e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hey kenel Ken can you hear me okay Jermaine can you say something can you say something to me testing one two one two testing one two did you hear Jermaine say something Ken I can hear you thank you okay you're welcome of hold on yeah ask him to show the room please 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 K can can you hear me K you guys can hear me yes I can okay can you hear me yes yes I can I can hear you any one of interpreters can you hear me yes they interpret this SC me too so yeah W are we just were you able to hear me in the zoom interpreter Liz yes I can hear you I can hear you Jermain can you hear me Liz can you tell him that I am speaking okay thank thank you I'm able to hear you yes J are you able to hear us I don't think you can hear us I think it's only us be all to hear him e e e Kenna can you show the room please e e is that e I'm to side doesn't help me any I should have had one that e e oh I don't have it e e e e e e e Kenneth Kenneth can you show us the can you show us the um the chamber please e thank you Kenna e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e mic check four mic check four testing one two12 one two one two one two 3 one two one2 one two one two one two one2 one two3 one two one two one two one two 3 one two one two one two one two one two 3 one two one two one two one2 one 2 one2 1 two 3 one two one two Ken Larry call your man I need him on the video Larry Larry jine are you there J we can hear you on the zoom if that's what you're checking for that's what I am council member can you do me a favor can you give me a 10 count yep 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Kenneth did you get her thank you councilman you're welcome e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I'm going to order this meeting this is a regular meeting of the committee of the whole of the Council of the district Columbia I'm Phil Mendelson chair of the council and chair of the committee of the whole this is a regular meeting of the committee of the whole it will be followed by an additional meeting uh a legislative meeting of the full Council today is Tuesday October 15 2024 the time is 12:15 in the morning in the afternoon and we are in room 412 of the Johnny Wilson building we moved here from the council chambers because of some issues with power uh that occurred earlier this morning to the building uh this hearing I believe is being broadcast on Council Channel 13 and is available on the council's website www.dc council.com uh we have h a couple of resolutions for consideration in the committee the whole and then uh something like 10 or 11 measures that have been reported out of other committees uh we'll begin first with determining whether we have a quum Mr Cash would you call the role chairman mson present council member Allen here council member bonds here here council member fuman present council member gray council member gray council member Henderson present council member leis George council member leis George council member McDuffy here council member nidau here council member Parker here council member Pinto present council member Robert White present council member Tran white present Mr chairman you have a quum thank you Mr C see the council member Lewis George is on the um Zoom but uh she did not answer when you called the RO so um we have the secretary's report of committee filings I'm going to recognize the CH Pro 10 Mr McDuffy thank you chairman I move to wave the reading of the secretary's report and a motion to wave the reading of the report is there discussion and the motion to away the reading all those in favor say I I opposed uh the eyes have unanimously uh we have the secretary's log of introductions and referrals again I'll recognize the chair protm Mr McDuffy and I will move to wave the reading of the secretary's log of introductions and referrals it's been a motion to wave the reading is there discussion on the motion to wave the reading all those in favor say I I opposed yeah I have it unanimously uh for consideration in the committee of the whole uh first we have a resolution of Staff appointments Committee of the whole staff appointment resolution of 2024 I attended a markup of the housing committee earlier this week and was reminded uh indirectly that um our rules require that appointments to committee staff have to be approved by the committee uh we have this year hired Aaliyah mcney is a legislative policy adviser working on education issues she lives in wart five and most recently we hired Hannah kosak who's also a legislative policy adviser again working on education issues resolution was circulated on Friday and I move the resolution which is the committee of the whole approving the appointments is there discussion on the resolution all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed uh the odds have it unanimously and note that uh Council Lewis jarge participated I'm going to move uh PR 25- 957 which is is uh a resolution PR 25- 957 entitled The Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia Hester be's own confirmation resolution of 2024 the purpose is to confirm the mayor's nomination of Dr Esther Barone for reappointment as a member of the University of the District of Columbia a Board of Trustees for term to end May 15 2029 Dr barzon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and history from new College in Sarasota Florida and she has a masters of arts and Doctorate Degrees from the col from Columbia University for 24 years Dr barzon served as President of chadam University retiring from that position in July 2016 Dr Baron has received numerous Awards served on multiple boards and participated in an extensive number of organizations of particular relevance is her involvement with middle State's Association of schools and colleges where she has served as an accreditation reviewer and also was an accreditation team chair in 1999 and 2014 as middle Stakes is the accreditation body for UDC the committee believes Dr Baron's knowledge of middle Stakes is a valuable resource to the university and will allow her to Aid UDC in continuing to meet middle States accreditation criteria UDC is both a historically black college and university or HBCU and an urban land grant Institution formed in 1975 from the merger of the District of Columbia Teachers College the Washington Technical Institute and the federal City College UDC serves as the district's only Public University udc's mission is to provide an affordable postsecondary education to District residents and to quote prepare students for immediate entry into the workforce the next level of Education specialized imployment opportunities or LIF lifelong learning unquote in furtherance to this mission a law school was added in 1996 and a community college in 2009 UDC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of 15 members of the 15 11 are appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council three are alumni from either the University or one of its predecessor institutions and one is a full-time student elected by the UDC student body each trustee except for the student trustee serves a five-year term and each non-student trustee may serve two consecutive fold terms Dr barzone is award3 resident and has served on the board since December 20th 2016 Dr barzone is currently serving in a holdover capacity which will expire November 11th 2024 this resolution was introduced at the request of the mayor on September 16th that is like a month ago and the committee that whole held a round table on October 7th meaning a week ago um I will note that she's in a holdover position and she cannot continue serving after November 11th so we appreciate that the mayor finally got the reappointment resolution to us Dr Barone's previous experience and dedication to the board is impressive through her testimony as well as her responses to pre-round table questions the committee believes that Dr barzone has demonstrated that she understands both the successes and challenges of UDC and that she is fully committed to ensuring that the university succeeds uh there was no testimony or comments received in opposition to the nomination uh if there's no objection I'll move both the print and Report with Le for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion on the motion which was to approve both print and Report with Le for staff all those in favor say I I I I opposed uh the I have it unanimously uh and I'll note that council member pinto and Lewis George are participating virtually Adam General council is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is mam secretary is the record complete once the report and hearing record are filed and Madame budget director because it's a confirmation it doesn't have a fiscal impact statement correct correct without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting we will turn now to measures from other committees and the first six measures were reported out of the committee on business and economic development shared by council member McDuffy the first is pr25 d802 alcoholic beverage and cannabis board Terry Janine Quinn confirmation resolution of 20 24 Mr McDuffy thank you chairman proposed resolution 25- 802 the alcoholic beverage and cannabis board Terry Janine Quinn confirmation resolution of 2024 was introduced on May 10th 2024 by chairman melson's request the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on June 11th 2024 the committee held a public round table on the proposed resolution on October 2nd 2024 have approved this resolution would confirm the appointment of Terry Janine Quinn as a member of the alcoholic beverage and cannabis board for a term to end May 7th 2027 Miss Quinn is a practicing attorney in the district currently she practices compliance law with the specific focus on anti-corruption anti-bribery and money laundering issues she spent a significant part of her legal career practicing energy law at Whit and case LLP Miss Quinn is president of the blundale civic association a position she has held for over 13 consecutive years and as president of the civic association she successfully represented Bloomdale before several District agencies including the alcoholic beverage and cannabis Administration likewise she has assisted many bloomo residents and businesses on issues related to AFA Miss Quin received a Bachelor of Arts and journalism from Texas Southern University and her jurist doctor from Howard University she is a ward five resident that move resolution and as that it be placed on the consent agenda for today's legislative meeting other questions for Mr McDuffy Madam General councel is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is M secretary is to record complete yes it is madam budget director this is an appointment so it doesn't have a fiscal impact statement correct without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting next PR R 25806 District of Columbia Public Service Commission Richard Beverly confirmation resolution of 2024 Mr McDuffy thank you chairman proposed resolution 25806 the District of Columbia Public Service Commission Richard Bey confirmation resolution of 2024 was introduced on May 14 2024 by chairman mson and request of the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on June 11th 2024 the committee held a public Round Table on the proposed resolution on September 24th 2024 if approved this proposed resolution will confirm the reappointment of Richard Beverly as a full-time member of the Public Service Commission for a term to end on June 30th 2028 Mr Bevy has had a long career in the realm of Public Utilities in the District of Columbia he is an experienced District of Columbia government employee having started working for the district in 1983 he has served on the