e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I'm calling to order this meeting this is a legislative meeting of the Council of the District of Columbia I'm Phil Mendelson chair of the council and today is Tuesday June 25th 2024 the time is 12:46 in the afternoon uh this meeting is being held in room 500 of the John a Wilson building the council chambers although I'm looking there no members participating virtually sometimes there are these days uh this is an additional meeting it's also the 27th meeting of council period 25 we always I misspoke this is not an additional meeting this is a regular meeting um seems a little odd our regular meetings are first Tuesday of the month which would be I I think July 2nd which does not work for reasons I won't explain so this is our regular meeting for July which we're having on June 25th we will have an additional meeting on July 9th um we always begin our legislative meetings with a moment of silence intended to be a moment for reflection and contemplation if we could observe that please Madam Secretary would you call the role council member Allan here council member bonds here council member fuman pres council member gray council member gray council member Henderson here council member LS George here counc M McDuffy here chairman Mendon pres Council M Nell here council member Parker here council member Pinto pres council member Robert White pres council member Tron white pres Mr chairman you have a COR uh thank you Madam Secretary uh we have the secretary's report of committee filings I'm going to recognize the chare pro TM council member Kenya McDuffy and I'll move to wave the reading of the secretary's report it's been a motion to wave the reading of the report is there discussion by Voice vote all those in favor of the motion to wave the reading say I I are there any opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously we have the secretary's report of introductions and referrals again I'm going to recognize the chair protm Council M McDuffy and I move to wave the reading of the secretary's report of introductions there a motion to wave the reading as there discussion on the motion to wave the reading all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed guys have it unanimously we have the consent agenda and council member Lewis George is going to remind me to remove from the consent agenda correct on page three item F5 that's Bill 2-835 Walter Reed development assistance temporary Amendment Act of 2024 are there any other changes to the consent agenda hearing no uh we will have a Voice vote mam secretary is that correct we will have a Voice vote on the consent agenda as revised all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed y eyes have it unanimously uh we will go to page three item F5 Walter Reed development assistance temporary Amendment Act of 2024 council member Lewis George chairman uh I would like to um think you want to postpone indefinitely postpone indefinitely been a motion to postpone indefinitely this bill and I believe you said earlier the reason is because um it's in the budget support act and therefore unnecessary to be considered as a temporary Bill uh the motion is to postpone indefinitely all those in favor say I I hi uh opposed I'm not hearing any no votes the motion is approved unanimously uh we will turn to the non-consent agenda and the first item is Bill 25- 784 the fiscal year 2025 budget support Act of 2024 uh this I'm going to move an amendment the nature of a substitute in fact I am going to say I move an amendment nature of a substitute the amendment nature of a substitute was circulated yesterday at noon and uh accompanying it was I believe an eight-page memo which I'm fumbling to find and I can't find um which explains in detail uh different changes that the amendment nature of a substitute makes compared to the bill as approved on first reading first reading was May 28 I'm not going to try to repeat or summarize all those changes they speak to all of the titles and many of the subtitles there are some new subtitles uh and there are other um existing subtitles from first reading that have amendments some rather minor and some rather significant um between first reading and today there's been a lot of work that's been done on the budget support act for one thing we've adopted the budget and so some changes that were made in the budget between first and second reading necessitated some of the changes in the budget support act that's the amend nature of a substitute and then members approached with some um uh suggestions or requests and we attempted to incorporate all of those I won't say we incorporated all but most were Incorporated uh comments were received from general counsel comments were received from uh the office of the Chief Financial Officer I believe in particular either their legal counsel or their office of Revenue analysis who's done a lot of the vetting of this there were comments received from other sources on the basis of all those comments the revisions were made it's pretty extensive the um revisions to the budget support act uh from first reading extensive in the sense of affecting um many of the subtitles um that does not lend itself to individual amendments so you all have the um amendment in nature of a substitute before us uh I think what I'm going to do is before having a vote on that entertain amendments and I think I will do it in this order uh council member Parker and then four from me and then one from council member McDuffy and then one from council member Lewis George and I believe those are all the Amendments well those are all the Amendments that I know of so these will be amendments to the amend amendment in the nature of a substitute which is pending uh first up is council member Parker and council member Parker you circulated a revised version at 11 56 this morning and that is what will be before us if you say so moved so moved thank you Mr chairman and uh my team will circulate circulate uh printed copies of the amendment uh but this amendment is uh for the subtitle focused on uh our safe passage priority areas um and the goal here is to get us to better standardize our approach to identifying priority areas under our safe passage program uh for those that may not know the safe passage program uh designates priority areas to ensure students's safety as they're traveling to and from schools um I was grateful uh for the Chairman's partnership um in in including a priority area around the Brooklyn Metro um and that funding I believe is for one year uh and we'll continue to push to ensure that there's more funding in future years um this amendment would ask the deputy mayor uh to use several factors to determine the priority areas uh right now while some of that deliberation is happening internally we have no knowledge of how these part areas are determined um and you can see the language here that it would include violence surrounding the school as well as and this is one of the tweaks that was made based on feedback from council member Allen Metro stations and Transit hubs uh we also included feedback and from stakeholders and others we would get a report in of May of next year and may of every subsequent year and the reason for that would be it would allow us to make uh adjustments as we are deliberating uh the budget last thing I would just point you to is the rationale uh for some of the language that the deputy mayor's team uses internally specifically um definitions for uh bullying and verbal altercations Etc so uh with that uh this amendment is moved uh thank you and just for clarification so your staff circulated a hard copy which I assume is identical to what you circulated by email at 1156 that is correct okay that's what's before us as there discussion council member Pinto thank you Mr chairman I want to thank councel Parker for moving us forward um and I think the right direction to ensure that our safe Passage program has some standards and ensure that we're all on the same page about what those standards are um and for your collaborative approach to this amendment I'm planning on supporting it today um I think it adds some accountability and transparency in our safe passage program and I also want to note in particular my appreciation for your work to make this amendment slightly less prescriptive I think by changing the language to say that the deputy mayor shall establish safe passage areas by consider ing violent crime occurring near schools rather than only basing it on violent crime uh will allow for some needed flexibility around how sites are selected I think this flexibility will help us avoid the situation that I'm concerned about where the most we don't want the most effective grantees who are helping crime be reduced uh to lose their opportunity to continue that work um so thank you again for your focus and your work on this and look forward to seeing um continued improvements in our safe passage program thank you council member uh further from Members council member Allen thank you Mr chair and thank you councilor Parker uh for the amendment and I appreciate you're including the language I suggested around our Metro stations and Transit hubs I think that's important where we see a lot of our students come together and may that that act of violence may not take place at the school but may actually take on the way to school and so includ our Transit pieces um is really important so thanks for adding that into this revised amendment I did have a couple of quick questions and then I think I have an oral amendment that I hope you'll accept as friendly um but first with a quick question what I'm looking at and and just for specific here I'm on page two and I'm looking at the third line so it says uh priority areas by considering violent crime occurring within 500 meters around school campuses is the intent of this language to say both on the campus and around the campus in other words do you is the intent that the language would include a violent incident that takes place on the campus itself so the intent is to focus on the surrounding areas not the school uh I I received feedback from the deputy mayor's team that uh there may be unintended consequences if we focus primarily on incidents at a school and um so yeah the intent is to focus on the surrounding areas of a school but not fights or altercations at a specific school okay um one of the other pieces that I'm concerned about when I think about some of the schools in ward 6 um where we have seen several students that have been murdered they weren't murdered at the school or within 500 meters of the school they might have been experiencing violence be that homicide assaults in their neighborhoods but there also still was or even in their home and it still was however related to an underlying conflict that came from school or from relationships there so one of the things I was going to suggest is um and Mr chairman I'm trying to read this out loud slowly since it's a oral Amendment here but what I'm trying to get at are violent incidents committed against students that may not actually take place at or around the school but the Cy of Retribution or the intervention needs to happen within that space because of the proximity of the