we're going to start in about one minute sh Madam Secretary are we ready Madam Secretary you don't have a role this toit the whole hi Mr chairman yes we are ready are you ready I'm calling to order of this meeting this is a meeting of the committee the whole of the Council of the District of Colombia I'm Phil Mendelson chair of the council and chair of the committee of the whole today is Tuesday January 23rd 2024 the time is 12:45 in the afternoon and this meeting is being held in the council chambers room 500 of the Johnny Wilson building although I believe there are a couple members who are participating virtually and as always this meeting is being broadcast on Council Channel 13 and is also available on the council's website which is DC counil excuse me which is www.dc.gov We Begin our committee of the whole meetings with uh determining whether we have a quorum Mr Cash would you call the role please chairman Mendelson present council member Allen here council member bonds here council member fruman here council member gray here council member Henderson here council member Lewis George here council member McDuffy here council member noo here council member Parker Council Parker council member Pinto counc Pinto council member Robert White pres council member Tran white where Mr chairman you have a quum uh thank you Mr Cash uh there is not a legislative meeting today so we just have this meeting with several items to be marked up as well as a number of items that are being processed through other uh from other committees uh first we have the filing of committee reports I recognize the chair po Mr McDuffy thank you Mr chairman and I will move to the reading of the secretary's report there's been a motion to we the reading is their discussion on the motion to wave the reading all those in favor say I I I I are there any opposed don't hear see any no votes guys have it unanimously we have the reading of the secretary's log of introductions and referrals uh recognize the chair pm and I move to wave the reading of the secretary's log of introductions and referrals it's been a motion to wave the reading of the uh secretary's log council member Henderson did you want to be recognized I did Mr chairman I wanted to ask a question um about the log if I could yes I understand you have and I don't understand I know that you have re-referral request to me and I understand that that's what you want to ask about and I will um look at that and make a decision before the next meeting great thank you and I also have a re-referral request from counc Rance and I will handle that as well chairman would it be possible to know what those re-referral quests are uh at the moment I don't remember council member Henderson what was the bill um mine was the public incentive transparency and accountability Act of 2024 uh bill 25- 659 I am not sure of the build number wasn't expecting that inquiry today but I'll be very happy to get that information to council member NATO okay Mr chairman I can I can jump in if you'd like yes please um jeez this is exciting we haven't spent this much time on a w I thought I could jump in it is a bill 25621 the safe workplace act okay any other questions yes chairman um regarding the re-referral of B25 de 659 I would like to join in support of council member Henderson's request would you um require a memo from me as well um I require a memo I would say no it might help if you sent me a brief email no problem thank you if there's nothing further uh the motion was to wave the reading of the log all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed I don't see or hear any no votes see I have it unanimously we have three measures for markup in the community of the whole the first is PR 25543 entitled District of Columbia judicial nomination commissioner Marie John's reappointment resolution of 2024 this resolution was introduced by me on November 30th the purpose of the resolution is to reappoint Marie Johns as a non- lawyer member of the District of Columbia judicial nomination commission for a six-year term to end April 7th 2029 the judicial nomination commission is responsible for screening SEL electing and recommending to the president of the United States candidates for appointment to the super court and the DC court of appeals the commission recommends three candidates per vacancy the president May nominate only those individuals who have been recommended by the commission the commission is also tasked with designating the Chief Judges for both of these carts the commission consists of seven members all of Whom Shall Serve for terms of six years except for the president United States's appointment who serves a five-year term members of the commission must be citizens of the United States District residents and shall not be an employee of the United States government except that the chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia's appointment may be an active federal judge serving the district serving in the district the council appoints one non- lawyer member to the commission the mayor appoints two members to the commission one of whom must be a non- lawyer the Board of Governors of the District of Cl a bar appoint appoints two members both of whom shall have practice law in the district for at least five years before being appointed the president United States appoints one lawyer member to the Commission in the committee report is a table we tend we try to have on all of our um reports accompanying appointments and confirmations so in addition to Marie John's this is a reappointment and she's currently serving as chair there is Benjamin Wilson who's a mayor all appointment Linda crop former uh Council chair who's a mayoral appointee uh judge Tanya chken who is appointed by the chief judge of the US District Court the two DC bar appointees are Vincent con Jr and Y Ford and the president of the United States appointed ad or Addie Schmidt Marie Johns is award three resident she is the chief executive officer of the legal and consulting firm PPC Leftwich llc at PPC Leftwich Miss John's focuses on the following practice areas management consulting small business advisory Services utility regulation and local government Affairs she has over 30 years of public and private sector experience as she previously served as the Deputy Administrator for the US small business administration under Barack Obama and also served as president and CEO of pariz in Washington and Bell Atlantic Washington DC in addition she serves on the board of Howard University the DC Chamber of Commerce the federal city council Hager sharp Inc City First Bank of DC and the Girl Scouts of the national capital area as I said before I introduced this resolution on November 30th the committee of the whole held attempted to have a public round table on December 20th or 21st we ended up adjourning that and holding a public round table on January 10th of this year the committee received no testimony or comments in opposition uh the uh hearing the round table was actually quite Lively with council member Parker and me going at each well I went after him and we both asked a lot of questions of the nominee uh without objection I'll move both the print and report together with leafer staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion Mr chairman council member Parker Miss Johns brings a a very impressive background and I'm looking forward to voting in favor of her renomination to the commission uh you alluded to some of the discussion we were having at the hearing and I wanted to reiterate for the record uh my strong feeling that the judicial nomination commission should in fact entertain the ideology of Judges that they are nominating it was made or we were made aware that a judge's ideology or their philosophy of law does not really come into account in terms of the judicial nomination commission's uh process and so at a time when there's a question whether or not the president of the United States can commit any crime with impunity or um women's rights are under attack I think a judge's philosophy is very important and so uh again I I I was hardened to hear Miss John say that she would take that back to the commission and that they would in fact revisit it rethink about it um and perhaps uh change their approach to a nomination process but overall I think uh Miss Johns is a great candidate and she's done a lot of great work on the judicial nomination commission I look forward to voting for it thank you thank you any further discussion uh the vote will be on the print and Report with Lee first staff I guess because there a couple members virtual we'll do a roll call Mr Cash would you call the rooll council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member Tron white yes council member Tron white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member fruman yes council member freman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member leis George yes council member Le George votes yes McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member nidau yes council member no votes yes council member Parker yes council member Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the print and Report with leap for staff are approved unanimously Madam General council is a measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is M secretary's the record complete once the report inhering Rec our files Madame budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does no objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting the next measure for markup is PR 25581 historic preservation review board marnique Heath confirmation resolution of 2024 the purpose of this resolution is to confirm the May nomination of Marni Keith for reappointment as an architect member of the historic preservation review board for term to expired July 21st 2026 Miss Heath is a w 3 resident she is a practicing architect with 25 years of experience and she holds an architectural license in the District of Columbia she's a principal in the Washington office of Studios architecture an international Architecture Firm specializing in workplace Civic institutional and mixed use projects Miss Heath has served on historic preservation review board since 2016 she was originally nominated as a public member and then as an architect member she currently serves as chair of the board prior to her service on the hprb Miss Heath served on the district's Board of zoning adjustment and chaired that board during the last year of her appointment she has served as chair of the historic preservation review board since 2017 the historic preservation review board was created by by the historic landmark and historic district protection act of 1978 this law includes a section declaring the purposes behind the legislation which include to protect and enhance landmarks and districts which represent distinctive elements of the city's cultural social economic political and Architectural history to in turn Safeguard the city's historic aesthetic and cultural heritage in order to Foster civic pride in the history of the city to enhance and perpetuate tourism to bolster the economy and to generally promote the use of the district's landmarks and historic districts for the education pleasure and Welfare of the people of the city the board is composed of nine members appointed by the mayor after confirmation by the council the district's law requires that the board shall be constituted and its members qualified in order to comply with the requirements for a state review board pursuant to the National Historic preservation act of 1966 and the accompanying federal regulations and with that compliance comes some funding from the Department of interior during a confirmation hearing Miss Heath stated that she looked forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the office of planning the office of historic preservation the DC preservation League the Historical Society of the district or of DC local anes and other District stakeholders to advance the preservation sustainable sustainability and thoughtful development of our neighborhoods and communities Miss Heath meets the qualifications for serving on the board and has demonstrated knowledge of an interest in historic preservation thus the committee assuming this is approved recommends Council approval of PR 25581 the confirmation of Miss Heath for reappointment as an architect member of the stor presedation review board this legislation was introduced on December 22nd 2023 although we actually didn't see it until the first week of January AR it was um the committee of the whole held a round table on January 10 the committee received no testimony in opposition to the nominee I will note that the preservation League not only testified in support of the nomination but raised concern over the high number of vacancies on the board that threaten the loss of forum and and thereby potential non-compliance with federal regulations regarding historic preservation and assoc assciated funding without objection I'll move both the print and Report with leave for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there a discussion um I guess we'll do a roll call vote Mr Cash council member Tron white yes counc Tran white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes Council bonds votes yes council member Freeman yes council member frean votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Lewis George yes council member leis George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman mson yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member Nido yes council member Nido votes yes council member Parker yes council member Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes Council Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes Council Robert White votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the print and Report are approved unanimously Madam General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is madam secretary's director complete once the report and hearing record or files Madam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does that objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting the third and final item for markup in the committee of the whole is Bill 25- 317 entitled extended students right to home or hospital instruction Amendment Act of 2023 the purpose of this bill is to add pre-birth complications child birth and postpartum recovery to the list of health conditions which render students eligible for home or hospital instruction under the students right to home or hospital instruction Act of 2020 in March March 2021 the students right to home or hospital instruction act became DC law the ACT requires every local Education Agency to adopt and Implement a home or hospital instruction program beginning in the 2022 23 school year the ACT also requires every local Education Agency to adopt and Implement a home or hospital instruction program that provides academic instruction and support to students who have been or will be absent from their School of enrollment for 10 or more consecutive or cumulative school days due to a physical condition or a psychological condition each local education agency's home and Hospital instruction program is designed to promote a participating students academic progress by allowing the student to stay current with classroom instruction and course to subjects to the greatest extent possible the delivery of home or hospital instruction requires coordination between the classroom teacher and the home and Hospital instructors to ensure that seamless reintegration into the classroom instruction can be achieved when the student returns to school students eligible for home and Hospital instruction may be hospitalized due to a planned medical procedure such as surgery it requires a Long Hospital stay or they may have a chronic illness such as CLE cell anemia that causes them to have repeated intermittent absences the total more than 10 school days teen pregnancy and childbearing are associated with increased social and economic costs only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school Bill 25- 317 proposes an important clarification to the definition of health