District of Columbia's Public Service Commission since 2016 as a commissioner and worked before then for the commission since 1997 as general counsel Mr Beverly was also a political appointee under the Clinton Administration with the Department of Labor as a member of their administrative review board Mr Beverly received the Bachelor of Arts from Howard University and a jurist doctor from American University he is a w one resident with that I move the resolution be placed on the consent agender for today's legislative meeting uh thank you Council McDuffy are there questions members Madam General councel is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is M secretary's record complete yes it is mam budget director no fiscal impact statement is required because it's a confirmation correct without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting uh the next measure is PR2 5- 811 excuse me 818 PR 25818 real property tax appeals commissioner Robert C Cooper confirmation resolution of 2024 council member McDuffy thank you the proposed resolution 25818 was introduced on May 22nd 2024 by chairman mson at the request of the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on June 11th 2024 the committee held a public Round Table on the proposed resolution on September 24th 2024 if approved this proposed resolution would confirm the appointment of Robert C Cooper as Vice chairman of the real property tax appeals commission for a term to end on April 30th 2027 Mr Cooper started his career at a law firm handling real estate asset management and land use zoning issues he then served in the District of Columbia government as Vice chairman of the DC housing agency board and as chairman of rip predecessor the DC Board of real property assessments and appeals uh he currently works for Cooper and crickman pllc a real estate law firm that he founded Mr Cooper received the Bachelor of Business Administration and finance from Howard University and a law degree from George Washington University School of Law he is a ward four resident as I noted during the committee's markup of this resolution his appointment will fill a long-standing vacancy of Vice chair and I'm hopeful that the commission now fully staffed will be able to address the backlog of appeals and have it quickly resolved with that I move the the resolution be placed on the consent agenda for today's legislative meeting thank you council member are there questions mam General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is mam secretary is direct record complete yes it is madam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does because none is required yes thank you without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting there's no objection the next three will be considered together they are each appointments or nominations to the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors the first is PR 25- 964 Washington conven and Sports Authority board of directors George T Simpson confirmation resolution of 2024 the second is PR 25- 965 Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors Marissa flowers confirmation resolution of 2024 and the third is PR 25- 966 Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors Monica Ray confirmation resolution of 2024 council member McDuffy thank you chairman all three of the aforementioned resolutions were introduced on September 17th 2024 by chairman mson at the request of the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on October 1st 2024 the committee held a public round table on the three proposed resolutions on October 2nd 2024 proposed resolution 25- 964 the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors George T Simpson confirmation resolution of 2024 if approved would confirm the reappointment of George T Simpson as a member of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors with expertise in business finance for a term to end on May 16 2028 Mr Simpson has spent the majority of his career with Spectrum management a company that he founded and serves as president for that provides real estate development construction and maintenance services Mr Simpson is active in DC sports team both as team owner of DC Brees a professional frisbee team and as an advocate for youth sports with various organizations throughout the District of Columbia Mr Simpson received the Bachelor of Arts and political science from the University of the District of Columbia and he is a ward for Resident proposed resolution 25- 965 the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors Marissa flowers confirmation resolution of 2024 if approved would confirm the appointment of Marissa flowers as a member of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority board of directors with expertise in business Finance for a term to end May 16th 2027 Mrs Flowers had a distinguished career um in both public service and the private sector focused on Regional Economic Development Mrs Flowers served as chief of staff for my Council Office when I represent War 5 after her time with the council she served as vice president of administration for rlj lodging a real estate investment trust firm that owns over 100 hotels he's also the founder and principal of Green Door advisors which is a CBE real estate advisory firm providing strategy and Consulting Services currently though Mrs flow serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of strategy for the greater Washington partnership Mrs Flowers received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California Berkeley and a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology she is a ward five resident proposed resolution 25- 966 the convention and Sports Authority board of directors Monica Ray confirmation resolution of 2024 was introduced on September 17th 2024 by chairman mson at the request of the mayor and referred to the committee on business and economic development on October 1st 2024 the committee held a public Round Table in the proposed resolution on October 2nd 2024 if approved this resolution would confirm the appointment of Monica Ray as a member with experience regarding economic development of the board about another minute Mr chairman without objection for a term to end May 16 2028 Miss Ray's career is focused on economic development of Congress Heights in Ward 8 she is a former president and executive director of the Congress Heights Community training and development center she's a chair of the Congress Heights Main Street Vice chair of the antic coordinating Council and a leader with the Congress Heights Community Association she brings a much needed Community Focus perspective representing Ward 8 where she works and resides for the events DC board which oversees the ENT entertainment and sports arena in Congress Heights Miss Ray receiv received the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from faville State University that I move all three of the resolutions and act to be placed on the consent agenda for today's legislative meeting thank you council member other questions from Members M General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes they are secretary is the record complete for each yes Madam budget director no fiscal impact statement is necessary because these are nominations correct the objection these measures will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting uh the next four measures were reported out of the committee on housing shared by council member Robert right uh in order for us to consider them there needs to be a waiver of the committee the whole rule 403b which is the rule that would would have or requires that these reports be filed last Wednesday and they were filed Thursday morning which was timely for waiver of the rule let me stay what they are um it's uh the confirmation of Toya carmichel for the Housing Commission rental Housing Commission and Erica black and Edward DS uh at confirmation for the real estate commission and lrsp program eligibility Amendment act uh bill um so I'll recognize council member white to wave if there's no objection to wave rule 403b in Block for these for measures thank you chair to wave a motion to wave the rule so moved a motion to wave the rule if there's no objection the rule will be the motion will be approved hearing no objection uh the measures are before us we'll begin with the rental Housing Commission PR 25822 rental Housing Commission Toya carmichel confirmation resolution of 2024 council member white uh thank you chairman the rental Housing Commission serves as an independent pellet body for certain landlord tenant cases and is comprised of two member administ two member administrative judges and one chairperson this measure would reappoint Toya carmichel as an administrative judge on the rental housing commission for a term to end on July 18th 2027 without Council action the resolution for her appointment would be deemed disapproved on November 10th 2024 judge Carmichael possesses the expertise experience and dedication to Public Service needed to Excel on the rental housing commission throughout her career she has drafted judicial opinions facilitated mediations and provided guidance on legal and ethical issues in her first year and a half on the commission judge Carmichael contributed to the commission's goal of resolving cases more efficiently by issuing 12 orders and at least one decision her collaboration with other agencies such as the commission on human rights and the Department of Housing and Community Development highlights her commitment to improving government operations she has expressed her dedication to delivering clear legally sound and compassionate decisions which will benefit residents in front of the commission judge Carmichael service has been recognized by awards from national and local organizations including the national Bar Association the Washington Bar Association and the Georgetown University Law Center based on her qualifications and her statements during the Roundtable I'm happy to support her reappointment today and ask that they be considered uh on the consent agenda for today's legislative meeting thank you member are there questions from Members mam General councel is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is mam secretary's direct record complete yes it is M budget director no fiscal impact statement is necessary because it's a nomination correct without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting there's no objection to the next two measures to the Real Estate Commission will be considered in Block PR 25- 914 Real Estate Commission Erica black confirmation resolution of 2024 M PR 25- 915 Real Estate Commission Edward DS confirmation resolution of 2024 council member white uh thank you chairman the resolutions these resolutions would confirm the mayor's reappointment of two current members of The Real Estate Commission which governs various professions in the real estate industry it consists of nine people three licensed Brokers two licensed salespeople two licensed property managers one attorney and one consume consumer member Erica black holds one of the salesperson seats on the rec she is an experienced residential and Commercial Real Estate salesperson and a former Commissioner of advisory neighborhood commission 7D her work has won her several industry accolades Edward DS is one of the broker appointees on the rec he is a second generation Washingtonian and is active in trade groups that work to support and develop real estate professionals I appreciate hearing from both nominees at a recent Round Table about how they plan to continue their work on the rec and I recommend that we confirm their reappointments I move proposed resolution 25- 914 the Real Estate Commission Erica black confirmation resolution of 2024 and proposed resolution 