school so here's what I'm suggesting I'm going you read say where I I'm on page two line three line three so my suggestion would be after the phrase and Metro stations or Transit hubs to add a comma or violent incidents committed against students is the phrasing I'm suggesting be added so that would be after the words Transit hubs comma or violent incidents committed against students and the rationale behind that is to make sure that it's inclusive of students where the violence may be happening to that student and that young person that isn't going to be within 500 meters of the school isn't going to necessarily be at that Metro station or that bus connection but is still going to that underlying conflict might be rooted uh within school or within that passage to it so I think that would be a helpful way to make sure we're inclusive of that um I don't have uh significant concerns about that the only hesitation I have is the Deputy Mayor warned again against focusing too uh acutely on the school environment um and I would imagine the same would apply here if it's not a school but somewhere else um both for data sharing practices what I understand from the deputy mayor is that uh we don't get the same level of data from each school and so it could be halfhazard and therefore my question would be how would we track that so are you thinking like uh a reported violent incident or crime that doesn't happen at a school no what I'm talking about is a violent incident rather than being place-based which I think you're saying the deputy mayor wants to caution against being Place based within a school this language is specifically student based not place-based so the violent incident committed against a student so I will use digital Pioneers as an example um we had three students murdered at at digital Pioneers in one year multiple students have lost their lives there um that violence didn't happen at the school or even immediately around the school but I would want the relationship between the violence that student might be experiencing to be able to be a factor here to understand we've got to help get these kids to and from school safely and a safe passage program can be part of that I'm G to tr I'm going to trust School Community our office neighbor safety engagement Partners like MPD and others will be able to share information in a way that helps inform the decision but if we're if this is going to be the category that is is essentially ranking where do we put safe passages and where do we not I want to make sure that it's inclusive of what students are experiencing you know I I will accept that as friendly I will say though I um I worry that we are now conflating the purpose of the safe passage program that it's not as I mentioned earlier Panacea against all violence targeting young people and it's tragic wherever it happens but it is focused on how do we keep young people safe as they're going from home to school and so my accepting that violent instances against students I would only add as they are traveling to or from school so to just make sure that we're hyperfocused on incidents that are occurring as students are traveling to and from what I I'm not sure of the incidents you're referencing if those were homicides that happened outside of a student traveling to a FR School don't know if the safe passage program is the right Focus let me inter let me interject and I'm going to be a little bit favorable to council member Allen on this there's several phrases to in this paragraph and the first is considering violent crime occurring within 500 meters uh campuses Metro stations he would add or violent incidents committed against students comma during the 365 days preceding so that's considering this and then adding to that the next phrase which is the number of unusual incidents reported by grante so that first phrase is not so scientific it's not so quantitative it is considering these incidents and I do think that the Mr Allen who's former chair of Judiciary and therefore knows something about violent crime that it there is a lot of retaliatory violence so this amendment asks for nothing more than considering that well I appreciate that um was trying to clarify I think if we focus on violent incidents targeting students we by proxy will focus on many students unfortunately that live in Wards 5 seven and eight and there may be unintended consequences but I will accept that uh the phrasing violent instances against students uh but caution us not to overburden this program at as a tool to prevent all violence against young people I think that's getting away from the purpose of the program which is acutely focused on protecting students as they're traveling to and from school so the language that I have is comma or violent incidents committed against students comma General councel do you have that yes I do Mr chairman so if I asked you to repeat it back you could I'm not asking you to but if I asked you to you could I could yes okay um now is there any objection from members I think that's you want to speak please so I I think Council Allen raises a a really important point that there are a number of circumstances that warrant additional interventions and safe passage programs being effective whether that's happening at the school or affecting students on their you know in their in their lives that's not right outside of the school but if we're going to add the language to add another category then I go back to believing that we should be a little more clear that these are factors to consider that will become evident when the deputy mayor writes the report to us in May articulating why she selected the sites because if we're saying you have to consider violent crime out of school and you have to consider violent crime affecting students at their home or on their way we we might run into an overwhelming list that is going to become hard to prioritize and therefore hard to enforce so I and that is the concern that was shared by the deputy mayor that by making this too General and too broad you're going to have such a large swath of areas to focus on and thereby have unintended consequences on the program right but I I do understand what councelor Allen is saying that these are that that is a category of schools that we want to be considered because of the very real impact on students and so if if you are willing to accept councilor Allen's friendly Amendment maybe we can make the language clear that these are factors to consider I think that's already there because the first word is considering considering considering violent crime blah blah or and where would counselor Allen's language go in the sentence it would read by by considering violent crime occurring within 500 meters around a school campus and Metro stations and or Transit Huts comma or violent instances against students comma preceding the selection of a priority area and so forth the you didn't have the language quite right but close enough or violent incidents committed against students comma during the 365 days preceding the selection but the first word in that phrase is considering that's okay which was the point I made that is not scientific this is something to consider okay so if you take a school such as what council member Allen noted where there were five students that were murdered in one year I think you said one year that uh the deputy mayor would look at that school that doesn't mean shall include but we'll consider that school and students sayfe fast but the proceeding language says shall establish the safe passage block priority areas by considering so I just want to make sure our legislative intent is clear that there absolutely should be these factors as a part of her consideration and that we recognize that this is complicated and we want some flexibility in those site selections I read that in your interpretation is correct that they shall be considered for the 3 165 days proceeding the selection okay great thank you and I have no objection to coun so close to getting this agreed to all right if there's no objection the amendment is accepted counil McDuffy this is I think relatively minor given the context of the discussion that's happening but in in reading the language toward the end of the initial paragraph where it says comma the deputy mayor shall report to the council what priority areas have been selected for the upcoming school year what if the deputy mayor actually eliminates a priority area would you not want that to be included in a report I imagine if I'm living in a community that has a safe passenger program that gets eliminated I would want to understand why that is the case and perhaps it might be included in the report but it might be worth adding a couple of words that require that report to the council what priority areas have been um selected or eliminated for the upcoming school year no that that is imply but I think you make a good point um I'm assuming you're making I would offer a friendly Amendment just to add or elimin or eliminated so that it would read uh the deputy mayor shall report to the council what priority areas have been selected or eliminated for the upcoming school year and what data and feedback from stakeholders was used to make that determination yes I think the chairman was in the process of um I think Charles had moved an amendment first so just for the purpose of process I think we have one Amendment on the table no counc Allen was already accepted oh okay and so so you're now proposing another amendment I am proposing and what is that again uh to add or eliminated during uh in the um the last sentence of the first paragraph after and I I'll ask uh council member Parker so what priority areas have been selected or eliminated for the upcoming school year here I think that makes a lot of sense I'm happy to accept that if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted I have to make sure the general Council has it so are you able to repeat it back yes Mr chairman I've got it thank you okay all right so the hearing no objection it's been accepted anything further on Mr Parker's Amendment all right we have the amendment as amended before us amended in two places um if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted it is accepted okay um I had circulated four amendments uh the first was recirculated with council member Robert White by email at 12:26 this afternoon uh it is uh the language we spent a lot of time at the breakfast talking about uh so the uh subsection B in title 4 subtitle V lines uh 2784 to 2785 would read each principal should Endeavor to consult with their schools local school advisory team to determine which position would be most beneficial to the school and then there's some additional change with regard to one of the uh definitions no longer being necessary again this was circulated at 12:26 it reflects um uh language that council member white and I were able to work out and I wanted thank the council member and there's a rationale that goes with this as well so moved council member white do you want to say anything uh thank you chairman just briefly uh I do really want to thank you for uh working this out this is in addition to a lot of other work that you've done for uh schools students and teachers