condition that will ensure pregnant and postpartum students are not denied Home Hospital instruction because the regulations right now do not explicitly include pregnancy the bill will allow students experiencing pre-birth complications childbirth and postpartum recovery related health conditions to be eligible for home and Hospital educational instruction this bill was introduced by council member Christina Henderson on June 5th 2023 joined by I believe four other council members and the committee of the whole held public hearing on this measure on November 30th 2023 and my recollection is that although there were quite a number of witnesses there was no testimony and opposition to the bill I moved the print with leap for staff to make technical conforming and Technical and conforming changes is there discussion Mr chairman council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman as you mentioned um currently when a student misses school due to a physical or mental illness injury or impairment um which prevents them from participating in the day-to-day activities typically expected in a traditional school day they're eligible to receive home or hospital instruction by their Lea um however due to an interpretation from The Office of the State superintendent for Education students who may be experiencing health conditions such as pre-birth complications childbirth or postpartum recovery are excluded from home and Hospital instruction programs um we know that pregnancy delivery post and recovery health related conditions mostly affect teenage girls um or might mostly affect teenage girls and birthing persons in this uh student population um but also lower the chances of a student graduating from high school on time uh data from the CDC shows that 90% of women who um do not give birth during adolin since graduate from high school but that number drops to 50% for teen mothers this legislation would dismantle some of the biases that we currently have regarding um health condition and overall just help students who find themselves in a situation where they might need um this assistance I look forward to getting this bill passed um and ensuring that all students are um whose Health need health needs require Common Sense accommodations are able to get those met thank you Mr chairman thank you council member Is there further discussion uh we have the print before us Mr Cash would you call the role council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member fuman yes council member freuman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Lewis George yes council member Le George votes yes council member McDuffy yes council member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendelson yes chairman medson votes yes council member Nido yes council member Nido votes yes council member Parker yes council member Parker votes votes yes council member Pinto yes Council M Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes Council Robert White votes yes council member Tron white yes Council M Tran white votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the print is approved unanimously I move the report with leave for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there a discussion do a Voice vote on the report all those in favor say I I I are there any no votes I don't hear any no votes the report has approved unanimously um mam General council is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Madam Secretary is the record complete once the report and hearing are filed Madame budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does does it have a fiscal impact there is no fiscal impact without objection this measure will be placed placed on the consent agenda for to for for the February 6th legislative meeting um we will now move to consideration of measures from other committees the first two were reported out of the committee on business and economic development shared by council member Kenyan McDuffy the first is Bill 2-56 restaurant revitalization and dram shop clarification Amendment Act of 2024 council member McDuffy thank you chairman Bill 2556 would clarify and codify into statute District's dram shop liquid liability laws this is necessary because insurance premiums for liqu liability in the district are out of proportion with how infrequent such cases are actually brought in fact according to an insurance industry rating organization the district's liquor liability framework is one of the top three jurisdictions with the highest risk of restaurants bars and other establishments that serve alcohol our neighboring jurisdictions marily in Virginia do not P permit civil dram shop liability claims against establishments that serve alcohol the high insurance premiums in the district have resulted in a situation where many establishments cannot afford to carry such insurance which poses risk for both the uninsured establishments and for potential future claimants seeking to recover monetary damages I appreciate my colleague council member Pino as well as council member Henderson for introducing this bill the committee made several changes to incorporate feedback from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration licensed restaurant and nightlife establishments trial lawers Association and other ass uh groups as well as Victim Advocacy organizations and I believe that the compromise be forged clarifies the scope of liability preserves rights for individuals and families seriously harmed by violations and will address the Sky High lied liability insurance rates hampering our businesses this takes some meaningful step to improve the district's business climate for our local and small as well as large establishments the committee also incorporated into this bill addition relief for restaurants which council member Allen as well as I have been working on for some time now it streamlines managers licensing and expands online workplace training it tackles regulations of thirdparty meal delivery platforms and protects our restaurants from being excluded in search results within a Four mile radius and it also amends title 28 to exclude service charges from sales for the purposes of calculating rent pursuing to a commercial tency and Define service charges for the purpose of this new section these Target reforms uh reforms should make it easier for our restaurants to operate and compete within our region finally this bill requires the executive to conduct a public education campaign regarding the District of Columbia tip credit elimination Act of 2022 we've all heard complaints from customers our constituents workers as well as restaurants about the confusing landscape as the tip credit slowly phases out with that I would move uh the resolution ask that it be placed on the agenda for the February 6 legislative meeting uh thank you Council mther questions from Members council member oh my there's a lineup council member Lewis George and then Henderson then Parker then Truman then no thank you counc McDuffy and your uh committee for uh putting this legislation forward um my question is around I guess a issue is the language that exclude service charges is constituting sales um when calculating rent um unless the lease say otherwise unlike tips service charges are the property of restaurants and um some restaurants claim that service fees will go to workers um but this is hard to track and increases the risk of wage theft um service charges add a layer of confusion to the complicated ways restaurants collect money and distribute it to workers um I know the Biden Administration proposed the rule through the Federal Trade Commission recently to ban the deceptive use of service fees which they described as junk fees um and so I just wanted to hear from you sort of how does this bill protect workers from wage theft if a restaurant promises workers part or all of the service fees um and if that's some if that's a concern you're willing to work with me between first reading um to try to find ways to help protect workers better U thank you for the question um I I know there are a couple other members who uh this morning raised a similar question and so hopefully my response tackles uh the the the questions that have been raised around this point um but I think it's important to start off by saying that service fees and under District law are not illegal um there are many different types of businesses that use service fees in in their business model not just restaurants even though I think think it's safe to say we as consumers generally don't like them um some have asked that we Outlaw these fees just as they pertain to restaurants though uh which I don't believe would necessarily be fair to single out uh the restaurant industry when it's just such a wide practice across our local economy the region uh and other parts of the United States um there are also some restaurants that actually pass on the service charges directly to uh their workers um and I also think there's a question about whether or not we would have the authority to just outright uh ban them um the federal government as you mentioned specifically the FTC has been working on a proposed Rule and in my opinion is probably the best probably the most appropriate Place uh for any broad changes to take place around service charges uh my original hope with introducing the provision that was included in uh the introduced version was to clarify how restaurants needed to disclose the fees because it was pretty confusing to a lot of people uh in order to prevent a lot of the customer shock that perhaps you all got inquiries about as I did in my office but this was born out of a consumer alert that the office of the CH General issued last year that left restaurant operators confused about how to comply you all might remember that a little bit more time my response chairman uh there's no objection so I at that point I spoke with uh uh the Attorney General about this issue and asked that they issue clarifying guidance I included that provision in the original bill because it was unclear whether the Attorney General uh had intended to issue additional guidance however after our Hearing in which they actually testified the off office did Issue updated guidance spelling out how restaurants needed to disclose the fee yeah and the fees purpose in order to comply with the law I thought that that guidance that they that the ogag provided would put it into to the need for any statutory changes uh since then as you all probably aware several lawsuits have been filed against restaurants by private parties that take a more expansive view of the law than even the Attorney General's guidance so uh there may be a need for us to revisit this and I'm happy to work with you council member LS George or any of my other colleagues who have an interest in uh addressing this provision further thank you thank you council member uh council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman uh council member McDuffy you partly answered uh my question um I did want to ask um how confident are you that the ogag enforcement Authority is sufficient to enforce compliance with the new law regarding service charges and the consumer notice requirements that's probably question more appropriate for the oeg uh my estimation is that uh I'm confident that they have uh the resources that they would need uh in the ability to enforce uh my interactions both with the oeg and the restaurant industry uh and my team's interactions with both uh indicate that there's been a level of communication I think there was some initial shock when um the initial um guidance was released but there had been subsequent interactions meetings with both the industry and the Office of the Attorney General that I think have resolved um uh to an extent the concerns that have been raised it has not addressed all the issues that some have including the need to file uh litigation which um if we think there's some more room for clarification I'm happy to to chat about it uh I'm not sure where the litigation is going to go though okay thank you um thank you Mr chairman uh thank you council member Henderson council member Parker I want to thank council member McDuffy and the rest of the committee for their work on this bill um I have two quick questions one is around tracking data on how restaurants are using service fees it's my understanding that there isn't currently a tracking mechanism my conversations with the Restaurant Association seem to suggest there they aren't looking at it and what I just know from my own personal experience some are passing the money on directly to workers some don't have service fees at all others have them at different amounts and so one question is if that's something that the committee is willing to look at in the future and then secondly I appreciate that the committee ultimately removed the cap for the dram shop component of the bill um and I know Alabama recently passed legislation without a cap that drove down rates and to what extent the commit is tracking what's working in Alabama and hopes that it will do the same here um I don't know how often Alabama's a state that we're we're looking to to duplicate things here in the District of Columbia I will say uh though it's a great state by the way I have really great friends from Alabama uh one of I just communicated with yesterday um so no shade to Alabama but yeah we we're tracking it and and it's one of the few places that has recently done this and so my team and I uh have been uh been communicating about what Alabama's done in terms of the caps and we did look to it as um uh an example of whether or not we needed to have caps in place in IO what was the other part of your question Council M the data tracking for service fees because right now it doesn't and maybe I'm wrong wrong but it doesn't appear that anyone's actually collecting how restaurants are using the fees I I don't know that anybody's collecting how any industry that has service fees are actually using the fees um and I'm not sure what that would even look like uh because it's it's it is something that is used in Industries and our local economy I think it's gotten a lot of attention with restaurants because of the recent uh implementation and rollout of initiative 82 and so does a sticker shock I think of some consumers of seing uh these fees and whether the the the fine print or the notice that consumers have uh lends itself to um Clarity and proper notice about what they're paying for so I I don't we have not include that in this bill I'm not sure what that frame rate would look like uh I'm also not sure whether it's would be appropriate to do it for one industry and not for every industry that actually uses those fees uh thank you thank you council member uh council member fruman thank you very much um and thank you council member McDuffy or chair McDuffy for landing the plane on the dram shop law I think getting to a place where the Restaurant Association and the trial lawyers were together shoulder-to-shoulder are real accomplishment I was told that you know this looks like the Alabama Law and the Alabama Law lowered scores from a 10 to a five which um hopefully this will give the kind of relief to our restaurants that they're seeking the restaurant industry is uh facing enormous challenges we saw it in the newspaper today um I I wonder and and I apologize for bringing this up in this setting and hope we can work on this together going forward it it might sound odd to be skeptical of a public information campaign but I am a little skeptical of the public information campaign the way it's written the mayor will put together public information campaign about the changes made necessary by initiative 82 well there is a l lot in there so right now wages as a result of initiative 82 have gone up by a small amount but we have service charges of 20 and 22% that cover way more than the increased costs from initiative 82 at this point and likely even at the end of the day so how and and there is uh you know very High passions around this issue how do we guard against a public information campaign in turning into a political campaign to try to throw off initiative 82 how do we make sure that it accurately