25- 915 the Real Estate Commission Edward Down's confirmation resolution of 2024 thank you thank thank you council member white are there questions for members mam General councel are these two measures legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes they are M secretary is to record complete for each yes M budget director these are nominations and so therefore no fiscal impact statements required correct no objection these measures will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting Bill 25-49 local rent supplement program eligibility Amendment Act of 2024 council member white uh thank you chairman this bill is about our locally funded voucher program the local rent supplement program lrsp is closely modeled on the federal housing Choice voucher program the DC Housing Authority or dcha administers both programs but you introduce this legislation chairman to make sure that certain exclusionary rules from the federal program don't carry over into lrsp and get in the way of running a safe and supportive Human Service Services System the print that the committee on housing marked up last week also contains a few tweaks relative to your original version we've had an effect on an emergency and temporary basis for the last couple years we tried to be responsive to concerns that DC housing authority and residents raised at our hearing and since while still keeping the local voucher program and since while still keeping the local voucher program Open to people who need it many local vouchers are used to help DC residents find a way out of homelessness Federal voucher applicants typically have to produce various documents to prove their eligibility but in practice our case workers were finding that some residents especially homeless residents had misplaced important papers and it would take many months of focus work to get Replacements together your bill responded to this problem by allowing applicants to self-certify anything that they can't easily document in the committee print we created more opportunities for dcha to perform their own records checks on things like income and employment to clarify that the agency isn't required to rely on inaccurate or inconsistent self-certification we also accepted dcha suggestion from their hearing testimony to allow them to require ID at the recertification stage which is typically two years in the print contains some safeguards to try and connect people existing exiting homelessness with assistance so that they can get IDs in time to comply in addition chairman your Bill makes sure that a person's criminal history doesn't prevent them from getting a local voucher like it might if they were to apply for a federal voucher we know for a fact that many of our community members returning from incarceration struggle to find housing that's bad for them and it might be bad for all of us if it makes it even harder for them to avoid reoffending so this bill makes sure criminal history isn't a barrier to local vouchers at the initial eligibility stage now once someone has a voucher and goes to apply for a specific apartment the landlord may still be able to turn them away the fair criminal record screening for housing Amendment Act of 2016 set up rules for landlords to run background checks and resend unit offers based on a long list of offenses that might show up in someone's record from the past seven years today's legislation doesn't change that it just makes a subsidy available whenever the person finds an apartment in the committee print we also created a narrow pathway for DC CH to revoke someone's voucher if they are actively creating a safety threat for other residents um may I have an additional minute chairman without objection uh while already in the program this responds to feedback from hearing Witnesses and government officials who say that sometimes there is no meaningful way to respond quickly to clear dangerous conflict between residents allowing voucher terminations is not something I take lightly because it may just increase a person's desperation rather than getting them to engage more safely and respectfully with their Community however in my view this is the right compromise to preserve the overall integrity and legitimacy of the local voucher program it is my hope that dcha will rarely take the extreme step of actually revoking someone's local voucher for unsafe criminal activity and print and the print would bar them from doing so based solely on the fact of an arrest finally I'll just make one note while we work to address their concerns dcha staff have to let my team know that they still have some questions regarding a few of the new safeguards in the committee print the mayor has shared some of those questions and we're working to determine whether a second reading amendment to address those comments is necessary and if any member wants to get in on the conversation please just let me know um finally I will say I received like colleagues the mayor's uh letter this morning um it talks about protecting public housing residents um which is confusing because this bill is about housing vouchers and so I'm not sure if this is a fundamental misunderstanding of what this bill does or if it's politics uh whatever it is it wasn't particularly uh helpful uh but we've been reaching out for months to the mayor's office uh to work on this bill with us and have not received input from them uh so we proceeded uh but I did want to address that concern in case it uh did raise concern from uh any members thank you chairman oh thank you are there questions from Members Mr Mr chairman uh council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman um council member white I do have a couple of questions I'm I'm not on your committee so I didn't have an opportunity to ask these during um the markup there um I did want to ask about some of the changes that you all made in the committee print as it pertains to um criminal activity that is occurring while someone is participating in the program um you know in terms of my reading you state that um The Authority would need a preponderance of evidence but they cannot use a criminal arrest as part of that evidence so you know we've heard from landlords where there have been situations where someone has conducted criminal activity on the property um that person may have been arrested they have gone to court um and then a judge releases them to return to the property where the criminal activity and or violence has taken place what are the options then for the landlord under this if the criminal arrests cannot be used used against uh the tenant uh great question uh council member Henderson and I appreciate it uh arrests can be used it just can't be the only thing used um so let's say the security cameras catch um an assault and the person is arrested um there would seem to be enough evidence but people are arrest by itself is not a conviction um and so we want to make sure it's not just an arrest that she we don't want to see people put out because they were arrested it has to be more than that okay um the second question I have is with regards to the self certification um I'm you know two weeks ago we took up legislation to change the self-certification rules for the Emergency rental assistance program I I'm curious are we not seeing or do you not have similar concerns about this program also having self attestation as part of it um so the things that we allow uh residents to self attest to uh here uh we determine with the assistance of the folks who work with our homeless population so uh emergency rental assistance or ER is you know one population uh many of folks with vouchers are coming out of homelessness or incarceration um and what we heard from workers who who work with this population is that often they don't have uh IDs initially and because of unique circumstances of homelessness it can often take them months to get all of the documentation they need to get IDs so they will have to show an ID uh when they recertify but we don't want people to continue to live on the street for many months as they gather the documents that they need for something like an ID thank you Pinto wishes be recognized Mr chairman council member Pinto thank you Mr chairman um and thank you council member white for you and your teams continuous work on this important issue as the chair of the Judiciary Committee I hear uh from two constituencies that relate to this issue often one is around returning citizens and making sure that we are providing opportunities for housing and employment and helping people get set up for success and another is around people whether they're residents of buildings or landlords who have seen or been exposed to or victimized by a small number of people who are uh committing and have committed violent offenses either on the property or uh close by and that becomes very harmful to the environment at the the property uh typically a landlord can use the eviction process to remove a tenant who commits a crime on the premises but we've seen many instances where there's a lengthy eviction timeline in some cases residents have told me that their landlord hasn't even proceeded uh or taken any action to try to protect them from a harmful tenant who's been in their building and my understanding is this bill is working to strike that balance by protecting residents and allowing dcha to take adverse action including the termination of an lrsp eligibility if a tenant commits certain dangerous crimes while participating in the program and poses a threat to other tenants which I think is a really important Safeguard to protect District residents but that we're also maintaining the protections for our returning citizens to ensure that they have access to our local housing and voucher program and aren't automatically deemed ineligible which is a really important need for returning citizens can you just talk about the distinction between somebody who does have a criminal history in the past um and seeking a voucher Now versus somebody who is in the program and utilizing a voucher and then proceeds to commit a violent offense either on the premises or outside it and and how the committee struck that distinction uh thank you for this uh question uh council member Pinto so th this bill does not limit in any way a landlord's ability to deny uh a housing applicant so landlords uh can deny it we just don't deny it at the point of the voucher so we don't say well if you have a criminal history you can't have a voucher uh but but landlords still have the the same power that they would have with someone you know paying you know cash or check for their their lease so it doesn't uh impact um um people with criminal histories in any way different than you know other uh applicants for a unit uh with respect to people who uh engage in in dangerous Behavior Uh in in their housing this is something I hear from from residents about uh pretty often there are a lot of folks who uh are concerned about um things that they've seen or or experienced that we wanted to make sure that we struck a balance and did allow if people are posing a danger to themselves or or other tenants uh that their their voucher can be uh revoked the landlord will still likely have to go through the uh eviction process but that's outside of the the scope of this Bill thank you very much are there any further questions I have three I have three um Madam General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is I'm secretary's the record complete yes it is I'm budget director does the measure's fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does and there is no fiscal impact to this legislation uh with without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting Mr chairman I'd like to ask that it be placed on the non-consent agenda all right uh that is