uh in the in this budget and I really appreciate it uh I think what's really important here is something that you've talked a lot about which is equity uh for our schools uh and making sure that we are putting additional resources into schools WS seven and 8 um and the additional thing that's really important is uh retaining our teachers because we we just will never move the ball uh on student performance uh if we can't keep teachers uh in the classroom uh this language uh gets us there it shows that we are listening to teachers uh so I want to thank teachers for uh making sure their voices are heard I want to thank Empower Ed for lifting those uh voices and uh the language and the rationale goes into further detail that's not necessarily appropriate for the statute but discusses the intent of the council here so I I think we we got to a good place and I want to thank you for uh working uh with us on that uh anything further on this amendment uh council member trayon white um yes chairman I want to thank you um also continuously hear comments from uh Educators about them wanting things to happen to keep them here there are a lot of people who come here don't stay here for whatever reason leave and that breaks the continuity of education for our young people so I want to thank you and all those who worked on this to ensure that uh we give teachers flexibility and also principles flexibility to offer additional teachers uh we've heard several times in w 8 and I'm not pretty sure as you listed w 7 that there are substitute teachers that don't want to come to the schools in those in those WS for whatever reason and so it hurts uh the current staff who are there trying to have flexible schedules trying to recruit more people to stay there um and so this shows that the council is concerned and being intentional during budget season not after budget season with a lot of rhetoric actually putting our money where our mouth is to ensure we believe in um flexibility and equity and education so I want to thank you the team um and all those Advocates who went who came together to uh put this money there and we hope to keep it going and throughout a number of years not just for one year and hope that we show teachers that we care about them and also I want to say we need a new contract signed for our teachers thank you appreciate you throwing in that last Point uh council member Parker I want to associate myself with uh my colleague Tron white I thought that was very well said including the point about the contract I just wanted to highlight two things one I think it's important that we include the language around uh Consulting with the uh elets at our DCPS schools uh they are critical partners that are not always at the Forefront of decisionmaking unfortunately uh they include parents Advocates teachers uh and they certainly should be a part of this process and then two I just wanted to reiterate the point I made earlier I uh as well as many of you would agree that teacher retention is of the utmost importance as well as student wellness uh but was lost for me in a lot of the conversation earlier was student academics um and I think giving principles uh the flexibility to make determinations for a host of things but primarily what's going to move the needle for student learning should be our atmost goal and I I believe we landed there so thank you uh chairman uh thank you further on this amendment if there's no objection to the amendment it will be accepted it is accepted um the next Amendment which I move so moved um strikes it it deals with the title seven subtitle V lines 5209 through 5213 it's actually just one line it strikes the phrase a territory of the United States this has to do with the uh subsection and uh municipal bonds out of state municipal bonds uh this is um a recognition that there's federal law the bonds issued by territories including Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands are exempt from federal and state taxation so moved is there discussion there's no objection the amendment will council member fuman you can see without even looking in my direction thank you I I I very much support this amendment I do want to stay on the record that I I regret that we've made this change where we're making this U interest Inc come on out of state bonds taxable I think that uh our our aim is to have a progressive tax system in some ways people assume that this is a tax that will hit our highest income residents but in fact it it skew use against seniors and so the these kinds of vehicles these out ofate bond funds um are a vehicle that are heavily relied on by seniors High income seniors middle income seniors I'm hoping that we can continue to look for a way to uh to avoid having to do this you postponed the effectiveness effective date until tax year 2025 in order to change it now we would have had to raise different Revenue which I don't think is was a realistic thing to try to do here but I do want to keep on the table trying to preserve this tax exemption which is important to many of our seniors and I'd urge colleagues to work with me in thinking about ways that we might be able to do that uh thank you there no further discussion uh if there's no objection this amendment will be accepted uh it is accepted the next Amendment the third amendment from me uh amends um no creates a new subtitle concerning the commission on Arts and Humanities striking the phrase quote District friends unquote and inserting the phrase quote funds granted by the commission on the Arts Humanities unquote and its place which actually has the effect for smaller Arts organizations of increasing the amount of a grant that may be made by the commission to that small Arts organization uh has to do with the calculation and um so so moved is there discussion if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted hearing no objection it is accepted uh the fourth amendment was recirculated just a little while ago who was recirculated 107 p.m. had first been circulated at 12:12 a.m. I won't say what time that was as in it was awfully early or awfully late uh the difference is um the uh the language defining Extended Stay housing now reads means a portion of the building above the first floor in which furnish habitable rooms or Suites each with a kitchen are reserved primarily for transient guests who rent the rooms or Suites on a daily weekly or monthly basis uh I believe it also just fixes a typo in the next paragraph and adds in um paragraph C of the amendment other word primarily if I remember correctly those are the differences from what um was circulated at 12:12 this morning uh I move the amendment is there a discussion council member Pinto thank you Mr chairman I want to thank you and your team for working with us on this abatement I think we have a really exciting opportunity in the district and particularly along K Street and our downtown where we have so many vacant and underutilized Office Buildings to be really creative in our use of this space and to think outside the box on other Alterna ative uses that meet our residents needs draw visitors to the district and generate additional tax revenue um to support our residents needs throughout the city we talk a lot about this in terms of our housing needs which I think is really important and I'm glad that this BSA separates that funding bucket so that that can be pursued um but I'm thrilled to support this abatement for an Extended Stay model as a housing and hotel alternative that will allow us to welcome long-term business visitors as well as families as they spend time in the district so thank you again for working to include this abatement to ensure that we can bring this specific project to life um that I think will be very exciting uh thank you uh F anything further on this Mr chairman council member Bond um thank you chairman um I want to um make sure I understand this um Amendment does this Amendment affect a situ situation where a um you know in the district of Colombia if you you start with a lease and after the uh end of the quote unquote lease time um and you continue to occupy the unit you occupy it on a month-to-month basis so would it include that type of condition housing condition as well uh I think not but this subtitle actually pertains to a specific property downtown okay but it but my colleague made reference to it being an opportunity to redevelop downtown and while it may just refer to one building today as we move to redeveloped downtown it could refer to another address or many other addresses our long stre correct in the sense that I suspect that just as this year we're adding to what we did last year that next year we may be adding to what we've done this year with regard to downtown conversions or reactivating downtown all right so then you would suggest that if we add to this and we look at the other properties downtown we would need to specify the conditions the abatement conditions for those properties as well uh not future not necessarily on a building by building basis all right thank you there's nothing further and there's no objection this amendment will be accepted hearing no objection this amendment is accepted uh next on the list is uh council member McDuffy I believe you had an amendment I believe you recirculated no no you did not this is the amendment you circulated 7:59 p.m. correct uh this is uh the amendment previously discussed that fulfills commitment that uh has been made to those small businesses who host Sports wager in kios at their establishments we discussed extensively uh last meeting uh and I want to once again reiterate that our expectation and and my desire is that the sports wer contractor existing contractor will fulfill their contractual obligations and provide kiosk to the retailers who host he ask uh however this amendment uh which I hope will be accepted as friendly is a contingency uh it provides a pathway to ensure that retailers will always have kios uh if they would like to have them regardless of whether the contractor fulfills its obligations or not and I appreciate the the chairman including the version of this in the ANS however this amendment is necessary and it states that the office of Lottery and gaming shall provide kiosk either through the contract or by requiring class A operators who expand districtwide or new class C operators to install and operate kiosk at the small business business retailers uh operators would be required to provide the kiosk under the same terms as the contracts or retailers would see no difference in compensation or service standards that's the idea uh behind this and it specifies that if retailers are without operating kiosk that the office of Lottery and gaming shall facilitate the replacement of the kiosk within 15 days I know that some operators have expressed the willingness to provide the kios should the contractor not them While others have expressed an affirmative interest in doing so the amendment allows the offic of lad ging to either assign one operator to provide all the kios or to spread the responsibility among operators uh and finally should an operator fail to provide the kios when order to do so by the office lot and gaming uh it gives them the authority to make those who fail to