reflects the actual math what was caused or what is responsive to initiative 82 and what is a broader change of policy and maybe a good policy by the restaurants but not necessarily flowing from initiative 82 how do we how do we make sure that this is a Bonafide public education campaign and not part of a political agenda I appreciate the question I I I think it's um I think it's an important question um but also think it's important sort of the context that you you mentioned um before you ask your question and I I want to if I could chairman I know I'm gonna run out of time just ask for um my colleagues Indulgence um I want to start with a really quick uh sort of fact check on on why we're moving this bill and frankly why I think we need to do even more to ensure the health of our restaurant industry um if you listen to the cfo's revenue estimates uh that were published recently the last several estimates have mentioned the strength of hospitality industry uh employment and their revenues associated with the industry and keeping our district government revenue stable even when other revenue streams are declining and I I've heard this for the last sort of few estimates and revenue means that we can pay for all the vital you know um programs and services that I think we all care about and that that District residents solely need and deserve but I want to be clear that the hospitality is a broad sort of category and it's it's it's really inclusive of a number of things when we look at restaurants specifically this is important what we see in the latest round of data from the US Census Bureau I'm sorry the US Bureau of label statistics should be alarming to all of us it's alarming to me uh what it shows is that Staffing levels in the district of Columbia's full service restaurant segment trended sharply lower since since implementation of initiative 82 in May 2023 between May and November 2023 first F service restaurants in DC cut 1,300 jobs which is the decline of approximately 4.4% during the same six month period in 2022 DC's full service segment added 2,000 jobs all right so a couple years ago added jobs now we're cutting jobs this is in sharp contrast to our neighbors in the suburbs right so when we talk about Regional competitive policymaking locally with the impact is uh uh in the suburbs in in the region is important in the in the region and in the suburbs full service employment is rising between May and November 2023 full service restaurants in the DC suburbs added 2,000 jobs which is an increase in 3% I want to make sure we're not ignoring that and and that we're taking steps to address that I'm going to get to the other part of your your question about the public education campaign but I think there a couple of important points to keep in mind um we are we're changing the Paradigm when it comes to how restaurant employees are paid um workers who are formerly uh formerly primarily paid through tips are now going to be paid uh making uh the minimum wage primarily not to say that tips can't be provided but in some cases people are deciding not to pay them they're en counting these service fees um and it's creating I think a bit of a stir and confusion I think the public education campaign is necessary so that the public has a better understanding of the impact of the policy how do we guard against politics I think we have to do it in the same way we we we typically do it as legislators which is an oversight of the executive branch agencies to make sure that what they are doing is with what we intend when we create these sorts of laws and so I'm not going to suggest that it's not a possibility um what I'm suggesting and stating hopefully clearly is that it's important to explain to the public all that is going on because so much is going on in order to implement initiative 82 and a lot of what we're seeing appears to be having a negative impact on our restaurant industry in Disco Columbia council member Nido thank you chairman um council member McDuffy um thank you very much for moving forward and congrats on the work that you did to bring compromise around a tricky issue um I'm glad to see that the committee print requires a study on food delivery worker conditions which I know has been a subject of interest for many of us I see it also includes some data reporting for food delivery like vehicle used designment of trips and cancellation of trips I have been working with the department for higher vehicles on food delivery since they have um new authority to enforce moving violations for food and parcel delivery drivers and many pieces of the study of this bill overlap with what um Department of higher Vehicles is already doing so I want to make sure they're not written out of the bill completely can I ask that we work together between now and first reading to see if there are any modifications we can make to that part of the bill certainly I appreciate that great thank you so much thank you chairman thank you council member council member Allen thank you Mr chair um rare is the day that we ever say we're tracking what's happening in Alabama um but we did it so we'll write down the day and time um I I appreciate uh Mr McDuffy the work that has gone into this um before I get to my question I was I'll share something I shared at our committee markup as well that this bill really is a product of a lot of compromise and consensus and so uh especially to the numerous stakeholders that were a part of these conversations just appreciate uh everybody had to come to the table not get everything necessarily that they were looking for uh but I think we landed in a very good place it's going to make a meaningful difference and I I know that uh we prioritize making sure we actually get the job done uh so I just want to make sure that folks know and hear the appreciation uh multiple parties coming together to get that done and thank you for helping lead through that process um I wanted to just speak briefly on one of the elements that was talked about a moment ago because yeah I last spring I sat down with a number of our locally owned restaurants and businesses in ward 6 and I wanted to know what are the things we could do to help what can government do to help um that's to keep their doors open to keep those jobs in place and they gave a list and many of those items are represented in this bill and I thank you for adding them this bill I think it's that collaboration that's going to make have this bill be a very meaningful difference we had 50 restaurants closed last year we got restaurants that are facing more than a 20% increase just in the cost of doing business that's that's separate from the rise in wages that they're having to pay so that that is going to have an impact and we know that these locally owned businesses we're not a city filled with Cheesecake Factories uh we're a city with locally owned businesses that makes a big difference to have those spaces but one of the elements here that I'd heard some questions about is related to allowing us to treat service charges the same way we're treating tips when we talk about the calculation for rent and for folks that may not know the way that a lot of these relationships work with a landlord and a restaurant is that their rent is a is calculated part of the sales that they have and so if tips aren't included as part of that calculation for sales if service charges there was trying to create some parity there and the idea behind this was that uh making sure that the service charges are actually going to the employees wage that is illegal we have funded wage theft Attorneys at the Attorney General's office to go after wage theft if that's happening it's illegal and we have an attorney general who we want to go after that but I think you narrowly crafted this we worked this that it's very specific and so just to make sure I wrap it up with a question since it's the committee of the whole Mr chairman this is a lease agreement between a commercial landlord and a restaurant so is it correct we are treating our service charges if they go directly to the workers the same as tips in only that specific context this is not have to do with overall workers wages this is about in that specific context yes the short answer is yes and I appreciate the question because I think it helps to clarify what some perhaps thought about the I agree and with my two seconds left thank you very much thank you Mr chair thank you C Mar any further discussion hold on a second uh second round Council uh not discussion questions council member Parker uh despite council member Allen's about the Cheesecake Factory I did want to bring up a question about his last point but to make sure I'm tracking so are you suggesting and this is Council M McDuffy the bill that would uh allow restaurant service fees not to be counted towards the rent is that only for service fees that go directly towards employees pay and so if a if a restaurant were to let's say collect the service fees into the overall budget or bottom line that provision would not count am I understanding that right you are okay uh that was not clear but that's even better that's great news yeah I I'd be happy for council member because he has it up I I have to find it but uh if you read the section on yeah if you could I would be delighted to it's on page five of the committee print uh and it's line 109 through 112 So purposes of this section the the term service char means any mandatory fee paid as a percentage of the total cost of food or beverages if the food or beverages are served uh and the fee is used to pay base wages or tips of the employee so it's very then goes back to my earlier question around tracking so how do we know and I'm assuming restaurant owners are operating in good faith but how do we know if for if the restaurant owner is passing on the service fee to employees or collecting it towards its bottom line and right now it's my understanding we have no mechanism to track that so there already laws that require restaurant uh operators to report wages through does and I think what's important to also acknowledge that that if they're not doing this stuff properly they would be committing fraud and my experience with not only this bill but with this Council and our efforts around wage the I think have sent a strong signal about how seriously we take it um and there've been open lines of communication between my office and the office of the CH General um and I would expect that if if there need to be enhancements or or other tools around um this law or something associated with service fees that I'm happy to have that conversation with any of my colleagues but anybody else including the ogag who might have suggestions I would also say though that I think it's important to make sure that we are we are acknowledging what's happening on the federal level with the STC and how many Industries actually use service fees because it is it is not uncommon to see service fees used and consumers pay them in other Industries as well and so I wanted to just point that out so I I think your point is is I think your question is important um but I think when you think about all the shipping and handling fees that we pay as consumers um they they have a similar use in terms of how businesses uh are run and that we should try to approach this uh broadly which is why I said earlier that I think the federal side is probably the best way to try to deal with this c bond thank you um chairman I just wanted to uh say to uh Mr McDuffy I guess in the form of a question um want to make sure that I am hearing that you want to have further discussion regarding service fees um because we're hearing from the community and we're also hearing um from loud and clear from the restaurant community that is in a in a spiral for Recovery yes all right I just want to make sure thank you thank you so much yes that that is so important and I think we all want to make sure that we have uh the opportunity to help this very important industry recover and at the same time we want to hear from the public and know that the public understands what a service charge is and how it can be used and I do believe we need further discussion about that thank you counc Pinto I I was just gonna offer a thought about councelor Parker's question it's my understanding that due in large part to oag's issuance of what would be compliant now a lot of restaurants will have listed on the bottom of their menu what the service charge is going to be used for so if it says this is really used to tip our employees that is another indicator that that is an expense that can be deducted from your rent cost just like many other expenses whereas if it's is stated this is really absorbed in the cost of our operations that is not an expense for purposes of deduction for your rent cost so I would say I would say that's one other marker of in practice of how we know uh these things are working thank you council member Pinto council member fuman so thank you um I I think this all goes to just how complicated it is because it's if it's for base wages and tips that it isn't included in the total income that's drives um the rent calculation but base wages and tips are very different so it might be that what happens is you look at the total collected in service charges and you look at the total labor cost including tips and if the service charges are lower than that total cost then they qualify for not being included in income but the base wages actually are General operating costs and so they ordinarily and they would be treated as uh as operating costs and income for the purpose purposes of of the sales tax tax calculation here trying to do it on the rent side I hear you but if it get if we get into a level of complexity H was there any contemplation given to only excluding those portion of uh service charges that were used for compensation over base wages as not being included in the calculation for rent and in that setting frankly they shouldn't be included in the calculation for sales tax but base wages and and tips are totally conceptually different here but they're combined in this section so so two things I appreciate always appreciate but in this case particularly Nuance in what we do I don't know that the public always appreciates it um but you know landlords and and restaurant owner operators they can negotiate these things but but what we're trying to really Target a lot of these leases have already been signed before initiation uh initiative 82 to Wi into place right and the the base wage that we were talking about pre initiative 82 is not the same base wage today and I think it's important to draw that distinction when we talk about um what's excluded was not excluded and frankly sort of what we were trying to get at when we were crafting this legislation right it's not requiring them to enter into these agreements in fact you know when these when these restaurants and these landlords enter into these agreements we're trying to account for some of the situations where there is no it doesn't really address this it's not you know so so so this would fill a gap if something's not already in the lease that spells out what's included in the calculation of rents but that makes sense it makes sense but what what I was getting at before and still I'm getting at is a restaurant imposes a 20% service charge and the increased costs related to i82 today isn't 20% and frankly even at full implementation it's not going to be 20% of their costs and so I think we need to deal with that reality and figure out how to treat that portion that is attributable to increases in the base wage one way and then and the portion that is just about General base uh wages a different way and if it's tips a different way still if it's payment over the level of the base the the eventual base wage I think it's just a really complicated terrain and it's another reason why it really makes me worry about a public information campaign that might simplify it and make it seem like I want to help our restaurants I'm with you but all the ills flow from i82 it that is not right and certainly not at this point there's some increase in wages but there's lots of other factors that are affecting