going toh conclude our business uh looking at the agenda it says next legislative meeting Tuesday November 12th 2024 uh we will probably have an additional legislative meeting on Tuesday October 29th which is two weeks from today and is also two weeks before November 12th the time right now is uh but notice of if that is to happen notice will be circulated by the secretary the time is 12:53 p.m. and this meeting is adjourned e e e e e e e all to order this uh meeting an additional meeting of the Council of the District of Columbia I'm Mendon shair of the council and today is Tuesday October 15 2024 the time is 12:57 in the afternoon and we're meeting in room 412 of the Johnny Wilson building uh because there were some power issues earlier and this room was better um better able to handle uh the technology so that the public can watch this meeting on Council Channel 13 or on the council's website www . dconc.gov the 31st legislative meeting at Council period 25 we always begin our legislative meetings with the moment of silence if everyone in the chamber and on the de could respect a moment of silence Madam Secretary would you please call the role council member Allan here council member bons here council member fuman present council member gray council member gray council member Henderson here Council leis George here Council M McDuffy here chairman Mendelson pres Council M Nel here council member Parker here council member Pino pres council member Robert White present council member Tran white present Mr chairman you have a Corum uh thank you M secretary we have the consent agenda before us there's one measure that was removed at the committee of the whole on page two item C1 that's Bill 25-49 local rent supplement program eligibility Amendment Act of 2024 that's removed from the consent agenda are there any other changes to the consent agenda which is pages one two and three hearing none we have the consent agenda as amended before us all those in favor say I I I I I are there any opposed the ODS have it unanimously we'll turn to Bill 25-49 local rent supplement program eligibility Amendment act 2024 council member Robert White thank you chairman um we discussed this legislation in the committee the whole earlier today this bill puts in a permanent law of protections to allow more people to access local vouchers without their criminal background immigration status or ability to pull important documents together quickly posing a barrier it reflects relatively minor changes from the existing emergency law based on issues and concerns that have been raised over the last couple of years about the implementation of the voucher program this legislation is necessary because we know from experience that some District residents including people experiencing homelessness were having a very hard time getting the housing assistance they needed when the DC Housing Authority applied all of the same rules that HUD requires for the federal voucher program I hope my colleagues will vote in favor of this Bill thank you chairman uh thank you council member further discussion chairman Merson council member fan thank you very much uh chairman medon I will not be voting in support of this bill at I think these programs are incredibly important we absolutely have to find housing for all of our residents um the challenge that I have is the way in which these programs have operated has not struck the kind of balance that has been talked about in terms of creating opportunities for housing and also protecting residents in the housing where where folks find a home uh and I see this issue up and down Connecticut Avenue in particular but in in buildings along W 3 where we have folks who feel and are unsafe because of the behavior of residents in the building we have situations where there's drug activity that's going on prostitution activity that's going on it's a serious issue when you turn when you get to the place where the landlord identifies the issue and moves to to change it it is very very difficult to change it and in the meantime folks are living in circumstances that they shouldn't have to live with there's also the challenge in this program overall of really delivering services to the people who need the services we don't know the payment status of the families involved D in recent episodes in two apartment buildings on Connecticut Avenue but we know that almost half the residents in those buildings are benefiting from the voucher program and we had a one-year-old who was killed and we had a 5-year-old who was killed inside of 10 days we we are not delivering the kinds of services we need for people to succeed in this program that's doesn't apply to everybody the vast majority of the folks involved are doing well and thriving and it's fabulous that we've helped them there's another group of people who with more help could succeed and there's a group that needs way more than what we're providing so I am very reluctant to lower barriers to entry in when we have not mastered how we operate the program once people are in and how we deal with situations where folks need to be moved in order for others to be safe so I will be voting against this I thank you council member Robert White actually before you answer let me turn to council member buns um thank you very much um chairman I I have a question about the process that I thought I understood from our earlier meeting you mentioned that this was a process where a individual could be arrested but in being arrested charged with an offense that would not be the only stipulation by which they would no longer be allowed to be on the voucher um not not quite council member V I appreciate you asking for clarity what we're what the bill suggests is that arrest by itself is not enough to take away someone's voucher for criminal conduct all right is it enough to have that individual moved from that particular location uh just because they got arrested uhuh and nothing else no what would be the other circumstances that would cause an individual to move um I guess plenty of others I don't want to start to try to Define all of them because people may see this yeah well let's say um looking at the conduct that led to the arrest for instance so if you find out that I got arrested that is not enough uh but let's say you understand that I got arrested because I assaulted someone that that would that would likely be enough okay so if the assault let's use that as an example if the assault happened at the location where you're living would that be grounds for having that person's voucher to be moved or have that person move yes an assault would be enough um but just because you hear that I got arrested and have no other knowledge that by itself wouldn't be all right and so you're speaking of when you say just when you hear are you speaking of the public those who live on the premises the same development or are you speaking of the management office I'm just trying to understand how this would really work we frequently put in place measures that we don't all see the same process and I'm just trying to understand what your thinking is so what the language of the bill is is very nrow all it says is that a arrest by itself is not enough to take away someone's voucher uh for criminal activity because arrest by itself is is not a conviction it's not evidence uh but all it says is that arrest by itself is not enough but let me read the language I'm looking at the conformed print the authority May inquire about or consider criminal background information for purposes of continued participation in the rent supplement program if the authority establishes through a preponderance of evidence that a person has engaged in criminal activity while participating in the rent supplment program and that the person's continued participation in the rent supplment program would threaten the safety and well-being of other residents The Authority shall not terminate a person's participation in the rent supplement program based solely on a criminal arrest I mean the way I read that is that uh factoring in whether there is some risk or danger or threat of safety to the other residents the The Authority absolutely has the ability to then um um consider termination that was my interpretation but from previous from earlier meeting I didn't get that and I was trying to understand whether it was um an arrest that may have happened over period of time um or prior to being located the individ ual being located in on that premises so thank you uh further on the uh Council white did you want to say more uh yes and uh thank you chairman I I I just want to note uh there's uh I think no daylight between I appreciate council member uh fruman raising the the concerns uh he raised and and there's no daylight between us uh on these um loss of life is serious um and and um I I don't think any of us take it lightly uh there are also things happening uh with too much frequency that residents are concerned about and complaining about and angry about um and what I know and I think what council member fruman is highlighting is that there is no substitute for people getting the help they need um because people are not getting the help that they need from our government along with their vouchers help that they are supposed to get um res many residents are getting angry about it including residents with vouchers are getting angry including members of this Council getting angry that people are not getting the services that they need you can't just take someone out of homelessness put them in an apartment not give them services and expect them to succeed that's not fair to them it's not fair to their neighbors and it's not fair to the program uh so one we have to keep demanding uh that uh our government give Services the give people the services that frankly we pay for uh especially around uh psh vouchers uh second we have to keep pushing back as a council against cuts to to Human Services um and third uh what this bill does is creates um it's not all that we need to do but it does create u a safety valve for the public safety concerns that we've heard uh which we try to um address in this bill uh which is different uh than how the emergency uh has been so we're trying to take these issues into account but there there is no substitute uh for uh our our government providing wraparound services to people and I think until that happens um more fully we're going to continue to to see things in communities that we don't want to see and we're going to continue to hear uh frustration from the community and frankly from members of the council thank you chairman uh thank you council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman I wanted to ask a clarifying question um which I think maybe members of the public might have a similar question so you know Mr chairman you you read a portion of the bill that was related to um you know if someone is um is a threat um to the community Etc but just to be clear um this bill only deals with whether or not you can continue with the local rent supplement program it does there's still a a different process If a landlord then wanted to move towards eviction or when you lose your voucher are you evicted I don't think that's the case are you asking me or council member Robert White either one well my answer is are two different processes two different decisions two different decision makers um I would agree with you chairman these are two that we don't touch the eviction process here uh when you lose your voucher and you are no longer able to pay rent uh it is just like if you lost your job and you're no longer able to pay rent so some people will move out and and some will force the landlord to go through the eviction process but that's not something we touch in this so then I I guess I'm saying that to suggest that