provide them subject to a daily fine of $1,000 and I want to uh again recognize and thank uh chairman mson and Council M Matt fuman in particular and his staff for advocating for this and working uh with me and my team to craft this amendment um and I think I'm GNA leave it there uh outside of recognizing the budget office and all their work uh and helping us get to this point as well general counsel's office is absolutely essential too uh and so I want to mention them uh for work with us and and sort of the changes that we had to make last minute to to get to this point so chairman with that I would move the amendment and hopefully you'll accept this friendly uh thank you Council McDuffy questions or comments or debate I would like the opportunity to vote present on it okay thank you anything further on this coun oh you called me I I didn't hear uh I again I just want to register my reservations around the inclusion of the sports wagering amendment in the BSA um and while I do think this is an effort and an attempt to move in the right direction to support small businesses across the district I continue to have concerns whether or not this is going to manifest in the ways in which we hope they will um and I just would say all of this is unnecessary because we could have done this outside of the budget well that said um I just wanted to call out some of the small businesses that we keep referencing and talking about in the abstract as well as some of the revenue that some of these small businesses have made in the past so we have um in no particular order uh South Capital Liquors that in w 8 that has a kiosk and in fiscal year 22 uh they had $410,000 in sales in fiscal year 23 they had $310,000 in sales uh if I go down to Ivy City Smokehouse in W five in fiscal year uh I believe this is 23 they had about $20,000 in sales significantly less the reason why I'm bringing this up is that these are not small dollar amounts for some of these businesses that are operating on the margins and I continue to work that with all best intent uh we are haphazardly adjusting the plane while we're attempting to fly it and again it's unnecessary so I join my colleague council member Doo I would ask for a roll call vote uh as I just cannot support this uh anything further with regard to this amendment also we'll have a Voice vote the vo is on the amendment as Mr chairman can we have a roll call vote a roll call that that was a second request Madame secretary would you call the role council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Le George yes council member L George votes yes council member McDuffy yes counc member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendelson yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member nadell present council member noo will be recorded as present council member Parker no council member Parker votes no council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member TR white yes council member Tron white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member fuman yes council member fuman votes yes and council member gray is absent Mr chairman there are 10 yeses one no one present and one absent uh the the um amendment is approved 10 to one with the one uh present Council Le George you had an amendment uh yes uh Mr chairman this amendment corrects a date change that was made between the first and second reading um in the dgs process process improvements act uh in two places regarding publication of data and analytics the date at first reading was October 1st 2024 uh we changed dates because DJs expressed a need for more time uh because funding won't be available until October 1st so we've given DJs several additional months to hire staff and do the work uh before implementation so to clarify this amendment is tol December 31st 20125 both times as it appears on lines 3:22 and 349 uh with December 31st 2024 uh in Title One subtitle H uh the department of General Services process Improvement Act of 2024 to reflect the intendent the intendent three-month rather than 15-month delay uh Mr chairman I hope you'll accept this amendment as friendly uh thank you I have a heart copy did you did you email this to members yeah okay so members have this um is there discussion from Members there's no objection this will be accepted and hearing no objection it is accepted I believe there are no other amendments to the uh budget support act Amendment nature of a substitute uh anything further before the amendment nature of a substitute is put for a vote Council nadoo yes chairman could you please share some information about sub Title One Early Childhood educator pay Equity Amendment Act of 2024 um there's it says the ANS clarifies the authority of the Office of the State superintendent to provide guidance to Child Development facilities on how to differentiate employee salaries and clarifies responsibilities of the Early Childhood educator task force um can you explain why we had to make a change in the BSA and why we are reducing the salaries of lead teachers with bachelor's degrees uh I was not prepared to talk about this so um but it's a fair question to ask I'm looking at the language right now thank you sorry I did not mean to surprise you I'm G to recognize council member Henderson thank you um thanks for raising this coun member Nido I was going to speak to it um if no one else had said anything um I think for most people who uh know um we essentially had to take the pay Equity Fund from 0er to 70 million um which is not the full amount to keep up with everything that is current ly in the funding formula as it currently is um what we had decided um in working with aie and otherwise so AI had reconvened the um early pay Equity Fund task force they had already done so to relook at the formula um and as we had done when we first established this fund um we felt that us as council members and the CFO or the budget office was not necessarily best suited to make a decisions about how to changed the funding formula to match the amount of money that is currently available um so originally in the BSA we left everything as it was and said to the task force you have until September to provide the council with recommendations of how to make adjustments and the plan was for the council to come back in September um and consider legislative changes to match um some of those recommendations based on the amount of money that was available my understanding through lots of conversations with my office the Chairman's office the budget office Ai and the CFO um while we thought we had an agreement um the cfo's office or the CFO rather uh felt uncomfortable with the amount of things that we were leaving to the task force to decide because in the out years if there are no changes um the pay Equity Fund is insolvent um and so they would not certify it as balanced without making an additional change what I've communicated to um The Advocates in the Coalition who reached out to my office is that in my mind this is temporary um because the council will come back in September and we will replace this language with something else um so the task force has an opportunity to make a different recommendation if that is something that they choose um but um and I can if um the budget director or the um Deputy budget director want to add to that my understanding is that this was a certification issue um that we had to make an additional uh change on but that it is not permanent because we'll be able to come back to this in September I think that's a better answer than you would get from me I can't imagine that would be the case but I will accept it as the answer thank you very much council member Henderson and um were there other alternatives considered for sort of spreading out the cuts um there were uh in the back and forth conversations with aie aie ran multiple scenarios no one would have liked any of said scenarios which is how we got to is there a bare minimum that we can do and allow for the task force to work on this so that they could have input on this matter um because I recognize that you know this is about what 4,000 Ed Educators in the city that they should be able to have folks um who are on the ground who are working in these centers who are Business Leaders in these centers to be able to make decisions about how best to make this work um so the bachelor premium um is is a very large lever in the formula there are lots of other things that were in the formula as well um but yes and um you've mentioned the council will have the opportunity to come back after recess and update the law does that would that be then taking place would that be complete before anyone feels this in the new fiscal year possibly um so the next payment for the pay Equity Fund is on September 30 so they will operate with the same rules that we currently have now if that makes sense so the next payment will be the same um what we are talking about now is the quarter 1 payment for FY 2025 okay um AI has said that it will take them some time to AFF effectuate whatever change um we move forward as a legislative change so there was a question about whether or not um they could get it done before the December payment was supposed to go out does that make sense yes do we feel confident we'll have recommendations when we come back from Recess from the task force oh I I I feel very confident on that front I've had multiple conversations with the chair of the task force um um Abby Smith who's the former deputy mayor for Education um and you know they have already had conversations they've been working on this um I know that folks wanted more time but the unfortunate matter is that we just we don't have it um you know I think at one point someone asked if they could submit recommendations on May on March 31st ah yeah we just don't have enough money for that um right and and also in conversations with the mayor's office our hope is that we don't have to do this again for FY 26 and so if the mayor is formulating her budget proposal starting in I don't know October or November the idea is what we are deciding is we are locking this in hopefully for the next four years or the length of the financial plan thank you and I have one final question really for the budget director and chairman um or deputy director and that is was this assertion by the CFO one that ultimately you agreed with or is this another example of one where we had a different perspective in finding Madam budget director are you comfortable answering that I don't know uh I understand and the ocfo concerns I believe that where we will end up being in September will be what the initial intent of the BSA language was which was that the task force would determine which levers to pull in order to make the program fit within the 70 million so this is I believe a good interim step for us to all agree and get past this point and in September when we received the recommendations um we will be acting on the recommendations of the task force which was our initial um desire thank you chairman uh thank you council member uh we have the amendment nature of a substitute before us further discussion on the an uh the ANS the amendment nature of substitute has been amended I won't repeat all the Amendments on on the ANS council