several Long-Pending Measures Move Forward at Second-to-Last Meeting of Council Period 23

Sadly, Elvis Presley and an elected DC Council only overlapped for about two and a half years. Yet, as each two-year Council Period nears its final two meetings, it is commonly said that “It’s Now or Never” for pending legislation from the prior two years. Since Council bills require votes at two meetings, the penultimate meeting of the two-year cycle always attracts attention as the make-or-break deadline if a bill is to receive both of its two necessary votes prior to the Council Period expiring.

This year was no different…except that, in a way, it was. While there was still an urgency to have bills voted on at this second-to-last meeting of Council Period 23, this was not the first rodeo for a number of bills receiving or nearing final approval at the most recent meeting. An unusual number of bills approved at the latest meeting have previously begun but not completed the legislative process in one or more prior Council Periods. They had seen this second-to-last Legislative Meeting come and go in past Council Periods without action, but they came back to give it another go in the next two-year cycle. This latest Legislative Meeting was a case study in legislative persistence.

Receiving much attention from the media and lobbying groups was the False Claims Amendment Act. First introduced in 2013 in Council Period 20, this bill would expand an existing law allowing whistleblower-like court action by individuals to now include tax fraud cases. The bill has been reintroduced in each subsequent Council Period but had not previously received a full Council vote. Each subsequent bill was improved and clarified, including protections against frivolous lawsuits and explicit roles in the process for the offices of the Attorney General and Chief Financial Officer. After one final round of revisions, the bill received its second necessary vote of approval at the most recent meeting.

Also receiving a great deal of attention at the most recent meeting was an omnibus criminal justice measure that is a compendium of other related bills, some of which were also new iterations of previous measures. For example, the ban on dangerous, homemade, untraceable “ghost guns” passed in shorter-term emergency and temporary versions in the prior Council Period, but returned and was approved in the first of two votes on the omnibus measure. Another element of the bill dealing with potential early release for young offenders revisits a prior bill, and history repeats itself to a certain degree. In 2016, the Council passed a similar omnibus bill, the Comprehensive Youth Justice Amendment Act, itself a compendium of other bills. One component was the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act, which allowed incarcerated individuals who committed crimes while under age 18 to apply to have their sentences reviewed after serving fifteen or more years. Fast-forwarding to 2020, the bill approved at the most recent Legislative Meeting extended this same “Second Look” possibility of sentence review to those under age 25.

First introduced in the previous Council Period in 2018, a measure to ban the so-called “gay panic defense” received the first of two needed votes at the most recent legislative meeting. The current measure, the “Tony Hunter and Bella Evangelista Panic Defense Prohibition Act,” is named in honor of two victims of crimes the false defense might have falsely excused.

Also first introduced in Council Period 22, a bill to break the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) into two separate agencies received the first of two needed votes at the most recent meeting. DCRA would be split into a Department of Buildings (overseeing construction, housing safety, and property maintenance) and a Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (overseeing DCRA’s other former responsibilities, including consumer-facing services and occupational licensing).

A final measure previously introduced in Council Period 22, the Cashless Retailers Prohibition Act would ban most retailers from refusing to accept payments in cash. Given the large percentage of DC residents who are un-banked or under-banked, this bill would ensure access to all retailers from all potential customers. Exceptions were carved out for parking garages that currently do not accept cash, retailers who conduct no in-person transactions, and during times of pandemic when the hand-to-hand transfer of cash would be detrimental. The bill received the first of two needed votes at the most recent meeting.

Two previously existing governmental commissions, both originally created in legislation passed several Council Periods ago, were also brought back at the most recent meeting. The Commission on Poverty, first created via 2006 legislation in Council Period 16, would return if the new bill reviving it receives the second of two necessary votes at the next Legislative Meeting. The Commission will study the needs of those experiencing poverty, evaluate current anti-poverty programs, and recommend new or improved anti-poverty measures. The legislation regarding the latest iteration of the Commission was first introduced in 2017, in Council Period 22.

Similarly, the Tax Revision Commission, first created via legislation in 1977 (Council Period 2), then revived in 1996 (Council Period 11) and in 2011 (Council Period 19), will seemingly be brought back next year after receiving the first of two necessary votes at the most recent Legislative Meeting. The goal of the Commission is to take an all-encompassing look at the District’s tax policies and make recommendations to the Council for possible reforms.

Two additional measures worth highlighting had not previously seen the light of day since both were tied to the COVID pandemic. The first was a measure to ensure that larger employers who laid off staff due to COVID offer those same employees an opportunity to return to their jobs if the employer is hiring for similar roles. This measure received the first of two needed votes at the most recent meeting, though there was some indication that changes to the applicability of the measure might be made before it received its second and final vote. A second measure passed at the most recent meeting creates a timetable for restarting the clock on Freedom of Information Act requests, which had previously been frozen due to potential staff inability to access documents during the COVID emergency.

The Council’s next, and presumably final, Legislative Meeting of Council Period 23 will be held on December 15.