it and if we try to attribute it all to i82 I think that's not accurate I let me be clear I'm not attributing it all to i82 um in case there is anybody who who that's not what I'm attributing to I mean I think if you Le read what's being reported if you look at the data there are a number of things that are impacting the industry uh post pandemic um although you saw strides being made post pandemic around restaurant recovery but then you had issues still related to inflation Etc labor cost is one of those things though um and if you look at our restaurant industry and performance um since the implementation of id2 it does raise questions about the competitiveness of our industry in our region where we're the only industry that has implemented I8 too so I think you raised a very important point about increases by restaurant owners 20% service fees Etc what they are attributable to whether it's base wages whether it's you know going to workers as as a form of a a tip and I'm happy to Grapple with all that stuff with everybody U because it is complicated um and and there are some complications though that F from implementation of id2 that I think the public would benefit from hearing about I think we just have to make sure we're focused like a laser on making sure that's what Dad does thank you uh Madam General councel is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Adam secretary's record complete yes it is mam Madam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requ yes it does and there is a small onetime cost of $600,000 so not that small but one time 600,000 uh without objection without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6 legislative meeting is that is it on the consent agenda so I just said unless there's an objection I would object I'm sorry you're asking it be on non-consent correct all right thank this measure will be on the non-consent agenda for February 6th there's a theory of meetings that if there isn't a lot of business that uh the deliberative body will fill the space so we have another I think uh eight measures we'll see PR 25-5 6 deputy mayor for planning and economic development Nina Albert confirmation resolution 2024 Council M McDuffy uh thank you chairman pr25 d506 would conf confirm the appointment of Nina Albert as deputy mayor for planning Economic Development to serve at the pledge of the mayor Miss Albert is a native Washingtonian and wari resident and a well qualified public servant who's LED significant development teams in both the public and private sectors she has a history of development in the district and with key private and Regional Partners she also brings valuable experience working for the federal government where she most recently uh served as commissioner of the public building service within the general Services Administration I've known Miss Albert for a number of years and support uh her nomination to lead DED uh during this critical time in the district of Colombia's history uh as you all know there are some really pressing challenges impacting our local economy like the need for downtown and Commercial office Redevelopment um some of the challenges around less competitive post-pandemic business environment retaining existence existing businesses in our city attracting new businesses both large employers and small businesses uh attracting businesses like grocery stores and neighborhood serving retail in communities across our city especially uh in places like War seven and 8 uh and you know headwinds for building adequate affordable housing which I know is a priority for this Council and for most of last year D pip was without a permanent leader uh so I look forward to to working with the deputy mayor to ensure that the district's best and most Equitable days are ahead of us with that I would move the resolution as to placed on the consent agenda for February's legislative meeting thank you Council McDuffy other questions from members on I had a question Madam General council is the meure leg a question lege H yes thank you um and I've talked to coun defy about this but I just wanted to uh get on record um were you able to speak with um Miss Albert about uh the procurement of uh the Kenny Street Library as a part of uh dimits actions um moving forward no I know uh I reached out to her when when you reached out to me today I have not yet heard back from her my team has also reached out to to dmed uh and up to this point we have not gotten a respon so I'm happy to to coordinate with you and maybe try to get you uh a conversation directly with hour thank you I appreciate it thank you thank you mam General council is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is madam secretary's record complete yes it is mam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting there's no objection the next two items will be considered in Block they both concern appointments to the board of long-term care administration I should say the next six measures were reported out of the committee on health ched by council member Christina Henderson pr25 d560 Board of long-term care administration Dr B Michelle Harris confirmation resolution of 2024 NPR 25561 Board of long-term care administration Judy Brinkerhoff confirmation resolution of 2024 council member Henderson thank you Mr chairman um so for the board of long-term care administration regulates the practice of nursing home Administration Assisted Living Administration and the home healthc care administration here in the District of Columbia pr25 d560 nominates Dr B Michelle Harris for reappointment to the board for an Allied Health professional license in the district who has demonstrated interest in long-term care Dr Harris is currently the interim chair of the board she is a licensed dietician and an associate professor at the University of the District of Columbia where she teaches nutrition including geriatric nutrition she is also a health correspondent for the east of the river newspaper Dr Harris received her PhD from the University of Maryland and she is a w four resident pr25 d561 nominates Judy brenoff for appointment to the board as a health professional with experience in long-term care uh Dr Excuse Me Miss brinkenhoff is a registered nurse in the district and has served as a school nurse in the district for more than 20 years prior to that she had a long career in the military she received her Masters of Science and nursing from the University of Texas San Antonio and she is a war I resident the committee held a hearing on these nominations on January 10th at the confirmation Round Table we discussed with the nominees The Proposal in the health occupations revision act to Sunset this board and move the work under the Board of Nursing there was General support but they did advise ensuring that the Allied health professionals and long-term care not get overlooked I was happy to hear that both of these excellent nominees would be willing to serve on the board so long as it is currently functioning the committee unanimously approved these nominations on January 16th and I now ask that these um nominees be placed on the consent agenda for the legislative meeting in February thank you council member Henderson are there questions from Members mam General council is the measure Le are the two measures legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes they are M secretary is to record complete for each yes M budget director do the measures physical impact statements comply with Council requirements yes without objection these measures will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6 legislative meeting the next three measures is there's no objection will be presented in Block they concern appointments to the Board of Professional counseling pr25 d574 Board of Professional counseling Ronda Brown confirmation resolution of 2024 PR 25575 Board of Professional counseling Victoria Sher confirmation resolution of 2024 NPR 25576 Board of Professional counseling giovana deloro deloro confirmation resolution of 2024 council member Henderson thank you Mr chairman the Board of Professional counseling overseas counseling Professionals in the district including art therapists and addiction counselors pr25 d574 nominates Ronda Brown to the Board of Professional counsel as a professional counselor for a term to end July 1st 2024 Miss Brown has 20 years of experience focused on adolescent mental health and substance use issues she holds a masters in arts and Community Counseling and has worked extensively within the Juvenile Justice System Miss Brown is a W for Resident PR 25575 nominates Victoria Shir to the Board of Professional counseling for a reappointment as an individual with at least five years of experience in the field of Addiction Counseling for a term ending July 1st 2026 Miss Sherk has extensive experience in Addiction Counseling and Trauma informed care she has served in various health organizations and holds a masters in counseling specializing in marriage and family therapy um M Sherk is also uh well is also um the only current member of this board so she is also the chair as the only member of this board um and M Sher is a war I resident pr25 d576 nominates giovana deloro to the Board of Professional counseling as a professional counselor for a term to end July 1st 2024 Mr luro specializes in trauma depression and anxiety she's pursuing her PhD currently in counseling education and supervision and is a licensed professional counselor in The District in Virginia Mr Loro is a w one resident um we held a hearing on these nominations on January 10th at the confirmation hearing among other things we discussed the need to increase the applications for professional counseling lure here in the district um and to streamline The lure process ensuring that counseling students are aware of the supervision hours that are currently required for lure the nominees also Express support for the proposal in the health occupations revision act to M to move the board of M marriage and family therapy under the Board of Professional counseling um I'm happy to see that this board will finally grow from one to three members all of whom who are extremely qualified um I hope to see all six seats filled on this board very soon um and just uh for um The public's awareness as well as for my colleagues um you will note that two of these three nominees have a term that ends in July um a short time from now and so we have already um started conversations with the mayor's office of talent and appointments to submit the paperwork for these individuals so that um we could just go ahead and get that process um and with that Mr chairman um the committee unanimously approved these nominations on January 16th and so I asked that um the committee of the whole uh colleagues approv them as well and that these nominees be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting thank you council member other questions from Members Madam General councel are these three measures legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes they are Madam Secretary the record complete for each yes Madam budget director do the measures fiscal impact statements comply with Council requirements yes they do are there even fiscal impact statements attach to resolutions uh no the rules exempt them so that that's how they comply but I have to ask the question anyway it's right here thank you uh without objection these three measures will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6 legislative meeting the last item from the committee on health is pr25 d578 Board of Occupational Therapy amalu Mei confirmation resolution of 2024 council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman the Board of Occupational Therapy regulates occupational therapist occupational therapist assistants and recreational therapist in the District of Columbia pr25 d578 nominates ULU uh ma m odami I'm trying to say it really fast uh to the Board of Occupational Therapy um as an occupational therapist for a term to end April 16th 2024 he is currently the CEO of Triumph Therapeutics which specializes in pediatric occupational therapy and the vice president of the DC Occupational Therapy Association is a Masters of Science and occupational therapy from Howard University and the nominee lives in Ward five we held a hearing um on this nomination on January 10th at the confirmation hearing um I discussed with um Mr M Mami the importance of raising awareness For Occupational Therapy among young young people communities of color and especially in early childhood settings he expressed support for the proposed legislation to enter the district into the occupational therapy National compact but expressed concerns over the proposal in the hor well the Health occupation revision act also known as the H to merge the board with several other boards to create a new board of um rehabilitative therapies he explained that each occupation has unique requirements and trainings that should not be overlooked the committee unanimously approved this nomination on January 16th um and as with the other nominees for the Board of Professional counseling um this nomination uh has a term that expires in April um so once again we have already asked the mayor's office of talent and appointments to go ahead and submit his paperwork um so that we can have a timely processing of that and with that Mr chairman I ask that this nomination be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting thank you council member handerson are there questions from Members Adam General councel to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Madam Secretary is record complete yes it is madam budget director does the measure fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes thank you without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting uh the last measure for AG gendis is Bill 25- 345 secure DC omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 reported out of the committee on Judiciary and Public Safety chaired by council member Brooke Pinto council member Pinto thank you Mr chairman the district is experiencing a crisis of increased crime and particularly violent crime that is unacceptable and causing way too much harm in all of our communities District residents deserve our urgent action to improve Public Safety secur DC includes over 100 100 targeted interventions that fill critical gaps in our current Public Safety ecosystem to First prevent crime and end cycles of violence second increase accountability and third enhance government coordination and oversight in 2023 DC experienced 274 homicides the most homicides the district has experienced in 25 years a 39% increase in violent crime and a 24% increase in property crime given these troubling Trends we have heard continuous calls from residents from our government partners and Advocates to urgently address this crisis in an urgent comprehensive and sustainable manner throughout the last year I heard from and met with literally thousands of residents and Advocates held over a dozen public hearings on each of the bills that are included in today's Omnibus held Community meetings and forums and Public Safety walks in all eight Wards coupled with all of these conversations many residents and Advocates have offered passionate and well-reasoned arguments in favor of the district doing more to address root causes of crime I strongly agree that addressing root causes of crime is critical to our need to reduce violence this is particularly important in the context of housing Human Services and our education agencies none of which of course the committee on Judiciary and Public Safety has oversight over but that I look forward to a continued partnership with my colleagues to address these needs and challenges with that said the robust public engagement process the committee of the Judiciary and Public Safety convened throughout the last year makes me confident that secure DC will make DC residents safer and more secure a number of Provisions focus on preventing crime including by providing grants to non-government organizations to provide safety personnel and infrastructure investing in re-entry training for our returning citizens other Provisions focus on