member Pinto I could wait if you'd rather we speak on the um BSA itself I'd rather you don't speak twice I'll just speak once your preference on one that is I would say after we vote on the uh ANS okay that's fine with me council member uh Tran white yes I did have a question I'm not sure if now as appropriate in regards to ANS subtitled P residency wer for district IT workers Amendment act 2024 yes um normally there's a a residency requirement is there something special about this particular field or person that um we are making this exception for the um positions within the it field are often difficult to uh fill or to retain uh if you read the language carefully in the subtit what it speaks to is a person who's been granted a waiver uh under the current law can continue to benefit from that waiver so it speaks to for instance if there might be some change in the person's status such as a promotion but all it says is that if you've gotten a waiver then you can continue to have that waiver is this for all DC IT workers is is specific it would affect all of uh the government uh I'm told for example that to get around this in Octo now this is what I'm told is that uh many folks are um leave and then come back as a contract which in my view is kind of like let's just be more honest about this yeah and so this is this I believe would affect that situation last question have we found a difficult to hire and keep it workers um who are good u in our system yes all right thank you uh thank you uh further on the amendment nature of a substitute by a Voice vote by a Voice vote on the amendment nature of a substitute as amended all those in favor of the say I opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously um before we now we have the bill as amended before us before we go there I am going to ask our budget director do we have a fiscal impact statement on the bill yes we do it was circulated this morning by the Chief Financial Officer and it says that uh it is balanced funds are sufficient thank you all right on the BSA uh uh in general council member Pinto did you want to speak yes thank you so much Mr chairman um and I want to thank you and your team again and the budget office and my team for all of the work on the budget support act um I think today we are moving forward a budget that makes a lot of really important changes and um improvements to our city I want to highlight a few of the priorities that don't always get all of the attention that they deserve uh for this budget including funding the best act to revamp and streamline the business licensing processing the literacy coaching and training our violence prevention Response Team coordinators our new nonprofit security grants establishing grants for chinat Town small businesses um W 2 Senior Center and a number of really important Investments for housing for residents for businesses and for Public Safety across the city um with that said I am disappointed that we were unable to ameliorate the serious concerns that I have about a number of new tax increases including the municipal bonds tax in today's Final budget vote the municipal bonds tax I think is going to have an unfair and harmful impact on District residents whose livelihoods are embedded in these assets especially our seniors uh or those who are retired or nearing retirement or on a fixed income and while we weren't able to solve this for today I'm continuing to work to identify potential options that address the these concerns through possible Standalone legislation at a later date that aims to mitigate the impact that this tax will have on seniors low income residents and those unfixed incomes um this is one of the greatest resp responsibilities that we have as a body have all year um and I know it is one that we all take very seriously I think we've come a long way in the last couple of months to meet many residents concerns invest in our communities um and move forward a district with a vision that provides fundamental safety for our residents in every neighborhood ensures DC is a competitive and opportunity Rich location to do business um and that our residents across incomes and ages can Thrive across our city so I look forward to the the work that continues after today but really want to thank you Mr chairman um for all of the work with us especially over the last couple of weeks in getting to today thank you thank you council member further on the bill council member Robert White uh thank you Mr chairman uh I I detailed many of the Investments that um I'm proud the council is making in the fy2 budget at first reading and two weeks ago at second reading of the LBA so I'll I'll keep this brief as we close out this budget season I recognize that there has been a lot of attention paid to the significant reductions in funding for our housing and Human Services programs compared to what we've spent in recent years and unfortunately we had to keep Provisions proposed by the administration in this budget support act related to the rapid rehousing and career map that will harm our lowest income residents but while the mayor's budget proposal was a big step backwards for equity in our city the council and my committee Focus its work on advancing the needs of our lowest income residents with hundreds of new housing vouchers for individuals and families Millions more for emergency rental assistance housing counseling Street Outreach returning citizens and home purchase assistance among other critical programs when we invested outside of Housing and Human Services it was typically on programs that Advance Equity like our earned income tax credit and baby bonds that will mean thousands more people staying in their homes finding stability after homelessness or moving up on the economic ladder in addition I'm proud of the progress we're making to help reduce government waste consolidate redundant government programs and ensure that we are spending taxpayer funds on effective services that will help us invest even more in our residents in the future every dollar we spend on waste or on programs that aren't working is a dollar that could help our neighbors buy food or pay rent this is not about austerity but about effective governing and providing great services for residents finally I'd like to thank you again Mr chairman your staff aie and DME for working with my office to include language requiring the district to collect data on the effectiveness of vocational training programs in the budget support act the reporting requirements are from my vocational education for a new generation act for many students securing a job After High School represents the best path towards ability motivating them to finish school and establish meaningful careers I'm excited that this subtitle will provide us with data that will help us understand which programs are working so that we can pass the vocational education for a new generation act and we will know where we should drive those Investments of course uh those Investments without keeping teachers in the classroom uh will will not help us as much as they could so I want to thank you chairman uh and your team uh for working with me and my team and with Educators to make sure we are including language to help uh schools Thrive particularly by retaining the great teachers that we recruit thank you again Mr chairman to your staff to the budget office to The General Counsel and to my team and everyone who worked so hard to get this budget over the finish line thank you chairman thank you council member there's nothing further on the bill uh we have Jimmy just a second um we have the bill as amended this will be the final vote on the final reading on the budget support act uh all all in favor of the bill say I I opposed hearing no no votes uh the measure is approved final reading unanimously we have a resolution uh but before we can consider the resolution we need a motion to wave Council rule 231c council member McDuffy so moved and this is to consider the uh Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors Leif dorm showell confirmation resolution it's been a motion to wave Council rule 231c discussion all those in favor say I I opposed the I have it unanimously the is before us council member McDuffy thank you chairman uh proposed resolution 25- 687 the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors Leif dorm show confirmation resolution of 2024 was introduced on March 8th 2024 by chairman Mendon at the request of the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on March 19th of this year the committee held a public round table on this proposed resolution on May 30th 2024 and marked up the proposed resolution on June 17 2024 the proposed resolution would confirm the appointment of Leif dormsjo as a public member of the chair and chairperson of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority Board of Directors for a term to end on May 16 2026 Mrs djo previously served in the bows Administration as director of the Department of Transportation and currently he's the Executive Vice President president of Redgate a real estate firm where he oversees the business development other activities in the Mid-Atlantic region he also serves on the District of Columbia Public Library Board of Trustees he's a graduate of wesan University and Harvard University and he is a w 3 resident move uh we have the resolution before force is there discussion uh by Voice vote all those in favor of the resolution PR 25687 say I I any opposed I have it unanimously turn to emergency legislation the first is greenhous and coordination emergency declaration resolution of 2024 PR 25879 council member Robert White uh thank you chairman this legislation is about which buildings are going to be built to a Net Zero Energy standard and when Net Zero is a state-ofthe-art uh standard where a building can operate efficiently through uh enough that all of its emergency needs are met by on-site or dedicated off-site renewable energy sources last Council period council member Mary Chay introduced a bill that will require the department of buildings to write a new updated mandatory version of Net Zero building code regulations by the end of 2026 the council passed it unanimously and the mayor signed it in 2022 around the same time we passed the may we around the same time we passed and the mayor signed myig Greiner government buildings Amendment act or ggba I worked with the Sierra Club and Washington Interfaith Network to draft it and they also turned out in force to testify for it it says the new construction and major renovation projects that our government owns or subsidizes at least 15% of have to achieve Net Zero Readiness without waiting for the 2026 regulations to come out consistent with the upcoming regul ations my 2022 Bill also specifically prohibits on-site fossil fuel combustion and doesn't allow projects to offsite energy consumption with so-called unbundled energy credits that aren't tied to a specific renewable source the ggba passed subject to appropriation and then last year our committee responsibilities changed council member Lewis George and the her team gained jurisdiction over the government fac over government facilities they took up the Baton and fought hard to fund the ggba and last