perhaps some of the issues that we're seeing um with some of the concerns that council member fruman raised and that we're seeing from some of the landlords or building owners is not specifically around eligibility for a voucher but when there is a particular incident that occurs on a property um how swiftly can they act and how swiftly does the law allow for them to act to protect the rest of the community thank you uh thank you council member TR M yes um I guess I W just need Clarity on um when we talk about the convictions or arrest on the property is there anything specific on what those arrests or convictions are I heard council member fuman uh speak to the two deps of the uh one-year-old and and 5-year-old in Connect Avenue from what I saw I guess the one-year-old uh was pronounced deceased from blunt FR trauma and the 5-year-old um from someone was charged with felony child abuse and I don't know if we even drill down even consider what uh the the charges of conviction are when we talk about how we use this legislation to um give landlords Authority or not authority to evict or move people along um if councilman Ro white can speak to to that as relates to just a wide range of uh things that can happen on a property um thank you council member white let let me know if I'm not answering your question fully the this legislation gives landlords Authority um to well it gives the city Authority uh to remove withdraw someone's voucher uh if they are a serious uh health or safety risk to their um fellow tenants um the only limitation is that arrest by itself is not enough uh to uh to is not enough evidence to with uh withdraw someone's voucher that gives me a clear understanding I have a more question but I'll digress there if I could add to that so if a person was arrested for what was a nonviolent civil offense there such a thing let's say a property offense in another city I'm trying to think of something that just has no re I've seen that incident where this is this is on in public housing particularly where they have a policy where you can't smoke cigarettes on the property which is they kep you smoking it's a crime um but there's been a lot of back and forth between residents and this is not that but that's a issue where there's a crime or something that's prohibited on the property that elevates to a crime um or breaking up a rule that pretty much gave people the opportunity to get you off the property they wanted to and then mind you in a lot of these instances is may be someone who's living in that property uh most most times a older person on on the lease and a grandchild or some other person now the whole family is in in Jeopardy being evicted because this person was doing something on the property sometime egregious or sometimes violent sometimes just uh lot of time smoking weed or smoking uh cigarettes on the property so I read the language and uh there has to be a um I would say there has to be a correlation with a threat to other residents on the property a threat to other residents or to the property itself so I'm trying to think you know if somebody uh let's say got arrested for mortgage fraud um I'm not quite sure what relevance that has to the safety of other residence so the mere fact of being arrested would not be sufficient Unless somehow it could be shown that that's a threat to other residents did you have other questions uh so I'm going to speak for a minute because I'm very concerned about the mayor's position with regard to this legislation and members may recall that she vetoed the legislation uh earlier this year I think it was in April and we overrode The veto I think with an overwhelming vote um and I spoke then and part of my concern here is that I think that the mayor um through her rhetoric Stokes the fears of residents such as uh in W 3 in um along Connecticut Avenue and I think that that's very unfair and it is actually inappropriate so I kind of want to speak to that um this legislation had a hearing in uh June of 20123 uh as I recall from the record the mayor declined to testify on the legislation however the housing Authority did testify and my understanding and this is going to be a question council member white is that the Housing Authority ultimately did submit some technical comments and uh did you make changes to the bill based on the housing authorities suggestions uh yes Sharon they pafi they rais uh some comments we made changes to the bill based on those comments the Housing Authority so to the extent that the mayor is claiming that the Housing Authority is um somehow harmed by all this my recollection is that just was not their testimony at the hearing in June of a year ago and since then they've made comments and you've accommodated their their um comments correct uh I want to add as well that and this point has been made but I want to make it again this is about applying for a voucher this is not about applying for an apartment it's a separate decision made by a separate decision de ision maker and so the concern that folks have with regard to um uh that somehow we're making it more possible that uh undesirables whatever that means could suddenly be appearing in apartment buildings uh that's a separate decision from what's in this legislation uh I would add as well that this legislation I think clarifies that the Housing Authority has the ability to use its levers such as um withdrawing revoking a voucher privilege if the person is deemed to be a threat to the property so that's actually a strengthening uh with regard to Public Safety um I also want to uh make clear that the um we debated uh the issue of self-certification with regard to the emergency rental assistance program a couple of weeks ago folks who have emergency rental assistance or applying for emergency rental assistance have to buy definition have an apartment they're not homeless however with regard to folks who are applying for voucher um they are overwhelmingly homeless uh for instance the survey of homeless people in Noma found that 68% did not possess an ID likewise undocumented immigrants of which are estimated 21,000 in the district often lack any identity documents and for folks who are have been out of state it takes a very very very long time if they're in state it takes a long time to be able to get identity documents so this is about applying uh and especially for folks who are homeless making it easier for them to get a voucher I just wanted to put that on the record as well seems like I provoked more conversations council member fuman thank you very much chairman mson um I I think much of what this legislation is trying to do is positive but the idea that what's going on is the mayor's rhetoric is stoking fear on Connecticut Avenue is not right I mean this the the people who are feeling threatened are feeling threatened they didn't get a call from the mayor and it's not they're not making it up this is serious what's going on the police calls to these buildings are enormous the amount of resources that are devoted to it so I don't think that anybody here I think what's good about this conversation I'm sure that this legislation will pass but if we begin to have a real conversation about how this is working and not working that's important but it's not that the mayor's rhetoric is stoking something this is a challenging situation we need to put our heads together to figure out how to solve it one of the things that you talk about and others have talked about is is in it it's it can be up to the landlord to deal with the situation well part of the challenge we have here is dcha has rules that come from the federal rules about who can qualify and who can't for housing for for in public housing and that's to protect the PE the other people in public housing well then it goes over to the private landlords and they and it's not operating in that way and we have an incentive system where folks can get paid particularly in rent stabilized buildings way more for a unit if it's used if it's a uh through a voucher program and that creates an incentive for the landlords to look the other way on these kinds of issues that's been a giant challenge it's also another challenge that they all feel stretched financially so you have one security guard who roams four buildings up and down Connecticut Avenue that's not going to help protect people we need to fix this landscape and that's why I'm don't want to be taking this step I want to be taking other steps to try to address the real issues there's no further discussion we have a vote on the bill Mr chairman uh council member Pinto second round I have a question and this might be better suited for council member fruman or council member white but in the examples that you're talking about on Connecticut Avenue where there have been certainly extremely Troublesome reports and sometimes violent reports uh of crime happening on the site the language that this bill talks about with that being allowable for a landlord to take eviction steps if something like that happens is do you think think that that language is sufficient to address that uh concern that you're talking about or is there another mechanism that you'd like to see in this bill or another bill that better deals with those instances where violence is occurring uh thank you uh council member Pento this this bill has nothing to do with evictions at all um doesn't change any eviction process doesn't uh address any uh any stipulations in a lease so the the the what we would need to do is is probably move the courts faster um on evictions I think that from what I hear from landlords that's generally the holdup but this bill does not in any way um limit expand address uh evictions this is just about um uh vouchers and whether or not people qualify for vouchers but what we've added is the ability of the housing authority to withdraw vouchers uh for health and safety and so yes we need to do more uh but we heard the housing authority and residents loud and clear we want to give some opportunity to withdraw vouchers uh but again the bill does not touch the eviction process at all okay so so then maybe back to council fuman if I may the availability to cut short or terminate a voucher in the event that violence has occurred does that not address not holistically um but does that not kind of move things in the right direction for what you're seeing and hearing from those properties most frequently um thank you council member Pinto yes marginally this can help because you can have two different categories of landlords you could have a landlord who is diligent about trying to make sure that the other residents are protected Ed and they may move in a situation like this in for eviction nobody wants to be Pro eviction but we have to have accountability here and in situations where somebody is threatening somebody else and I get emails every day from different people who are in this situation really they're not kidding and you can have a landlord who moves and tries to get it done and you could and in that setting that's in my opinion a positive thing you might have a landlord who does not but if dcha withdraws the voucher so that landlord is no longer getting paid then maybe that would incentivize the landlord to do something so yes that it's not that everything about this bill is bad some of the things about this bill are good I just think we have bigger problems about how we deal with this that makes me not want to go in this direction at this moment I understand thank you so much for that clarification thank you Mr chairman uh we seem to have provoke more debate council member Bond um thank you chairman I just wanted to um uh join in this part of the conversation because if you recall or some of us will recall during Co we did put in place emergency in temporary that spoke to the eviction process when it was