ensuring greater enforcement and accountability as we all have talked about many times without Swift and certain consequences we will continue to see a lacking sense of accountability that we know has contributed to the current circumstances in the district secur DC includes many proposals that specifically aim to close the revolving door in the criminal justice system these proposals focused on deterring the small number of individuals who are repeatedly engaging in violent crime and temporarily and securely holding the most dangerous individuals to prevent more harm in our communities Mr without objection thank you I also want to note along with the many residents and Advocates who have engaged with the committee I remain concerned about the impacts of incarceration on the most affected communities and I'm concerned that black and brown residents are disproportionately represented in our incarcerated population I'm also concerned about the disproportionate impacts of crime on black and brown residents and on neighborhoods that are lowincome and underserved I believe that greater enforcement and accountability along with greater prevention and coordination efforts are necessary to make the district safer and more secure for all residents furthermore the committee's recommendations regarding enhanced data sharing and greater government oversight will assist our agencies policy makers and the public in evaluating the success of our programs in preventing crime connecting victims with resources and measuring the performance of our First Responders supporting accountability and transparency of our government agencies is essential to improving the safety and reliability of the provision of services to the public and these values are no more important than for our police I believe that accountability of our officers and transparency for the public regarding sustained violations of police conduct are critical to our efforts while also maintaining employee privacy records for things like medical treatment I also believe that we must support our officers to engage effectively and appropriately when potential harms to the community occur secur DC protects these values to maintain the safety efficacy accountability and transparency of police Community engagements District residents cannot wait any longer to be and feel safe and secure in our communities I want to thank all of my colleagues for your participation in this process participating in hearings introducing your own legislation attending Public Safety walks offering meaningful suggestions to this legislative language I have worked with literally all of you on this effort and this is an opportunity and our opportunity for the council to to make an important step and to say that we are moving our city forward in a safer and more secure Direction I know that moving our city forward in this type of Direction takes all of us everyone here on the council the mayor the Attorney General the United States Attorney the public defender service the courts all of our agencies our residents our faith leaders School leaders and really each one of ourselves asking how we can play a role in building safer communities each and every day I confident that the process we have undergone to get here today is the right one and that the provisions of the secure DC Omnibus are necessary steps taken as a whole to effectuate the improvements that we need to make DC residents safer and more secure with that I ask Mr chairman that this measure be placed on the agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting thank you council member Pinto are there questions from [Music] Members council member McDuffy then council member white thank you chairman um I have a obviously I have a question but want to begin by acknowledging council member Pento and her team and all the work that you all put on this uh put into this this effort to to put this measure before the council today uh I believe that it is of the utmost priority to the council uh to work together across government that includes the executive branch agencies the mayor as well as our federal partners and the agencies associated with them to find solutions that are going to make our residents safer uh as I've said repeatedly uh our policies really have to focus on three things prevention uh accountability and opportunity we got to preent Crime before it happens we have to put resources in place to hold accountable those individuals who commit violence in our city and we absolutely have to provide opportunity for our residents with the highest need uh the committee print does that in several ways uh including expanding the private security camera program protecting child victims of sexual abuse and establishing a new criminal justice coordinating Council pre-arrest diversion task force uh I do have some concerns uh and I'm going to spend some time between now and first reading uh working with council member Pinto uh about the print and I'd like to um maybe just just raise a couple of things so uh that you're aware the expansion of DNA collection by MPD for individuals who have merely been arrested for C certain crimes and not convicted um the reversal of the data collection transparency and and police accountability uh measures I believe were and are useful uh for transparency which I know you care about uh and the Public's access to uh how we police in the district of Colombia uh the permanent expansion of pre-out pre-trial detention I know something I supported uh over the summer U but I think it's important as we contemplate making that measure permanent uh that we think about the best way to evaluate it to ensure that it is a policy that actually keeps uh our residents and visitors to the nation's capital safe uh and so uh I want to make sure that we uh are spending some time addressing this between now in first reading uh there's some other things that I have uh noted that that are concerns for me I I don't think I want to list them all in this moment uh but I think the the takeaway is I know there's been a lot of work that you've put into this and I appreciate all that work and and I look forward to working with you even more to address some of the concerns that I have uh that are still in this measure councilor rinto thank you Mr chairman and thank you so much council member McDuffy for all of your work in this space and for for sharing some of your outstanding concerns so to address a few of those DNA testing this is done in 31 other states this is not an out there proposal as we heard this morning in our meeting with the sentencing commission one of our one of the reasons for our prosecutor not charging a case um is made up for later when we do have access to DNA testing and that was one of the gaps that we talked about this morning and so I do think it's important for felony cases which are most serious cases to allow ow for testing of DNA um to determine if this if the perpetrator has been repeat offending and this will be really important for the maintenance of that information in our Cod system um in terms of the accountability I reject the premise that this is a reversal police accountability is extremely important secure DC ensures that when there is misconduct with our Police Department that not only there's an opportunity for discipline Within the department that our office of police complaints has unfettered access to that investigation that the public has access to a public database that's not currently in existence um so that's a value that is embedded throughout secure DC every step of the way um that is what is and was very important to me and my team in this and then in pre-trial Detention of course it is hard to prove but for one intervention something wouldn't have happened um but we know there are several cases of violent offenders uh even for some of our most violent cases like homicides that have been able to be held pre- trial that but for our action this summer would not have been and so to your point about measuring efficacy of this intervention I think it's really important that we be consistent that we don't say in July we're changing the rules and then in January we're going to change the rules again we need to be able to see over the course of the Year all of these ways um that these interventions are working and not working and I believe that giving judges more discretion to hold somebody for committing a crime of violence still a rebuttable presumption um if they're not a danger to the community or they're not a Flight Risk uh is a really important part of what we need to empower our judges to do council member Robert White um thank you uh chairman um as you said council member PTO crime is an incredible problem right right now is the number one concern for almost every resident uh for for good and obvious reasons um and I want to thank you and your team for doing so much work on this bill for working with uh members of the council and the community for including Provisions from my whole uh government response to Crime act and and many other members um Provisions uh there's a lot in this bill and there are some Provisions I have concerns about uh but I want to because we're in C right now just focus on a few specific questions um um I'm always trying to make sure as everybody's yelling at us do something do something we don't panic and just do things but do the right things uh that meet this particular moment and make us safer on the drug free zones um it's already illegal to sell drugs it's already illegal to do drugs in public and so the issue isn't that there are aren't laws in the books the issue is that there're not we don't get to prosecution um and so I want to understand how the drug free zone proposal makes us safer sure thanks so much council member white so um yes it is illegal to do drugs and sell drugs in the district um in practice we know that arrests and prosecutions for these crimes are way down again something we talked about in the data this morning only 5% um that's for a lot of things one of it is with the challenges we've had with DFS um and another one is the practical way that a lot of people are selling drugs now is not a cash transaction it is over the phone um and that's really hard to prove or witness for for the police um we also have a practical challenge in those cases where an arrest is made that if some if an officer takes somebody down to the station books them they're released because none of these are um qualify for being held pre-trial they're not violent offenses um and most of those cases are eligible for either a split sentence or probation meaning the entirety of the sentence is suspended and served on probation so in practice we're hearing a lot of people say to police good luck you want to arrest me nothing's going to happen and not only does that spread throughout communities but it also disheartens officers from saying I'm not going to spend half a day dealing with this booking if that's the reality so drug free zones are one additional tool to give officers to say look there are a few hotpots of crime in our city where there is not only drug activity but a lot of these hotpots there's weapon sales there have been homicides other shootings uh harassment threat and groups of people taking over an entire Corner um that's now become a location for criminal activity on a repeated basis um almost done Mr chairman so this gives the police a tool to say okay in these areas that have criminal activity of of drugs we're going to declare a drug-free zone for a period of 120 hours or five days we're going to put a notice up we're going to share that with the public they're going to share the locations with us as the council um and then for that period of five days if people congregate there for the purposes of engaging in illegal activity they've now violated the law um and I think that's a important tool to give the police to disrupt uh these certain specific few but egregious areas of these repeat offenses uh Mr chairman if I could finish this question I have two more or for another round but if I could finish this question um is really without objection thank you I'll be brief so the the issue of whether or not police arrest is a matter of discretion the question of whether not not prosecutors prosecut is also a matter of discretion this law doesn't change that discretion um the underlying issue is real I don't see how this fixes the underlying issue and without a comprehensive strategy for drugs and drug issues then it seems like this activity even if it gets disrupted moves one block over and so I'm worried here that we don't have a comprehensive strategy for addressing drug issues but I also believe that police and prosecutors can today arrest and prosecute and that the changes in law don't don't affect whether or not they do that so there are dozens of Provisions in secur DC that address some of the challenges we're seeing with arrests and prosecutions it makes it easier to close a case when we have video footage demonstrating who did something it makes it easier to bring a case of theft one when we're lowering the threat threshold from a, to 500 um it makes it easier to be successful in a prosecution if we're changing the definition of carjacking to make clear what it is we as the legislature believe carjacking to be so while of course there is always discretion in police officers making arrests and prosecutors charging that's why they were such an important part of this process and looking at thousands of cases where the gaps were why decisions were made and thinking how as a city can we plug some of those gaps to ensure that that discretion is within a more reasonable range Council L charge uh thank you thank you um I want to thank council member pinto and her entire committee for the work you've done when you said you did a robust process I want to say it was a robust process um thank you for reaching out to each of our neighborhoods meeting in our neighborhoods thank you for reaching out to council members and meeting with them I do think you guys did a really great job at robust process and I want to um want to note that and say that um uh I think this legislation has so many uh good things in it um I sort of characterized it put it in like five different categories so that it could make sense in which was so many pages which is we have a category of criminal offenses um many of which I think um we had in our original um revision of the of of the criminal code and so those criminal offenses are there a category of investigative tools um I've pre-trial attention you judg this good government and then police oversight and accountability uh so I I categorized them in those categories um just so that we can keep them there um one of my biggest concerns are the aband abandonment and vital police oversight and accountability reforms um that's something uh that we've unanimously passed over the past few years I think um the the testimony director Peter Tobin testified at the hearing and he had the most damning I thought testimony um because he was outright saying like he thought these were roll backs as director police complaints um and he said last year was the um I think he said last year was the largest year the the highest number of uh police complaints that the office of police complaints had received in his testimony um and then he said many of the actions that the council has put forward have actually never been implemented meaning they were never funded um and so he said I don't know how we can roll back something that has never been implemented or Justify rolling back something that we've never implemented so that's an area that I want to look in just because I thought director Tobin's leg um testimony was sort of he was honest and it was quite damning and I don't want us to roll back those um reforms um so I'm curious how you all reconciled director Tobin's testimony that we heard at the hearing with moving forward on those particular um things um the other question I had is the council I thought worked really hard during the temporary and we changed we uh changed the vehicle Pursuit legislation in our temporary um MPD met with each and every one of us um and I thought that was we were working in