year's budget process for which I'm very grateful up to that point in the process we were all focused on government facilities but the ggba was about to go into effect my team and I started getting urgent Outreach from the Department of Housing and Community Development and affordable housing providers in addition to government facilities the part of the law that we amended with the ggba also applies to residential construction where our government covers 15% of the cost or more based on the types of residential construction we fund that basically means buildings with affordable housing units public housing and shelter affordable housing projects take a long time to plan and finance and they're typically a couple stages into the design process by the time they seek local subsidies through dhcd Consolidated requests for proposals if we had let the residential piece of the ggba snap into effect it would have sent many projects back to the drawing board and effectively killed others housing provide preservation projects where you have older buildings that are very difficult to bring up to high efficiency and add Greener Central systems would be hit the hardest the executive proposed solution was to strike the entire residential piece from the bill we weren't going to do that instead we've passed a series of emergency and temporary exemptions while my team and I tried to find a more targeted uh can I have another minute Mr chairman without objection while my team and I tried to find a more targeted approach so far we've only Exempted projects that that got subsidy commitments by April of this year but before we had before we head into recess at a minimum we absolutely have to cover an upcoming July round of DC Housing Finance Agency loans but I'd rather give affordable housing developers more predictability than that based on what DH and affordable housing nonprofits have shared with us it sounds like most residential projects can't comply with the current version of The Net Zero regulations which are voluntary for private construction projects but which we've tried to make mandatory for projects we subsidized today rather than completely roll back the intent of the ggba I'm putting forth a bill that keeps up the pressure to demand Net Zero Performance from larger new affordable housing however where the current law uses do inspections and permitting today's Bill focuses on the housing production trust fund eligibility requirements in the short term recent hptf requests for proposals have held buildings over 50,000 Square ft to the Enterprise Green communi Plus standard which includes all a a so-called Net Zero element starting next fall dhcd is going to have to demand that these large buildings building projects go all electric the hptf rfps will also need to include a true Net Zero compliance element for these large projects unless dhcd director finds it unnecessary to keep to the Lesser standards to get to Affordable housing I would love I would have loved to apply these standards to smaller projects too but the executive tells us that despite the mayor signing the ggba last January they haven't gotten far enough along in the standard and solicitation development process yet to realistically enforce this standard against participating smaller projects until it's just about time for the new Universal Net Zero standards to come out anyway now we've seen on multiple past occasions that environmental planning gets deprioritized and delayed as we clear as we clear from this year's budget proposal from uh the administration so I want us all to have a very clear sense of what to expect from the 2026 Net Zero building code process the last thing today's Bill does is to set up a cycle of public meetings and reports on the rural development process happening twice a year I appreciate the nonprofit housing providers and executive working with us on today's Bill ideas uh but we need certainty that will uh that we are still moving in the same direction over the coming years thank you chairman uh thank you council member so we have the Declaration before us is there discussion council member Lewis George um thank you chairman um and thank you council member white for your tireless work to expand the amount of affordable housing in the district um I appreciate you and your staff making the legislation narrower from what the executive wanted um but it is still broader than previous emergencies we passed and I believe uh this could go far to uphold our important climate commitments um while I will be voting in favor of the legislation I want to make sure we sort of make clear um sort of what this means um The Greener government buildings act uh will not apply to residential projects receiving District funds um I understand why projects that will be submitted for the next round of public financing Awards this summer need to be Exempted as likely they were in process before The Greener government building uh building act took um effect in October after my committee fully funded the law last year however this legislation sunsets when the upcoming Net Zero Energy building code takes effect which is due by the end of 2026 as a result projects that won't be complete until 2029 and possibly Beyond um may not be will not be Net Zero and will be obsolete as soon as they are finished furthermore projects under 50,000 square feet will be allowed to use combustible fuels such as Natural Gas I think I'm just dismayed that Executives refusal to support a fossil fuel prohibition regardless of the project size removing natural gas from homes protects not only the environment but also residents I fear we are creating two classes of residential housing one of which will expose residents to dangerous health and safety effects of living with combustible fuels and one that will not um the legislation is necessary in the sense that not passing it will likely result in less affordable housing in the short term however the legislation is not necessary in the sense that this was the only option to protect affordable housing the executive we could have began its work on doing this uh months ago we are undering our climate commitments today because the executive has D prioritize environmental action uh for years since the adoption of The Greener government buildings act and Do's appendic z uh the executive could have worked closely with developers on ensuring those High environmental standards could have been achieved for residential Pro projects um and just chose not to do so um in the budget we just voted on they wanted to significantly weaken the G the uh Greener government buildings act applicability to non-residential projects uh instead of committing to make municipal buildings Net Zero uh I'm proud council member Allen and transportation environment and our team work together to protect Net Zero requirements for non-residential buildings um you know as we talk about you know we can go across the world to Dubai and other places to talk about promoting fossil fuels usage um but our here in the district will speak much louder as to our commitments and so uh because of the situation we that is now created we following a record breaking heat We are following a record-breaking heat wve um uh right now are forced to choose affordable housing over combating the short and long-term consequences of climate change and I just want that to make that clear to the public as we take this action thank you chairman thank you council member further council member Charles Allen thank you Mr chairman um my colleagues said we're concerned about creating two different types of homes um I'm not concerned about it it's happening um and so I'm frustrated with that three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions in the district come from our buildings and so policies like our Greener government building Act and the building energy performance standards program are critical to being able to keep the district on track to meet its climate goals and reduce uh our impact on climate and the environment um at the same time we're obviously trying to also make sure that we are creating affordable housing um and I think it's unfortunate dhcd has not yet gotten a place where they can fully comply with the ggba um I did want to ask a couple of questions uh so I'm going to jump into that if I can section two of the emergency requires that requests for housing proposals involving the hptf housing production trust fund uh for new construction of ,000 square fet or more must satisfy Enterprise Green community criteria 5.2b and 5.5b can you say a little bit more about why are we limiting the projects to the 50,000 square feet or more uh thank you council member uh Allan affordable housing uh developers which have uh reached out to us to suggest uh that in these are nonprofit affordable housing developers uh suggesting that it's impossible for them to comply with appendix Z for practically all residential projects uh they have identified 50,000 Square fet as is really the Tipping Point at which they can't figure it out today uh so that that is uh what we raised again as I suggest and as council member Lis George suggested we shouldn't be here the regulations should have been developed already so there should have been predictability for these projects but uh this is where we are today and I'm I'm not happy about it okay thanks um and under the package we have in front of us if if a project were to begin construction prior to 2026 but it obviously isn't going to be completed uh till later does the I just want to make sure we understand for the life of that project which which sets goingon to which rule is going to govern are they going to be under this emergency or by the time the new regulations are issued they would have to be in compliance with that in other words is it tied to essentially the beginning of construction and when you when you pull your permits most likely uh thank you council member Alan there there will be a lead time of a couple or few years between the promulgation of the uh regulations and their implementation so uh this should not be uh an issue uh and in fact as the agency develops regulations uh this is something that should take into account so that uh we have maximum Clarity going forward uh because we have been uh in a state of limbo for for years now so there there's opportunity fix it uh but the gap between promulgation of regulations and implementation should cover uh the concern you've raised got it okay thanks um I guess I will be grudgingly supporting uh the package today um I definitely look forward to working with you councelor leis George and others on um how we look at that permanent solution uh I will say it's just disappointing after you just moments ago we we passed a budget where I know in our committee with transportation of the environment and with colleagues like yourselves we worked incredibly hard to undo a lot of the damage and the roll back in the proposed budget on climate action and our environment um so it it took a lot of work to help reverse a lot of the really devastating um cuts and reductions and roll backs that we saw in the proposed budget and so to have this in front of us again uh just really puts a fine point on where the priorities are and I I'm proud