needed because of um um situations that may happen on the premises so I will talk to um council member fuman about that and perhaps we need to look at that to begin to address the situation that he was um speaking of and for those who um may remember during um few years back during many of the housing meetings that we held here at the council there was discussion from from um tenants and from landlords about the um concerns for safety on the properties so this is not anything new that was why I was asking originally the question about how would this work your bill in particular the one that we're to discuss today so thank you thank you council member there's no further discussion we have the bill before us this is first reading on Bill 25-49 all those in favor say I I Mr chairman no um everybody's recorded as yes EX suff for council member fuman who is uh recorded as no so the measures approved on first reading turning to the non-consent agenda on page four uh the first measure oops yes this final reading on uh Bill 25- 985 Hotel enhanced cleaning and notice of service disruption temporary Amendment Act of 2024 Council Rons thank you chairman um today I'm urging my colleagues to support the hotel enhanced cleaning and notice of service disruption temporary Amendment Act of 2024 on October 1 2024 the council passed the emergency Amendment act the temporary version of the bill that we're discussing today um also pass first reading on October 1 the legislation authorizes the mayor to issue regulations that establish requirements for cleaning and maintaining DC's hotels and motels and to establish standards for public notice of lodging establishment service disruptions as we sit here today the tourism industry continues to rebound as evidenced by recent data Trends this industry which is generated up to an average of 7.1 billion dollar annually in Pre pandemic years including around $2 billion dollar in spending on hotel rooms alone has skyrocketed in the last two years and therefore ours I'm reading and therefore our sisters and brothers continue to enjoy wages and work schedules what we don't know however is that is this industry stabilized and for this reason the unions and the hotel industry continue to meet hopefully they will reach a permanent solution soon and this solution would enable the mayor to issue regulations of hotel cleaning requirements as today's temporary legislation provides in DC um our tourism industry has spent $10 billion do during their travels here this is up from $8.1 billion in 2022 and this tourism helps to support 100 um thousand plus jobs in DC these are records and so Mr chairman I'm presenting this temporary legislation again um in hopes that the industry and the union will um see a resolution so that we can move forward with the mayor um generating the necessary regulations I move the bill today thank you council member council member TR white yes um I know that we started this conversation during the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic to ensure that um a hotel and restaurant industry can continue to grow and this legislation addresses the cleaning issues um that may be um issued by the by the mayor also to address the service disruption what I don't know from this legislation is uh if you can help me council member bonds is what has came out of the uh conversations between the hotels and unions if any um to kind of land this plane because we continuing down this road but I don't know what has been the result of those conversations if you know at all well as you can expect the unions are very um uh interested in continuing the uh plans and the systems that they have in place and have had in place um during um the pandemic the hotel industry is um a little guarded in that they're not sure that the industry has really stabilized they see their business more seasonal um and so they have not yet um come to a resolution but they are talking to each other and I think that's important because as you know the hotel um industry across the country um is seeing some um uh situations where their unions are are up in arms and there are there are situations where there are strikes in in place and we do not want that in the district of Colombia and so I think having them to continue the discussion on a you know through a temporary basis um is the way that sort of settles things for us until um we they reach some um solution and a temporary um piece of legislation will just give us another few months thank you council member council member leis George thank you chairman um Council mvon I wanted to know um have there been any um since our last meeting have there been any progress between labor and hotels executive within the last few weeks um and then you know I guess I just think we need either need to introduce a permanent and have a hearing or either have a round table on it I just as some some we have to do something to prompt them to do have put fire under them to have conversations at this point so I'm wondering if that's a strategy that the Labor uh committee has considered like actually introducing a permanent and having a hearing or separately having a round table um so that we can sort of move the ball um and and sort of force these conversations to actually occur um and then to see what updates we have since the last last meeting um thank you very much for that that comment um the uh truth of the matter is that both parties are comfortable still talking to each other um this legislation does not give us the authority to really uh set whatever the standards of the regulations are that would be done through the the mayor's um through the executive side of our government um and we can have a hearing on just that if you're talking about the language that is currently before us it would just simply give the say well the mayor shall or the mayor will um in fact um do a series of regulations but it would not stipulate what the regulations would be we would need a different um format and I'm not sure that we have that Authority this is u a a union matter outside of the district um government unions this is you know private sector thank you council member there's no further discussion council member fan thank you very much chairman mson my my sense of the landscape here is a little more pessimistic in a way and I support this and I had for a Time thought well we need to buy time for the union and the industry to sort out the negotiations and then we can get out of this business but my impression is that between the union and and the association there are multiple issues and this is one and they need to resolve all of them together when they resolve them all together assuming that they agree to this kind of daily cleaning regime we still will be in a situ situation where non-unionized hotels would they would the unionized hotels be at a disadvantage relative to the non unionized hotels because they have a higher obligation and it could then mean we still need to do regulations in this area so I wish we weren't in a place where we were legislating or the mayor was regulating in this area but I have a feeling when the plane lands we will be and that it'll the plane will land when the parties resolve two or three issues in front of them not necessarily just this one thank you if there's no further discussion the vote will be on Bill 25- 985 uh final reading all those in favor of the bill say I I please record me as voting now uh the eyeses have it council member Pinto will be recorded is voting no we'll turn to emergency bills the first is the Declaration is pr25 d1021 Cherry Blossom Festival Grant emergency declaration resolution of 2024 so moved the um the Declaration enables us to consider the bill which is to correct a typographical error in the fiscal year 2025 budget support act the council added $500,000 to the mayor's proposed budget of $1 million for a matching Grant of $1.5 million for the National Cherry Blossom Festival the funds are loaded in the non-departmental account the full amount of $1.5 million is included in section 2112a of the budget support act but the reference to the total amount in section 211b mistakenly States $1 million emergency legislation is necessary to correct this budget support act to correct the budget support Act to allow for the transfer the one the unambiguous transfer of the one full $1.5 million to events DC so as I said so moved discussion on the Declaration all those in favor say I I I I opposed guys have it unanimously the underlying bills bill 255-1000 it's a little hard to believe that we're up in the four digits um so moved is there discussion on the bill all those in favor say I I I I I opposed uh the ODS have it unanimously uh the next measure is um PR 25- 994 Early Childhood educator pay scales emergency declaration resolution of 2024 so moved this legislation would revise current Early Childhood assistant and Lead Teacher compensation scales to the Early Childhood Equitable educator compensation task force recommended compensation scales in the fiscal year 2025 budget support act the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force was instructed to recommend changes to meet the fy2 budget and further limit fiscal pressures on the program through the financial plan and Beyond folks will recall that we budgeted $70 million for this program and this before us is consistent with that this on September 30th the task force released a report which is available on limbs that includes a proposal for a lead and assistant teacher compensation Scale based on the fy2 budget appropriation the proposed compensation scale establishes new minimum salaries based on credentials balancing the limits of theay Equity Fund and the compensation and benefits of prek and kindergarten teachers employed at the District of Columbia Public Schools and District public charter schools the current compensation scale expires in December and therefore it is timely to be moving this now as I said this is consistent with the budget that we adopt have already adopted uh and um is also this legislation uh reflects what the uh task force recommends I already said so moved we have the Declaration before us is there discussion council member Robert White U thank you chairman I want to thank the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force for their work to develop recommendations for the pay Equity Fund funding formula that balances budget constraints and the district's promis to increase pay for child care providers and expand access to high quality uh early learning uh this is a particularly important and special uh issue to me because the pay Equity Fund is born out of uh the birth of three for all DC bill that I wrote along with council member Vince gray um for for folks who have not followed this for for many years when we had a hearing on the two original bills there were people who testified um for business for education for Public Safety that investments in early childhood education were going to pay off uh significantly for our city because this is when the Maj majority of uh core brain development happens and the education in the early years determined many outcomes uh much later uh in life um and so what we realized was because of the importance and difficulty of the work we could not have these Educators making minimum wage and put them on parody uh with their colleagues teaching four and fivey olds uh in DC schools uh now this does come with a a price tag even if it is good for the city so inevitably the cost of the pay Equity Fund will will rise uh as pay increases we expect to see growth from in the profession improved job retention and more Educators pursuing higher credentials as they are better compensated these are positive impacts that we envisioned and achieving high quality early childhood education education for all DC