good faith and we came up with a a tweaking of that piece that I thought we landed really well um but I noticed here that we're tweaking it further and I thought we were just going to pass in the permanent what we pass in the temporary um but I see we've added sort of we we're adding back in boxing in caravanning deploying a road block uh deploying Tire infl uh Tire deflation services and being and those are being Declassified as serious or deadly use of force so it's curious why we were tweaking even further since I thought we reached a good resolve during that temporary originally when we worked with NPD to make those changes earlier um and then uh um my other question is with the DNA um whether I guess it's collecting DNA at time of arrest versus collecting DNA at time of of charging and what the difference is you guys you see with collecting DNA versus versus an arrest versus a case actually being charged with papers um and I guess we're gonna have a second round so I'll ask the other questions because Phil not forward to lots of rounds here but if we could like my question okay well then I'll just I'll just pose the last question there um and so the other one is the pre-trial uh the expansion of pre-trial um arrest um I know uh uh you know working with members about this but I think since the emergency bill went into effect in July expanding pre-trial detention for adults the population and Department Corrections um has swelled by 30% about half of which has been I I guess attributed to more pre-trial detention um and I know only between 1% and 2% of those under pre-trial supervision and DC are rearrested for violent crime and so now right now there are now 400 more people in jail on any given day um but I our city is not safer what evidence do we have that expanding pre-trial detention has helped more than it has has sort of uh hurt families um and what are you all looking at as far as um potential uh options to narrow that Council Pinto do you remember each of these five questions I do thank you Mr chairman uh thank you so much Council Lewis George so I'll try to take each of those in turn um so again I reject the premise that this is an abandonment of our values we believe I'll speak for myself I believe that we need to have a police department um that is accountable when misconduct happens and that the public has a right to know about that that is maintained throughout it I thought that director Tobin's testimony was quite persuasive we have worked with him on a number of Provisions um to make sure that that is throughout that so the language that he was commenting on was not the language that we landed on in secur DC um one example is for OPC the office of police complaints to have unfettered access um so it was listed in current status quo is unfettered access um requiring the information be quote specifically related to the police complaint board's Duty we add in Secure DC um that it needs to be for an active investigation at hand that's an or sorry that was not very clear we add an or to say or it's for so that's actually a broadening um of their language so this idea that this is rolling back accountability is is just unfounded um there are several examples I'd be happy to go through with you on on on these clarifications um vehicular Pursuit is a similar St statutory issue so it is against MPD policy to engage in any of those activities that you listed ramming blocking those are not things that we want permitted those are not things that should be permitted um it was creating a confusion within the department to have it listed as a use of force because some uses of forces in statute are permitted and so we removed it to make crystal clear that it is not it is completely prohibited and it's not under the definition of use of force so those will not be permitted um DNA testing I spoke about this there are some practical challenges with waiting until charging one of them is after charging the person would have to voluntarily come down to get tested um another one is it would reduce our case closure rate because like there was an instance for for example where somebody um was charged of a sexual assault several years later they were charged again um and the third offense they we would have been able to catch them at the second offense because of the DNA testing at arrest but because we're unable to do this now it it harms us and again 31 other states collect DNA at at arrest and then lastly for pre-trial Services um we look at a lot of data I think our pre-trial Services Agency is doing a lot of really important work um to make sure that people are connected to the resources and supports that they need um so you could look at percentage you could also look at whole numbers of people who are reoffending the most violent offenses when they're on pre-trial release um and that's the category of cases that we were most concerned about in making sure that we are again giving judges the discretion to hold somebody and why I think it's so important to be consistent with that intervention over in permanent law so we can continue to track it thank you Henderson thank you Mr chairman um and thank you to council member Pento I'm GNA try to keep my questions because I I'm a member of the committee so I had an opportunity to engage um on this um but I I have two questions so first similar to council member Robert White I do have some concerns still around um Drug Free Zones and and my concern stems from the knowledge and community that I know MPD is probably going to be petitioned um to put up a drug free zone in areas where individuals may be rece there's either a a substance abuse facility or um we have other types of treatment Outreach options for individuals who are um suffering from substance abuse Disorder so for instance um mobile syringe Services where we have grantees that um May provide equipment supplies and things like that in a park that now might be disrupted due to a drug- free zone and so you know there are over 50 uh substance abuse disorder treatment providers in the district many of them um they do medically assisted treatment which requires someone to come every day it might also require that you wait outside of the facility in order to be seen for your appointment um what assurances do you have from MPD that we're not unnecessarily criminalizing someone who is who is literally trying to receive treatment and medication in the name of disrupting drug-free area I have another question after this but I'm breaking it up go okay um so thank you so much for raising this concern uh several weeks or months ago because I think it's a really important one uh and working with our team on this so we have included a number of uh protection Provisions in Secure DC to say first there has to be public notice when a location is established um and that we have to be made aware of of it as well um and clarification that this law cannot be applied with the primary purpose of depriving people of social or medical services um for the exact instance that you talk about if somebody is waiting in line to get drug treatment um they are not in violation of the drug- Free Zone it's the activity that sometimes happens after where people are victimized uh while waiting in line and and targeted for for these types of drug sales um I've also spoken with Chief Smith about this on several occasions both at the public hearing and in other meetings and conversations uh to make sure that the police department is crystal clear of what Our intention is with those this language and what we want to make sure is not overly broad that could lead to other harassment um or other issues and so I feel confident that the language we have now addresses the concern that you raise okay um I I would also just note to I appreciate you including the language that we added that um the directors of the Human Services clusters have to be also notified of a drug free zone which I help I hope will help mitigate some of these challenges and issues my second question um it's a little bit different um so this bill sorry count okay thank you um this bill would P push back the um enforcement date for the cashless retail ban um to January 20125 and when I think about this particular legislation when it was first introduced back in in 2018 it was before the prevalence of electronic payment systems like cash app and vinmo and PayPal and Apple pay um and we're hearing from a lot of restaurants and bars particularly concern that requiring their employees and their staffs to have cash on the premises is now making them a target for robbery um especially for those who are doing the closeup right somebody has to take the money somewhere um in addition also requiring them to purchase new equipment so if we think about say Capital One arena for instance which currently is a cashless facility um you don't even need a there there is not even a physical ticket to go into Capital One you only use your phone um I'm curious why did you choose January 2025 given that as we work through this process that's not that long of a time of a delay but also would you consider delaying it even further given the new realities presented sure thank you so much so one of the things that was really important to me and my team in this process is that these are all bills that were introduced had a hearing had a very public process that are combined now in this Omnibus um and there are very few exceptions or deviations of that because we we wanted to make sure that especially given the size of this bill that this is not filled with surprises or things that we haven't had an opportunity to contemplate as a body or as a public um but one of the things that we heard on a repeated basis from folks throughout the hearing process was we need to readdress the cashless issue um both from employees who felt afraid leaving at night um carrying cash or working in establishment with cash and operators who were saying frankly they're not going to follow the law because the risks are just too great and I think we as a government have to be consistent when we talk about accountability in the law that has to be for everyone that has to be for residents that has to be for businesses that has to be for our own agencies and so I I felt very uncomfortable with the climate where people are getting held up at gunpoint robbed Smash and grabs broken into oftentimes for cash we had an example of a local business um just two weeks ago where an individual came in pointed a gone at the shopkeeper's head and said give me all your cash and she said we don't carry cash and he left um and so I hear stories like this all the time and so I I thought it was really important to include in secur DC in terms of why we extended it a year again because it wasn't part of introduced legislation for a hearing to repeal this law I believe that that was a fair compromise to delay implementation for another year while we're in this state of emergency um and then revisit if that is a law that we should even be having as a district um but again in working to address the trends that we're seeing now I think it's important to be delayed for at least a year perhaps then the date could be a year after the effective date of this act otherwi wise you will have lost some months chairman as we work through the process thank you Mr chairman TR white uh thank you chairman uh I want to thank you council member Pento and your staff and all those even executive and the council gave input trying to figure this thing out um the crime has continuously rised in the district as I continue we have continued to try to create safeguards and different mechanisms to keep people safe um there are a couple of measures in this bill I'm still trying to Grapple with um and I think that uh we all want to do something to address violent crime in the district and many constituents feel like there needs to be some accountability but also balance to our laws my general concern is around uh the bill that is that gives police powers that may be costly and may have unintended consequences um I do know there are a number of you know law enforcement uh police unions Federal prosecutors who gave a lot of weight to these to most of these bills um but there were a group also of returning citizens that ironically agreed with a lot of the policies but also wanted to add violence and especially those who have paid their debt to society and came home um it saddens me that those Provisions were not including in this bill that gave people the opportunity to get their lives back on track and avoid discrimination and housing uh opportunities job opportunities career opportunities uh business opportunities uh and so we were hoping to get some of those answers Council Pinto but to no avail um I'm concerned also with the reverse reforms such as uh act now where we're considering changing the council's legislation legisl long standing petitions on police chases and use of force um with regards to the choking I appreciate the positive change in Act Now language to clarify that controlling a person's movement in brief unintentional and incidental contact with the neck are not prohibited unless they restrict a person's Airway blood for breathing still have concerns what does brief mean uh how do you touch a person's neck or restrict their airways briefly in a safe manner know what that means um and regards to the drug free zones um just kind of concerned to make sure it's constitutional um I'm not sure what's going to happen in the long term in ability to enforce these Drug Free Zones as counsman Rob white alluded to selling drugs in these areas are already illegal we have a number of drug pre zones and I'm I heard the mayor talk about uh moving people along in these zones and I'm not sure how that's going to play out in real time it's especially with the uh lack of uh police force that has enough numbers to do that um similarly we had issues uh with complexity of policing and community policing and what that looks like um on just communication levels all across the district uh it is my Hope to support this measure uh councilman Pinto but some of these things still are having more questions than answers even when I hear the testimonies and the response to it in the hearings um so I I want to speak with you and the committee a little bit further um to get some clarity as I continue to move forward um and if you can speak to the um drug fee zones and what would change in that I heard some questions but I haven't heard that answer what would would this legislation do with these Drug Free Zones sure thanks so much councilor white and if I may I'll try to briefly address kind of a number of important points that you raised um in order so in terms of police powers and taking into account a lot of the really powerful and um good perspective that we heard from returning citizens um one of the things that we heard most consistently was people want additional access to training opportunities after they have served their sentence and that's why we've included a Hospitality training program in the DC jail to set people up for Success upon re-entry and ensure that that program is connecting with employers while you're serving your sentence so there's not this Gap um I know that the council in last Council period addressed a number of concerns around record cealing um and we're we're happy to continue working with with you on some of those issues um we're also working with our employer years on looking at other insurance uh premium mechanisms to incentivize hiring of returning citizens um I know that this Council has also done away with housing providers looking at criminal histories for instance so there's a lot that we're trying to do various different spaces to address that need um in terms oh one other thing I wanted to mention that I heard from returning citizens that really swayed me and was very moving um was the provision idea around consent searches um for paroles or for people on pre-trial release to consent to be searched for weapons um when you're in a public space and I heard from a lot of people who shared how traumatizing that would be and how after you serve your sentence uh you may feel like you're constantly looking over your shoulder