of the fact that Council keeps pushing but frustrated that we're in this position so thank you very much thank you Mr chair thank you council member further on the Declaration we have the Declaration before us all those in favor say I I I I opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously we have the underlying Bill Bill 25863 council member White thank you chairman s getting the right statement up this is on the bill oh so moved thank you discussion on the bill bill 25863 all those in favor say I I I opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously the next measure is pr25 d878 foreclosure moratorium and homeowner assistance Fund emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member Robert White uh thank you chairman there we are um the pandemic created a significant threat of foreclosure for many families struggling to pay mortgages and utility costs at the time the district placed a temporary moratorium on foreclosures to prevent a massive waste of displacement the federal government also distributed $50 million to DC to support these homeowners through a program called the homeowner assistance fund or half but DC half got off to a slow start the district was one of the last jurisdictions to receive its funding from the federal government and the program has faced internal administrative hurdles accordingly the council extended the Foreclosure moratorium through September 30th 2022 to give owners a chance to apply for half and cure their debts some owners who applied for half by that deadline are still waiting for final reviews and payments legal service or organizations like legal aid and legal council for the elderly have been helping owners navigate this year's long process and confirmed that they continue to see clients relying on the protection to avoid foreclosure the DC half a dashboard shows that as of June 7th over 400 half applications were still under review and about $3.6 million remains in the program this measure today extends the existing temporary legislation to protect homeowners awaiting review or payment uh who had applied for the program almost 2 years ago it does not expand the Foreclosure moratorium Beyond those residents and we expect D dhcd to make progress to close out the program and utilize the remaining funding I move the Foreclosure moratorium and homeowner assistance fund coordination emergency declaration resolution of 2024 thank you chairman uh thank you council member white uh discussion on the Declaration pr25 d878 all those in favor say I I I opposed the eyes have it unanimously we have the underlying Bill Bill 25861 council member white so moved discussion all those in favor of the bill say I I I opposed the eyes have it unanimously the next measure is PR 25-8 77 tenant payment plan uh Mr chairman um did you technically already call that like weone or can I ask for a what was it a five minute uh wait council member Louis SCH had to step out for a minute uh we have a our rules allow a two minute two minutes somebody asked I think she'll be back yeah but somebody asked to ask for the two minutes for the vote maybe we can ask for a revote oh oh motion to reconsider Mr chairman seconded she she was here when it don't make stuff up guys yeah she I mean she yelled through the hall I heard that you know it's just shameful the way people are making stuff up up here um Okay so so council member Henderson is the issue the bill or the Declaration or both um I believe just the bill yeah or or both okay now I could ask for motion to reconsider and I vote on Rec I think I already asked for a motion to reconsider on the legislation now nobody read precedent into this but a general consens here if there's no objection we will take a revote on dill 25861 and I'm putting it that way to avoid the lengthier process which some members seem to want um so if there's no objection we'll do a revote you want me to go through a motion to reconsider I'm I'm gonna back the secretary up on this one let's do a quick motion so the amount of time we spent talking about it we could have done that motion been done and revoted so move somebody move to reconsider vote on Bill 25861 all those in favor of the motion to reconsider say I I I opposed I have it unanimously bill 25861 is before us further discussion uh all those in favor of the bill say I I opposed you have it unanimously Madam Secretary is everyone present except for Mr Gray Council rules do specify that if a person is stepped out we can have a two-minute wait the next measure is PR 25877 tenant payment plan phasing continuation emergency declaration resolution 2024 council member white thank you chairman during the pandemic the district placed a temporary moratorium on evictions to prevent a massive W wave of displacement and pass protections for tenants who needed time to pay back their rents between March 11th 2020 and July 25th 2022 housing and Commercial Property Owners had to offer tenants an option to create a payment plan that lasted at least one year providers were not allowed to report to credit reporting agencies that any of the payments made under the plan were delinquent and providers could not charge interest on the payments providers also had to keep on payment plans uh payment plan application records for at least three years the initial protections expired in February 2022 and the council has passed three rounds of emergency and temporary legislation to extend the law so that any remaining repayment agreements between providers and tenants are still covered the existing extension will expire on August 1st these new emergency and temporary measures are necessary to ensure continuity for tenants whose payment plans are not yet complete and to uphold the requirement that providers retain application records for at least 3 years I don't expect this will require permanent legislation as we are simply extending the existing requirements for the length of time the law originally anticipated I now move the tenant payment plan phasing emergency declaration resolution of 2024 thank you council member discussion on the Declaration PR 25877 all those in favor say I I I opposed be have it unanimous ly we have the underlying Bill Bill 25- 859 council member white so moved discussion on the bill by Voice vote all those in favor say I I I I I that was a bit anemic all those in favor say I I that was pathetic um opposed any opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously the next measure is PR 25876 voluntary agreement moratorium emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member white thank you chairman under DC law housing providers can negotiate with tenants to set parameters around rental rates building improvements and other services in a building the resulting contract is called a voluntary agreement the council has heard concerns for years about the impact of voluntary agreement on the district's supply of affordable housing and on tenants rights for example some voluntary agreements promise building improvements for current tenants without increasing their rents but the rents would increase for future tenants therefore impacting the affordable housing stock we have this can result in an unfair bargain where current tenants can negotiate away affordability for other people on the other hand voluntary agreements can sometimes be beneficial for housing providers to upgrade their buildings because of the concerns raised the council passed a 2-year moratorium on voluntary agreements in December 2020 and has since extended the mor moratorium until August 1st of this year my committee has held a hearing on Perman on a permanent version of the moratorium earlier this year introduced by council member bonds and we intend to mark up Mark it up this fall potentially with some changes in order to give the committee and the council time to pass the permanent legislation this Council period the measure today extends the existing moratorium through the end of the calendar year I move the voluntary agreement moratorium emergency declaration resolution of 2024 we have the Declaration before us is there discussion is there a request for two minutes or a motion to reconsider after we vote um Mr chairman uh a request for two minutes before we vote if that's okay two minutes I mean we could also avoid this if we ever took bathroom breaks but I didn't hear that we've been meeting for we've been meeting for we started at 12:45 so 144 we're not even two hours into this meeting I know my mic is on how from bonds um if we another two minutes is uh member we can't do more than two minutes for the same member for the same member correct we are so close to being done uh we have the Declaration before us PR 25876 all those in favor say I I are there any opposed guys have it unanimously Madam Secretary were all the members present except for council member gray thank you the underlying Bill Bill 25- 857 council member white so moved discussion by Voice vote all those in favor say I I I opposed yeah I have it unanimously the next measure is PR 25881 family rehousing stabilization program protection emergency declaration resolution 2024 council member Robert White thank you chairman no one leave uh due to technical concerns that arose since the breakfast I moved to postpone this measure until the July 9th legislative meeting there's a motion to uh postpone until July 9th uh discussion the um the motion the vote is on the motion to postpone to July 9th all those in favor say I I I I are there any opposed the eyes have it unanimously the next measure is pr25 d880 migrant services and support extension emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member Robert White uh thank you chairman this emergency legislation extends the authorization for the office of Migrant services so that it can continue to meet the needs of our immigrant and migrant populations the shape of the migrant situation has changed substantially since the office of Migrant Services was first established we are not seeing the same level of inflow of migrants from buses arriving from other states as we did though migrants still come to our community Through other means and migrants who are here are either in in the district or more commonly transitioning to new homes in other states or the surrounding suburbs in addition the budget we just finish is the first one to actually budget for migrant Services rather than relying on emergency and contingency funds to meet this need that said the amount of money budgeted reflects a substantial reduction from the amount spent in Prior years reflecting both changes in the number of people served and the reductions in the level and types of services being offered continuation of this legis ation also continues to protect our Human Services System from potentially being overwhelmed by incoming migrants resulting in reduced services for longer term District residents I expect to shortly introduce permanent legislation regarding migrant Services now that we have both regular funding for the program and are continuing to move toward a steady state of operations to appropriately welcome and address the needs of migrants and immigrants coming to the city without sacrificing the welfare of our other residents thank you chairman thank you council