children requires a robust and fairly compensated task force uh we are setting the model for the nation uh right now but it does come with a price tag um that we have to be aware of and be committed to to funding uh I'm committed to working with my colleagues to continue our investments in the pay Equity Fund and in our Early Learning System as a whole and developing sustainable funding to ensure long-term stability and growth of this very important program so I look forward to voting in favor uh Mr chairman thank you thank you council member Henderson did you wish to speak um thank you Mr chairman um and uh thank you for introducing this important legislation um I want to say at the offset um that early childhood education is not babysitting I think we agree with that but perhaps representatives from Utah and South Carolina don't so I'm going to say it again education early childhood education is not babysitting um the years birth to five are some of the most critical development years and prior to the establishment of the pay Equity Fund the individuals responsible for a great deal of the care and education for these children were paid the least many were making barely minimum wage many relied on other forms of assistance to survive and care for their own families they were hearing about the great extracurricular activities that their students were participating in but couldn't afford to pay for their own children to participate in these activities they were putting off prenative care and Health Care needs um because they lacked access to health care and when you add the demographic of the individuals who primarily do these jobs black and brown women the situation hearkened back to a glossed up version of the 60s these Educators simply deserve more I'm glad we were able to preserve the pay Equity Fund earlier this year as well as the healthc care for Child Care Program I'm going to say this now I know that the next budget cycle is going to be tough but I feel like we have over 4,000 reasons to ensure that this program is not again left on The Cutting Room floor when I said earlier this year that DC was the Envy of the nation for this program I it across the country jurisdictions are having to consider this problem how do we get qualified individuals to do this work and how do we pair them pay them fairly so they want to stay and grow in this profession Child Care is a Workforce issue and is important to the economy um I want to take the opportunity to express my immense gratitude to the early educator task force chaired by Abigail Smith for their work um this has never been easy trying to do something that has never been done in the early childhood space especially outside of a union um but it was even more daunting to have to make changes to the program within the funding constraints and so I want to publicly recognize them as well as the team at AI the health benefit exchange Authority um and a late assist from the office of Revenue analysis at the cfo's office for their work and creativity to make sure that this program sustains um I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to ensure that this goes forward um no one wanted to see any minimum salaries decreased but I want to State something that was included in the report um that this is a floor it's not the ceiling and so as other institutions of child care development facilities are able to find more funding um to be able to support their workers I hope that they do so because the work that they provide is so critical to our future um residents and citizens um as well as education overall thank you Mr chairman thank you council member council member Tron white uh thank you chairman I want to thank on my colleagues for the tremendous amount of work to get us thus far as mentioned this is a floor I remember um probably about six years ago I was in a community conversation with council member Vincent gray I believe maybe grao was there as well just seeing and hearing the hearts of those Who provided education to Our Youth and Young adults um year round mostly working between 8 and 10 hours a day frustrated uh trying to figure out how we were going to to support them as they were mandated to go back to school to get education get increase their credentials um I think it was very responsible of us to figure out how to pay them equitably and this bill speaks just to that um The Early Childhood e educator pay Equity program is a central step to ensuring Fair compensation for our Educators uh beginning in January 2025 I believe that this will set precedence to uh increase the salary the minimum salaries for uh teachers uh who are create critical role in inspiring and educating the the powerful minds of our next Generation Um so we should not take this lightly in w 8 and other uh communities childcare workers are often women of color who deserve a living wage and even higher than living wage as DC is probably one of the highest places to live per capita in the country um and we are addressing that historically through these inequities by increasing more money and parents uh and workers Pockets uh insuring pay Equity will allow us to attract and retain some of the best Educators ensuring consistency and high standards in the classroom uh as mentioned these are not babysitters these are Educators who are qualified to bring forth those gifts and talents in our babies to help them matriculate to be whatever they desire to be this is not just an update about salaries is investment to our future our children and the economy as a whole for our future um I just want to say this we heard from them and we want to honor them by paying them um we should keep that commitment to them because they have kept the commitment to us especially during the pandemic holding it down for us uh across the district residents who had to go to work who had to figure it out they came and supported and held the Next Generation down so it's incumbent upon us to support them and I think that the threshold of the actual bill was around 70 million um in annual funding through FY 2028 we have to look at how we can do even more I want to thank you uh and all those who supported this and thousands of Educators throughout the district who are working hard to ensure that we get equity in our education for our babies thank you thank you council member council member Parker thank you Mr chairman I am grateful to the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force for their work to provide us with recommendations to adjust the pay Equity Fund funding formula given our fiscal year budget constraints uh the task force was given uh the responsibility of making recommendations for how the pay Equity Fund can operate with an almost 20% reduced budget after mayor Bowser cut the program when she presented the council her fiscal year 25 budget and the council fought to replace the program's funding saving $70 million of the existing nearly $90 million program budget the task Force's work was no small feat and the pain of these Force Cuts would be felt across Educators and early childhood facilities I want to be unequivocal in my support for this program bringing the salaries for thousands of Early Childhood workers many of them women of color up to a livable wage and exchange for them seeking higher education before the pay Equity Fund Early Childhood Educators made up to roughly 33% less than their k through eight peers what's more we know that a child's early years are among the most critical and investing in our early childhood Educators is among the best investments we can make to provide more care more learning and more seats to those young people who need it most I commit to working with colleagues and partners to ensure the pay Equity Fund is sustainable in the long run and by that meaning we increase pay across the financial plan accounting for inflation expand health coverage fairly compensate veteran teachers and protect the fund for years to come while AI Works to implement the recommendations of the task force it is my fervent hope that mayor Bowser will respect the will of this body and the essential work of Early Childhood Educators by not cutting the program again thanks again to the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force our Educators and the many Advocates who helped us get to this place thank you thank you council member council member Pinto thank you very much Mr chairman and thank you to you and your team and everybody on the council um and the task force and Aussie who has worked so hard to promate these recommendations and I want to say that there's are pieces of this that we're codifying to today um but we will continue working with Aussie and others to ensure that the recommendations of this important task force can be implemented I wanted to address just of three points that I think Child Care um an early childhood education is so important for families for educators and for our economy more broadly we know that our families depend on access to high quality early childhood education because every parent wants this safe and enriching early childhood education experience for their children and we've seen research develop over the last several decades that has overwhelmingly shown us that access to high quality Early Education supports the foundation for your future strong language skills a foundation for other learning in science and math which I know we all continue to be focused on higher high school graduation rates college enrollment rates and lifetime earnings over overall children with access to Skilled and supportive Early Child Care educators are better able to manage stressors and reduce long-term impacts of these stretchers stressors with confidence that their kids are getting excellent care and instruction we also know how important early childhood education is for our Educators to provide strong early childh our education we must ensure that our educators are trained and well paid we cannot attract maintain and continue the skilled and effective Early Childhood Workforce that our children need if we cannot offer sufficiently competitive salaries to those Educators who are overwhelmingly black and brown women the pay Equity Fund is an exemplary tool that we've developed in the district to support this Workforce and to support the transformative work that they do to prepare our children for opportunity Rich futures and lastly the pay Equity Fund is also important to our City's long-term economic recovery and growth building the district's middle class growing our small businesses and attracting new economic opportunities require that we have a skilled and qualified Workforce as we try to rebuild from the economic challenges of the pandemic and work to retain and attract new businesses one of the most prevalent factors that I continue hear about their about business's decision to locate in the district or not is the quality of our Workforce our economic future depends on supporting the development of our young children today and ensuring that people can get back into the workforce and have opportunities uh for their children to get access to high quality education so I really appreciate again all of the work that's gone into this the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force for all of their work over the summer put together these recommendations um and we will remain Vigilant and committed as we head through the next couple of months into next year's budget to ensure that we can all be on the same page with how vital this program is to our families to our Educators and to our economy in the district thank you Mr chairman thank you council member council member Allen thank you Mr chairman I know a lot of us want to speak to this I will attempt to be very brief uh because my colleagues are making a lot of great points um I come