and so I took that out entirely um because I was really moved by that testimony um in terms of your comment about incidental touching yes we changed the language so it's absolutely banned to have a choke hold um it is banned to have an xixi restraint or blocking of an airway um we have an exception for not an exception we have a definition of what constitutes a choold to make clear that if there is brief incidental touching of the back of the neck for instance that that's not automatically going to lead to discipline so in practice how this works this is a real case a woman was in distress she was U thrashing her head against the back of a wall she could have knocked herself out the police officer what I would describe in care and compassion uh put his hand on the back of her neck to prevent her from knocking herself out that officer is now under discipline um because it is interpreted that that's restricting restricting movement so we really tried to make the line very clear choke holds absolutely not okay um but if there's incidental brief touching of the neck in the conduct cont of context of an arrest you're not immediately going to be placed on discipline um in terms of drug free zones uh I am confident that this is constitutional um this has passed legal gotten legal sufficiency review by our attorney general um who would be responsible for defending any law that was challenged um and I share the legal analysis that it is dissimilar enough from an anti ordering law that has been considered by courts in the past and so I I'm not worried from a legal perspective there um I do think it is important to give the police this tool to disrupt these hotpots again um coupled with continued arrests and prosecutions of drug crimes but to send a clear message that people cannot engage in criminal activity in the same location day in and day out without any intervention that's that's not a sustainable uh way to go and and I will note in my Wate um um Public Safety walk on this bill council member white that this was the number one issue that residents raised to me as their number one request um was for uh more interventions for some of these hotpots and then lastly I wanted to note your comment about um policing and and um some of the provisions in secur DC about policing we worked very hard to get this balance right of maintaining the value of ensuring police not only accountability but transparency for the public when there's misconduct so this is why in our public database for example anybody in the public will be able to see if there's police misconduct that involved a public interaction that involves a criminal issue with an officer that involves um a issue with the court of an officer and we tried to make the distinguishing line that the public doesn't need to have access to the information if it's unrelated to those categories so if a police officer sought mental health treatment for example that's something that we want to encourage we don't want to stigmatize that we don't there is no reasonable reason for the public to have access for that information and so that's the dividing line that we tried to make in all these Provisions supporting police accountability and transparency and supporting employment rights for our officers um in a way that we would expect in demand for every other public agency council member fuman thank you very much uh and I I want to join in thanking your council member Pinto for all of the work that you've done this is enormous and I do think that you pulled this together in a way that gets Us close and you're hearing all the different kinds of questions it moved a little between the day of your press conference and the day of introduction and now a little here and I I think we can all expect more movement in maybe multiple directions could be that the date for cashless the moratorium on cashless transactions gets um uh gets put off and so so we we'll see where it goes I had a couple of questions about a few words and it may be that you answered the first one partly with the scenario that you described in the neck restraint setting and the neck restraint setting I did the the MPD Community engagement Academy over the summer and heard from a lot of officers and went to roll call the other day and heard from a lot of officers there is a lot of angst about being C called on the carpet for things that were not intended to be something negative and best intentions and and that has a big effect from my experience inside of the department you took out the movement that you can't touch the the neck and and uh in order to stop to control movement and I take it that part of what you're thinking was was the hypo the scenario not a hypothetical but the scenario that where the person was throw thrashing around and the officer put his or her hand on the neck in order to control the movement but there's another scenario of an officer you know putting their arm around somebody in order to control the movement and you and the officers in the George Floyd setting might say that's what they were doing and and they might say you know we didn't have the intent to cut off the breathing we are so so they could we could miss that scenario it seems to me I want to get this right so that the incidental Things Are not captured but I don't want to miss the kind of scenario that I'm talking about did you think about that did you think about Alternatives of how we could get it so that that's scario where somebody puts their arm around somebody's neck in order to control the movement not to cut off the breathing but they happen to cut off the breathing H what how do we deal with that thank you so much council member fuman um and it's a really important point in why this drafting process was so comprehensive and thinking through what we're trying to prohibit and coming up with as many examples as as we could um so where we landed is it's completely banned to have any restriction of breathing Airway or blood flow that's all prohibited so it's not about the intention it's about what actually happened so your example of of having um an officer's armor around someone's neck is completely prohibited um in terms of a a slipping or the incidental uh issue that's why we created the language as an or so it says the the exceptions are the contact with these areas of the neck is brief unintentional and sorry it's and not or and incidental so the examples of um anything that's intentional anything that's not brief um all would continue to be prohibited okay so that's super helpful and and I guess the purpose intent or effect so it wasn't the purpose it wasn't the intent but it was the effect of the way in which they held the person that um that so that's that's very helpful thank you for that another one in I think it's the definition of uh council member be mindful of time okay I'll be quick uh it uh uh the use of force and it used to be resulting in the loss of consciousness and then it now you've changed it to resulting in the loss of conscious protracted loss of con Consciousness so what is that why why what's what is protracted and why is it not a use of force if somebody loses Consciousness for two seconds but whatever it is that you define as protracted help me understand the addition of that word sure that was a um conforming language because that's how it's defined in numerous other places throughout the code so that was just to make sure it's consistent uh for interpretation all right thank you very much thank you council member Parker thank you council member Pinto uh for your work on this legislation as everyone has already said there's been a lot of work um and what's happening on the streets of DC uh is unacceptable and it's an urgent matter so I'm hoping that we can move on something soon uh to the neck restraint conversation it's worth noting the mayor's proposed limit uh on neck restraints were for officers that had a purpose or intent to aixi whereas the committee print maintains the band for neck restraints to have the effect of AFF fixating and I think you landed in the right place uh it's not important of the purpose or the intent if someone is in fact did as a result um a few questions section five as it relates to I believe fo you and um requesting information about officer misconduct the language of the bill reads uh for the purposes of the subsection disciplinary records means any record created in the furtherance of a sustained disciplinary proceeding do you have data on how many requests are made annually and how many are sustained versus not sustained and if you don't have it if you could follow up with that um I know there has been a lot of concern I share the concern around limiting transparency for officer misconduct or even the allegations of Officer misconduct I also think it would be important to have numbers are we talking about 10 instances 100 500 Etc sure thank you so much I'd be happy to to follow up with that information but just so everybody's clear uh the current law is being interpreted both by the office of police complaints and by MPD as only qualifying for sustained allegations so this is not a change to that law oh the change is regardless of whether the matter was fully adjudicated or resulted in policy training etc etc etc and so I'm reading that is we are limiting the information that we are willing to make available publicly via Foya well we're not limiting anything because this is all unfunded so it's not in effect um so we're we're this will lead to much more transparency and accountability if we could follow up and we could do that offline about the data I think that would be important uh on the drug uh free zones you know I will say there are many W five neighbors that are looking for some type of relief and are hoping that this drug free zone polic policy will provide MPD a tool to disrupt what's happening in neighborhoods like Trinidad Carver Langston and others um I would Echo concerns around sustained effect and making sure we coordinate across agencies like dbh to make sure we're connecting people with Services uh and then lastly it is worth noting this legislation these questions or I have a this is my last question please um this legislation expands mandatory minimums uh it's worth noting this is a year after uh we voted on legislation to eliminate all the one mandatory minimum just for the record how many additional mandatory minimums are added via this bill okay thank you I'm gonna try to go in order so we talked a little bit already about the um sustained versus unsustained issue but also just to to clarify um this brings it in line with with what's provided in the database so our theory is that things should be there there's a question of what's provided in the database and then there's a question of What's foilable um for people seeking additional information and again our hope is not to change the scope around what's listed and sustained um but to make clear that information that has nothing to do with those three categories of anything with a public interaction if an officer was rude to a member of the public or used force all that's included anything that has to do with an unrelated criminal investigation or an issue with the court all of that's included but if the officer um you know was late or uh fell asleep on the job things like that that that happen in a multi- thousand person agency and that are subject to discipline appropriately are not appropriately subject to public disclosure for all of us to know that officers name and badge number for what for what they did so that that was our Theory there um in terms of drug free we we talked a little bit about that but I totally appreciate your points about dbh um I will just say there have been several um locations and I've worked with colleagues council member noo on on one that we share a border on for instance where we have tried to send dbh over tried um Other Drug interventions tried offering Services funded new position for and yet are still hot spots of criminal activity on a daily basis and so I totally agree that they dbh needs to be a part of this um but sometimes there are locations where people are not interested in Services um and the behavior needs to be disrupted and then the mandatory minimum question um so secur DC establishes a number of new firearm offenses um things like endangerment with a firearm this is what we're seeing when people are shooting a large number of bullets into the public for instance that's not a own crime right now that should be a felony um that is increasing the maximum penalty from 1 to 5 years discarding of a firearm we having this problem a lot where people are fleeing the scene throwing their weapon into someone else's backyard or or a tree box children have found these guns um tampering with serial numbers receipt of stolen Firearms um and then there are a number of penalty enhancements for certain vulnerable victims um that increase the penal maximum allowable which is different than the minimum maximum allowable penalty by 1.5 this for children victims seniors uh Metro Transit workers I know I'm over time my read is that there are two additional mandatory minimums either here offline if you can confirm that is correct I am I'm aware of the enhancements as well as the data for the request for sustained versus unsustained uh police misconduct what are the two mandatory minimums that you believe are here said it again what are the two there is I would have to look it up I have it in writing but uh if you give me 30 seconds I could tell you please because my impression is that there's some amendments to the criminal code keep looking while I'm talking that there amendments to the criminal code in this bill that uh where there already is a mandatory minimum rather than creating one so then we ought to have this clarified uh as council member Pinto mentioned it expands the reach of seven as existing um statutes and then I believe section 16 and section 20 I again can find that could you read those sections I if you give me a second okay so I'm trying to do this in real time okay we're we're trying to to look up to the the sections I just want to make sure we make the distinction between a minimum and a maximum um and as we talked about the sentencing commission this morning there are ranges of allowable penalties for different offenses and so a number of of these Provisions extend the allowable maximum um which again offers more discretion um versus a hard mandatory minimum kind of requiring that number of years but if if we're I'm happy to follow up with you offline to make sure we're all in answer for you thank you so but council member Pinto you believe they're not creating new mandatory minimums we we will take a look to confirm my team's estimate is there's two and I will get I get that confirmation well maybe we can get some clarification before we're done council member Nido I can I just what I'm I think of mandatory minimum as a requirement that that has to be minimum is versus there are section where we are allowing judges more discretion to give a sentence range but that's different than a strict mandatory minimum so yes I I don't believe there are hard strict mandatory minimums in this let's be clear and I'm picking up on what you just said council member Pinto a mandatory minimum in the law is where the law prescribes a range let's say five to 10 years but then there's additional languages says that the court shall prescribe a minimum of X number of years and there's no the language is very clear and it's precise and there is no discretion to the court with a mandatory minimum so okay then then that is correct we do not have mandatory minimums in secur DC new manap council member n do thank you Mr chairman um two things um one there was much said about the anti-loitering zones and I'm not going to really try to expound on that but I did want to clarify um something that council member Pinto said which was that we've made investments in these areas um in hotpots and it hasn't moved the needle I just want to be clear that um we did fund investments in this fiscal year but those um grants have just been signed last week so we don't you know we don't have the results from those Investments at this time but