member we have the Declaration before us is there discussion on the Declaration pr25 d880 all those in favor say I I iOS are there any opposed guys have it unanimously on the underlying Bill Bill 25865 council member white so moved discussion by Voice vote on Bill 25865 all those in favor say I I opposed guys have it unanimously uh the next two measures were put on the agenda by council member McDuffy the first is PR 25- 874 2024 Summer Olympics par Olympic Games art all night and dine all night emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member McDuffy thank you chairman uh the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Paris France between July 26 2024 and August 11 2024 the 2024 par Olympic Games will also be held in Paris uh between August 28th and September 8th of this year in both events the thousands of athletes will compete in a series of international multisport competitions the a night event takes place this year on September 27th and 28th while the second annual downall night event will be held September 19th through the 29th of this year both events organized by the department of small and local business development and are drivers of economic activity for local small businesses the emergency legislation will allow restaurants food establishments and other businesses participate in these events and to extend their hours of operation to 24 hours a day including offering alcoholic beverages between 6:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. for sales service and consumption VIs businesses participating in out all night or down all night may offer outdoor entertainment up until 11:00 p.m. and indoor entertainment until 2: a.m. during those dates they are registered to participate with dslbd businesses participate in art all night or down all night with the valid certificate of occupancy May sales serve and permit the consumption of alcoholic beverages during those dates that they are registered with dslbd to participate the emergency legislation will allow for the advanced planning of businesses staff and resources consequently is necessary for the council to consider this legislation on an emergency basis with that I move the Declaration thank you council member we have the Declaration before us is there discussion coun Pinto I just feel the need to make a PSA about this that while establishments will be open for longer hours that does not mean that people need to consume alcohol for longer hours we need to all be very mindful of the public safety impacts that uh alcohol has especially after bars get out late at night um do not bring weapons into establishments there will be robust public safety personnel out and about working hard to keep everybody safe um and we should all stay very Vigilant during during all of these times and no driving while you're intoxic thank thank you council member further on the Declaration Mr chairman council member Allen just following on that point um Mr M how many 247 bus routes do we have in the city that would well serve um not just our workers but anybody who wants to be engaged in some some late night Olympic watching I think we have about um 10 or so routes that touch all eight Works sounds like that would be a pretty good option enough to meet demand certainly fantastic I'm so glad that we have 247 bus service in our city just want to thr that PSA too thank you council member this meeting isn't lasting long enough uh further further on the Declaration um the vote will be on PR 25874 all those in favor say I I I opposed yeah have it unanimously the underlying Bill Bill 25- 854 Council M McDuffy so move discussion uh on the bill 25854 all those in favor say I I I I opposed guys have it unanimously the next measure is PR 25884 medical cannabis conditional license and unlicensed establishment closure clarification emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member McDuffy thank you chairman the first one-year conditional license is issued by the ABC Board to medical cannabis business manufacturing cultivation Center applicants will expire on June 28th of this year on May 1st of this year the district zoning administrator released guidance expanding where a medical cannabis manufacturer or cultivation Center business can locate is imperative that the conditional licensing period be extended from one year to two years to provide these existing medical cannabis business conditional license holders with additional time to find permitted locations under this new guidance there's also a significant need to clarify when and how apka may inspect seiz Contraband product and summarily Clos unlicensed establishment selling or exchanging cannabis or cannabis products to respond to the threat to the health or safety of the public posed by unlicensed establishments apka needs clear statutory authority to similarly close those businesses and seize any cannabis Contraband to facilitate this work by ABA it's also necessary to clarify in District law that apca investigators possess the statutory authority to conduct announce and unannounced inspections of unlicensed establishments and that existing public comment period Provisions apply to all unlicensed establishment registration applications with that I move the deck uh we have the dec before us is there discussion on the Declaration all those in favor of PR 25884 say I I I I opposed the eyes have it unanimously we have the underlying Bill Bill 25872 Council M McDuffy so move uh the measures before us I circulated yesterday an amendment believe I circulated around 3:16 p.m. and it is linked on the agenda uh I move the amendment the amendment expands the activities that warrant summary closure and padlocking of an unlicensed cannabis establishment to include the distribution or attempted distribution of schedule one substance substances or products containing schedule one substances as enumerated in a specific code uh Pacific section of title 48 of the code I'll so moved on the amendment is there discussion uh if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted hearing no objection the amendment is accepted uh I believe council member Allen circulated an amendment council member Allen thank you very much Mr chairman um I hope mine will also be accepted as friendly uh so at this time I want to move that Amendment and just for the record it was circulated at 12:26 um what it would do is expand the summary closure requirement for unlicensed establishments to include situations where an employee agent or owner of said unlicensed establishment has unlawful Firearms or weapons on the premises or dangerous crime or Crime Of Violence was committed on the premises of the unlicensed establishment the presence of unlawful Firearms or weapons as well as serious felony offenses that are committed on the premises unequivocally pose an imminent danger to the health and safety of the public and warrants summary closure of the unlicensed establishment uh I moved that Amendment and asked it to be accepted as friendly uh is there any objection to the amendment uh hearing none the amendment is accepted thank you we have the bill as amended twice uh further discussion on the bill by a Voice vote all those in favor say I I I I opposed how the guys have it unanimously the next measure is PR 25886 fiscal year 2025 budget support emergency declaration resolution of 2024 um the nature of the emergency is that we want the budget support act to be uh in effect as quickly as possible without waiting for the uh Congressional review and possibly possibly a another emergency Congressional review emergency given congress's schedule the underlying Bill uh will is identical to what we to what we moved earlier including all of the Amendments uh that were adopted earlier that's the underlying Bill uh I move the Declaration or discussion on the Declaration PR 25886 all those in favor say I I I opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously as I said I I move Bill 25875 the underlying bill it is identical to including the Amendments that were accepted uh on um final reading to the budget support act the permanent version all that's included in my motion discussion and let me just check Madam general counsel we're clear on what we're doing here yes Mr chairman um hearing no further discussion uh Voice vote on Bill 25- 875 uh all those in favor say I I I I opposed all the eyes have it unanimously the next measure is pr25 d882 short-term disability insurance benefit protection clarification emergency declaration resolution of 2024 council member Lewis George yeah thank you chairman today along with councilman fonds I'm moving the short-term disability insurance benefit protection clarification emergency uh declaration resolution of 2024 the council unanimously passed a previous temporary act on Final reading at the September 9th 2024 legislative meeting uh that measure will expire July 10th 2024 necessitating action today to reauthorize these important clarifications uh the clarifications included in these measures enable the Department of Insurance Securities and banking to enforce prohibitions against private Market short-term disability insurance providers who attempt to reduce uh paid leave benefits to policy holders regardless of the jurisdiction in which a plan was written or executed uh with that I move the Declaration uh and welcome any remarks from Council Mor bonds if she may have them uh we have the um declaration before is there discussion by Voice vote all those in favor say I I I opposed yeah I just have it unanimous the underlying Bill Bill 25869 council member Le George so moved discussion uh by Voice vote all those in favor say I I I opposed I have it unanimously uh we have the Temporaries and um number five family rehousing stabilization program protection temporary Amendment Act of 2024 the emergency was postponed um I'll move to postpone this to July 9th and if there's no objection that motion will be accepted and it's accepted all right there's no objection I'm going to move in Block items 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 that's the green housing coordination temporary the Foreclosure moratorium and homeowner assistance fund temporary tenant payment plan phase and continuation temporary voluntary agreement moratorium temporary migrant services and supports extension temporary 2024 Summer Olympics par Olympic Games art all night and dine all night temporary medical cannabis conditional license and unlicensed establishment closure clarification temporary including the Amendments that were adopted and short-term disability insurance benefit protection clarification temporary hearing no objection all those are before us in Block i' love to ask the secretary to call the role because she loves to do that but I won't do that here uh the vote will be on those um I believe it's 8 temporary bills after an opportunity for discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed I have it unanimously the eight measures Temporaries are adopted first reading that is going to conclude the business of this legislative meeting the next legislative meeting will be an additional meeting and it will be on July 9th the time is 2:38 p.m. and this meeting is adjourned e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for