to this in two roles both as a council member very proud of helping create and fund efforts like this for our Educators and also as a parent I think about my own kids and the individuals that helped provide love care and education for them which allowed both me and my wife to be able to to get back to our work but valuing their work was incredibly important and so I think about those individuals a lot and I've stayed in touch with several of them um just the other week ran into a lot of folks who helped educate my son in those first few years and they resoundingly said thank you to this Council every single one of us for recognizing and valuing their work and the pay that they should be getting and for fighting for this it's kind of breathtaking to think about where we are from last spring when the mayor attempted to eliminate the funding for this um I have am not a stranger to seeing coalitions be built and be able to mobilize quickly uh this was one of the fastest and broadest coalitions I think the city has seen to push back on what would have been a devastating move for our city for our economy for jobs for Workforce and really fight to make sure that the dollars were preserved I want to Echo my colleagues comments uh with gratitude to the work uh to the task force that really worked hard to put forward what we have in front of us uh I don't pretend it was easy uh but I appreciate the hard work that they've done because at the end of the day and again as we head into what may be a very tough budget again next spring we've got to make sure that we live the values that we espouse protect the very people that actually keep our economy moving and that means we pay our Educators fair and competitive wages and I think this council is committed to doing that I hope we see this be a a commitment across branches of government so we don't have a repeat of last spring but I think that our our Educators our families all across the city are counting on it so I'm proud of what we've done today appreciate the hard work the task force put in uh to help make a lot of these recommendations and look forward to enthusiastically voting yes today and continuing the fight to protect this thank you Mr chair thank you council member Allen council member Lewis George thank you chairman um early childhood uh researchers say a child's first three years will shape their lives and our District's early Educators parents alike all agreed to this and the pay Equity is fund has been a recognition of our investment in our young people and an investment in our future uh birth to three are critical years of social emotional and cognitive development that ready children for school and Beyond uh the uh what they can accomplish and what they will accomplish by having high quality early childhood education um is is just phenomenal uh and and we will be able to reap the benefits just like we did as a district in prek 3 and prek4 and leading the way the district has been leading uh in this in in early childhood education for decades and we continue to do that work um through the pay Equity Fund as well um I am so grateful for the early educator Equitable compensation task force for their hard work I want to thank the State superintendent education for their great work um I really want to thank the birth to three Coalition and all of its amazing partners for the work they do um and I want to thank our early childhood Educators many of them in addition to doing the work they do every day and investing and teaching our young people also showed up uh to the Wilson building showed up uh in community groups uh the one thing I loved about the the task force is they centered the voices of Early Childhood educators they actually brought early childood educator to to the table listened to them and got their feedback and their advice and when you Center the voices of those who are most impacted you get a greater outcome and I think we have seen that outcome and we see that outcome in what we have before us today uh so I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues I was proud uh through the homes and art Hearts Amendment uh to uh be able to create revenue and funding for us to be here today and I'm proud to continue to work with my colleagues um so that we can continue to U make sure uh this effort continues and is funded so thank you chairman um I look forward to enthus enthusiastically voting yes today uh thank you council member council member Nido thank you chairman um and thanks to all my colleagues who have spoken before me you know one of the points that I just really want to drive home today is who and why this is important we have been legislating wider access to early childhood education for years now and we're going to have to continue doing it until it's fully implemented when we passed the birth of three legislation authored by council members Robert White and council member gray we put out that blueprint for what we wanted our city to be like and what we wanted to offer which is high quality accessible early childhood education the piece we're talking about today is the one that makes it all come together because we can raise education standards and we can um put out subsidies for facilities and we can increase the number of subsidized slots but if we're not adequately paying the workforce there's not going to be teachers there to take care of these children you've heard me talk about my girls if semi's Early Learning Center could not pay their employees adequately I wouldn't have been here on this dayas because my babies wouldn't have had anywhere to go during the day and then to know until we passed the pay Equity Fund that they weren't even being adequately paid the people that cared for my children that kept them safe all day five days a week so that I could come to work and serve the people of w one in the District of Columbia the fact that they some of them were eligible for Medicaid some of them working second jobs that's not right so we did this and then the mayor decimated the pay Equity Fund and we had to do it again so we're not in a situation today that we thought we would be in which is further down the road and each year adding to this instead we had to find a way to restore as much as we possibly could and then ask a few people some of the people in this program to wait a little longer that's not where we thought we would be it's where we are and I do want to emphasize that this Council this Council has been shoulder-to-shoulder on this issue we need our mayor to be shoulder-to-shoulder with us and shoulder-to-shoulder with those women mostly women mostly black and brown women who show up work every day to ensure that our Workforce can go to work and to ensure that we can have the Deep bench of Early Childhood Educators that we need and to retain the excellent ones so that our children come to school ready to learn when they are in prek 3 and kindergarten because we know this all goes together chairman um I want to thank the Early Childhood educator Equitable compensation task force for its work we can't legislate everything in this bill today and what that means is we are obligated through rigorous oversight to ensure that Aussie implements the recommendations that we're not legislating and I know we'll stick together on that I want to thank the birth the3 Coalition which has been fighting to keep this together since we first passed the law thank you chairman thank you Council M noo council member fruman thank you very much chairman Merson I I'll join all my colleagues in uh expressing the Deep gratitude for the work of Early Childhood Educators uh they're not just professionals they end up being parts of families I see it in the experience of my grandchildren and know how important the folks at the Early Childhood Center are for her and for her family and giving advice and helping and supporting it's a critical function it allows businesses to succeed people to work children to thrive dve we really need to and have been valuing it the step we're taking today is a very very important one implementing a piece of the puzzle the biggest piece of the puzzle that the task force pursued I join in thaning all of the different players the task force AI the cfo's office The Advocates who pushed for this um this is really important and we need to stay on it and keep pushing it forward in ways that can grow the program and let it serve well as many people as possible I also want to give a special thanks chairman mendleson to you because in this process we had to find the money to make this happen and none of us individually could do that and you found the path to get us to the place where the table was set and we could get this done and that is critically important so thank thank you for that there's another area in this space the um pre kindergarten enhancement and expansion uh program and Peep and that's a very important piece of the early childhood education landscape it was a piece that looked like it might fall between the cracks and again chairman Mendon you found the money in order to keep that program going in the way that it has been going it is another very important piece of the puzzle I I congratulate us on getting this all done and recognize that this is a part of the process we need to keep strengthening all of these programs going forward thank you thank you council member so I do want to say one thing to correct the record or to clarify the record let's put it that way earlier I was critical of the mayor which she richly deserves with regard to the housing bill for criticizing it but on this one I want to remind folks of the facts here the mayor did not want to zero out this fund now it's true that she did want to cut it but she did not want to zero it out and members will remember and the record should reflect that the Chief Financial Officer at the last minute insisted that in the budget she submitted in order for him to say it was balanced that she had to add something like $50 million to one of the reserve funds and in the last minute there were not a lot of options for her so she picked this one and I made it clear even before the budget was submitted that I was not going to agree with what the Chief Financial Officer proposed that is that we would budget for restoring the um Reserve fund uh and that was how we were able since all of us agreed that we were able to restore roughly 50 I think it was $53 million to this fund and then added to it to bring it up to $70 million um so the record should reflect that um and the mayor was clear at the time she presented the budget that it was a choice that she did not want to make um I believe everybody or almost everybody has spoken on this so let's get to a vote on the Declaration the vote will be on PR 25- 994 all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed uh the eyes have it unanimously we have the underlying bill bill 25992 so moved is there discussion on the bill all those in favor say I I are there any opposed I have it unanimously if there's no objection I'm going to move the two temporary Bills first reading on temporary bills together they they are Bill 25-11 Cherry Blossom Festival Grant temporary Amendment act and Bill 25- 993 Early Childhood educator pay skills temporary Amendment act so moved is there discussion I do want to say to reflect any changes to the emergencies but actually there were none um if there's no discussion the vote is on the two Temporaries all those in favor say I I I I are there any opposed guys have it unanimously that is going to conclude the business for this meeting as I indicated at the end of the commit of the whole there will probably be an additional legislative meeting on October 29th that decision has not yet been made but M should keep their calendar free the time is 2:08 pm and this meeting is adjourned e e