the reason I wanted to be recognized was um I wanted to ask uh about cashless retailers so you know we had a very specific intent when we passed that law originally and you know it's been mentioned a few times that the technology has changed um putting this off a year um I know would be helpful to some of the businesses that are concerned about it but I would rather not put it off for a year if we're not going to study the way things have changed or get some more information to actually review so I wanted to ask could our budget office I said it slowly so Jen could hear um could our budget office review um the landscape of um cashless consumers to see how it's changed since we first passed the law and to determine how we can ensure that we are supporting folks who don't use cash while also not putting businesses at risk in the event that we delay this we would at least then have something to review before we made a final decision about whether we wanted to continue implementing it you know we can say oh a lot of people use Cass app or venmo or whatever it is now but I don't think any of us really know or have the data so if that's something that we could study I think would help us maybe move forward as a body on this particular topic there's a provision in the rules allowing members to ask the budget office but I don't know if the budget office is prepared to answer today but let's see thank you for the request I will go back and speak with my team and then we will reach out to you uh later this week I was just so impressed by the report on the Ates that I felt like we should keep the momentum going so thank you very much yes thank you Mr chairman uh thank you council member Robert White I think the question was to the budget director council member Robert White uh thank you chairman um another provision I wanted to ask about council member Pento uh was the provision limiting the office of police complaints access to uh information when they are investigating uh allegations of Officer misconduct why why would we want to limit uh what the office of police complaints uh can access thank you for the question Council white so as another colleague asked about this is not limiting this is expanding um the office of compl complaints currently has unfettered access to and this was required in the comprehensive Justice and policing act requir that the information be quote specifically related to the police complaint board's duties so we have added an or to that to say or um a current investigation um that's aligned with how the office of police complaints and MPD are interpreting it now but we've had a lot of delays in them requesting this information and saying well that's too broad or or delays in getting back to us so our hope is that by clarifying this language um it makes it much more likely that everybody's on the same page of what the office of police complaints has access to um and that they get unfettered access to that information okay so your uh your read is that this expands and does not contract uh access to information by office of police complaints yes okay I just want to read this this one more language because I had a different Red Line the executive director acting on behalf of the board shall have unfettered access to all information and supporting documentation that is directly related to op's investigation into an officer's alleged misconduct or specifically related to the board's duties under the paragraph right now it's just the or specifically related to the duties of the board I appreciate that uh the last provision I I had a question on uh this has come up in conversation already it's about removing officers names and badge numbers I understand your uh your thoughts on that I I do want to flag a question about the current law I believe requires that MPD include the name and badge number of officers um who are uh coming forward with disciplinary action that includes firing I've gone through reports for many months and I don't see any of that information available now and I believe it's supposed to be is your understanding that that information supposed to be available now from MPD so uh no because it's not funded so this clarifies that information should be available to the public about the hearings that are going to happen but we don't need to have access to the officer's name and badge number but under present day none of it's happening because none of it's funded I thought it was funded um but we can clarify that with the budget office uh later so I appreciate I there's a lot in this bill so you got a lot of questions thank you council member Pento thank you CH thank you so much believe there any more questions don't do it don't do it if you don't if you ask a question Council Parker will probably have another question hasn't gone yet havly had a chance Mr chairman I have a question and I of course want to commend my colleague for her work so thank you thank you very much chairman um it this is a discussion and I recognize that and I think we all are very privileged to have this opportunity I want to start by expressing um appreciation oh this is for questions this is not discussion I but there are questions within what I say okay thank you so very much again appreciation to council member Pento and her staff for the work that went into developing and finalizing this um legislation which is a combination of input from Council colleagues mayor Bowser and others we all are very appreciative of the work um because it's our duty to analyze this legislation very closely given its size and wide- ranging scope um there are high Community hopes that the final bill will make a resounding difference towards restoring Public Safety throughout the city um and I think this bill addresses crime in many different ways including addressing retail crime enhanced penalties for violence and weapon charges adding a police misconduct database removing provisions of unconsented weapon search of our returning citizens in public spaces regrettably it does not inform how to quickly increase the number of of officers that are considered by many as the way to address crime many approaches are needed to address the street violence experienced daily and this bill represent presents a combination of some of the ideas and strategies towards restoring peace in our city however there are several Provisions that I believe deserve more discussion including police accountability and transparency and maintaining public oversight of police services is critical to improving Public Safety and enhancing the accountability um issues that we we speak of we want law enforcement to do their jobs for example I agree with changing immediate threat to imminent threat in order to allow more police Pursuits but I want transparency to be maintained and for this reason I believe that MPD should be the entity that determines should not be the entity that determines what the public knows about officer's conduct and I look forward to addition work on this bill prior to final passage including consideration that the police complaints board maintain police misconduct database I think that in 2020 when I joined council member Vincent gray one minute sir is there a question in there yes it's coming it's it's right here okay when when I joined council member Benson gray um to create the police Reform Commission the availability of information that was kept in this part of recommendation was so important the proposed changed that says that a defendant should get a jury trial once in cases where the law enforcement officer is the alleged victim if they were in uniform or acting in an official capacity at the time of the the offense well this limitation was very concerning as presented in the original Bill thanks for the changes that have been made in the committee print and finally I want to speak about section nine which creates the apprenticeship for our incarcerated residents in Partnership of existing hospitality and culinary arts career training and education programs operated in the district while this is a very good idea it should be expanded Beyond culinary Hospitality training and so my question to my colleague is how can we work together um with my committee to see how we can expand the uh fields of training for the our incarcerated uh residents to other areas I certainly don't think we want to be in a situation where one particular category of industry is perhaps becomes inundated with one type of individual we want to give everyone who has an interest in culinary arts the opportunity to um become engaged in that very important industry in fact I Believe by providing some incentives of financial relief to DC businesses that hire former offenders um perhaps by using our does project empowerment program we may be looking at one such solution and so my question again is how can we expand to other occupations and industries in the city for our returning citizens and for those that are in the DC jail sure well thank you so much council member Bond and and for your partnership on this bill um so I will try to go in order so in terms of police officers um in this year's budget we funded more positions for the police um including tuition assistance hiring bonuses housing assistance just last month MPD had the highest uh incoming recruitment class that we've seen since 2019 so things are starting to head in the right direction it's of course going to take us a while to build up the force um but we will continue those efforts we also need to do everything we can to make sure we're not losing officers due to attrition which is what a lot of the provisions in secur DC will help with um in terms of transparency I I've kind of talked about today but I do think that um this bill does a lot for police accountability and transparency when there is misconduct I also think it's important that we get the balance right that the public not have access to discipline thing issues in the police that have really nothing to do with a police officer or an interaction with the public things like seeking mental health treatment um things like being late to work uh or falling asleep on the job even things that we don't want to see but that I don't think the public has the same level of interest in as they should about a police interaction with the public and so that's that's part of the dividing line in terms of the jury trial um we made clear aligned with what the police Reform Commission recommended that uh if there is an officer involved in her action then there can be a jury trial um demandable but if it's an officer who is off duty and is being charged with something wholly unrelated to right those functions then that's uh that need is not there and then lastly on on the training um I'm so excited that there's enthusiasm for this provision and and want to see it expanded even more I'd say we've got to start somewhere um and one of the things that I hear often from returning citizens is you know I want more optionality of things to get trained in or to or to do there's a lot of um options sometimes in construction for example which is great for some people but the hospitality industry we've included um not just culinary but hotels conventions um Food Service cleaning there's so many different options and that's why we thought the hospitality industry was a great place to start and expanding these cohorts for training um absolutely if folks want to work with me on Hospitality training for other segments of the population in DC would love it if we want to work on other training opportunities within the DC jail would love it but again we have to start somewhere um in a feasible way and my view is we've got to get these things off the ground um so we don't think too big at the expense of of actual movement um so that was kind of our Theory our Theory here that we're really excited about thank you um thank you B finally I just you if I could seven minutes with a two minute year seven minutes if there's no objection please thank you very much Mr chairman um finally I understand the physical impact for this bill is around5 U million in FY 24 is that correct sorry one moment and budget director what's the fiscal impact it is uh 4 .5 million in FY 24 and 42 million over the 4-year plan uh thank you very much I think it's just a small amount towards um on the road to Public Safety in our community thank you very much thank you chairman thank you council member Bon thank you council member Pinto council member very quickly I wanted to you've been over an hour in questions just want to point that out come back to the point that we were discussing earlier um quickly and it's less a question and an acknowledgment of council member Pino's point but under section 31 the uh unlawful possession of a firearm uh where the serial number has been removed uh in lines 2 2126 um there is uh exception for the the suspect to be charged with a fine or incarcerated no less than two years nor more than five years or both I guess the addition of the fine allows for the judge to have that's not a mandatory minimum option outside of a mandatory minimum because there's a fine but that language is not the language for a mandatory minimum I am understanding that now but as it reads here if we take this at face value if a judge were to sentence someone to jail the language here suggests that it would have to be no less than two years which in effect is a mandatory minimum although it doesn't say those words although I think for example the judge could suspend he could sentence two years and suspend the judge could suspend the charge um and so that was my understanding and or interpretation originally when I flagged the two areas so thank you George I a question um number of people have reached out and asked are we going to have a uh for on Fe before or on February 6 do we have a status um Madam Secretary do you want to speak to that sure good as you know most recent court director has resigned and I am severely short staffed at the moment we are working to publish Aria um by Friday if not um by the weekend for the latest I want to give the council and members of the public at least an a week or so uh to digest the Ria so our goal is the end of the week thank you mam secretary uh and actually I should have brought this up at the administrative meeting today and I didn't but then again we kind of used up all the time there is right now uh an understaffing in the council's office on racial equity and so the core is going to be struggling with getting Ros out or Ros that are as comprehensive as we're used to seeing or Ros that are timely uh for this bill there was a placeholder Ria that was issued uh something a practice that was done last year as well so it may be uh before our next uh legislative meeting when we have the uh breakfast that we could talk about um uh just just so that there's an awareness on the part of all members and some flexibility given uh with regard to the RAS thank you um Madam general counsel is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Madam Secretary is the record complete yes it is U Madam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does without objection this measure will be on the consent agenda for right the bill will be on the non-consent agenda for the February 6th legislative meeting um let me just say that uh the public who's watching this has seen a lot of questions asked uh for committee of the whole when a measure comes before us there is not an opportunity for discussion or amendments um and uh but I'm I am confident that the this Council will move forward with legislation uh and through our ordinary robust process so I expect that uh there will probably be some amendments but that this legislation will be approved by the council you have to vote twice the first vote will be on February 6th um depending upon my sense of things are either will be second reading on the 20th or March 6th um and we will proceed with this so I just want the public to understand that uh that concludes the uh measures that we have on the agenda for this committee the whole meeting we have a legislative meeting on February 6th probably a commit the whole at the beginning the time is now 3:15 p.m. and this meeting is adjourned