I'm calling to order this hearing excuse me meeting I calling to order this meeting this is a regular meeting of the committee of the whole of the Council of the District of Columbia today is Tuesday November 21st 2023 the time is 11:30 in the morning and this meeting is being held in room 500 the council chambers of the Johnny Wilson building although it's possible that a member or two or three are participating virtually uh via the I guess it's the zoom video conference broadcast platform um this is a regular meeting we have uh seven measures for markup in the committee of the whole and two measures that are being uh agendized for the legislative meeting from other committees uh today's committee the whole meeting will be followed by an additional legislative meeting of the council uh we begin our committee meetings by determining whether there's a quum Mr Cash would you call the role chairman Mendelson presid council member alen here council member bonds here council member fuman present council member gray council member Henderson council member Lewis George here council member McDuffy here council member nidau here council member Parker here council member Pinto presid council member Robert White present council member Tran white council member Tran White Mr chairman you have a quum uh thank you Mr Cash uh we have the uh filing of committee reports uh Madame secretary Mr assistant secretary the log was circulated yesterday for the committee reports I noted uh some omissions to the secretary I don't know if it was corrected say that again good morning Mr chair chairman uh no unfortunately they were not corrected they will be included on the next log okay uh recognize the chair poam who seems to be very busy at the moment uh for a motion sure I'm move on the secretaries on the um secretary's report on committing yes okay thank you uh chairman I move to wave the reading of the secretary's report so a motion to wave the reading of the report is there discussion on the motion Voice vote all those in favor say I I I are there any opposed the eyes have inany we have the uh secretary's log of introductions and referrals I'm going to recognize the chair proam 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 secretary's log of introductions and referrals I have not discussed this with the secretary or assistant secretary there's no objection I would like to add to the log uh this resolution fiscal year 2025 budget submission requirement resolution of 2023 um this is the standard resolution that uh we consider each fall it sets the date which I believe is March 20th for submission of the budget by the mayor it sets forth in detail over the course of 354 lines of text uh the requirements with the information that we want to receive with the budget submission the intent is this will be adopted by the Council on either December 5th or December 19th um so we will file this in the secretary's office today the referral will be retained by the council and we will file an abbreviated notice in the register so this can be considered in less than 15 days there's no objection so that's added to the secretary's log fiscal year 2025 budget submission requirements resolution of 2023 uh with that um we have the motion before us which is to wave the reading of the secretary's log of introductions and referrals with this one measure added all those in favor of the motion say I are there any opposed the eyes have it unanimously uh we have measures for consideration markup the committee as a whole I believe I said there's seven the first is PR 25-49 entitled Commission on the selection and tenure of administrative law judges of the off of administrative hearings Laura henkins appointment resolution of 2023 the purpose of this resolution is to appoint these are this is a council appointment Miss Laura henkins as a voting member on the commission on the selection and tenure of administrative law judges of The Office of administrative hearings for a three-year term to end April 30th 2026 Laura henkins is award for a resident of the District of Columbia and is currently general counsel at the District of Columbia public defender service she Rel she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Brown University and her jurist doctor degree from Harvard University uh she has spent the bulk of her legal career with the public Defender service rising from a staff attorney to special counsel to special counsel to the director to her current position as general councel in 2001 the district established the office of administrative hearings actually the council through legislation establish the office of administrative hearings with the purpose of creating quote an independent agency to adjudicate administrative disputes unquote and to centralize the hearing functions currently handled by variety of District agencies the comprehensive administrative hearing system embodied in the office of administrative hearings also known as o was created to address the need to modernize and improve administrative adjudication in the district so that citizens and persons doing business in the district will consistently receive high quality Fair impartial and efficient hearings in administrative litigation by developing Innovative reforms for the District of Columbia's system of administrative Justice The oah Fosters public confidence and promotes higher levels of voluntary compliance that ensure better health safety and well-being in our community the oah decides contested cases involving more than 40 District of Columbia agencies boards and commissions the oah is led by a chief administrative law judge who is appointed to a six-year term by the mayor with confirmation by the council um the commission on the selection in tenure of administrative law judges was established in 2001 concurrent with the establishment of the agency and the commission is charged with the mission to quote ensure the Recruitment and Retention of a well-qualified efficient and effective core of administrative law judges unquote in the oah to fulfill this role the commission appoints reappoints disciplines and removes all administrative law judges um let me see the commission consists of three voting members appointed one each by the mayor the councel and the chief judge of the super Court the voting members serve staggered threeyear terms and they select among themselves The chairperson Who currently is Judge Robert rsby this legislation was introduced this resolution was introduced by me on September 18th 2023 the committee of the whole held a public Roundtable on uh November 1st and the committee received no testimony or comments in opposition to the um resolution or the nomination for appointment a reading from the report based on her impressive credentials and dedication and based on her impressive credentials and understanding of indigent litigants and dedication to Public Service the committee recommends the appointment of M henkins to the commission for term to expire April 30th 2026 if there's no objection to move both the print and Report with lead for staff make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion Mr chairman yes uh I appreciate you uh moving this I've had the great opportunity to work with Miss henin in in several capacities uh both at the Office of the Attorney General and as a a council member she has always been just a consumate uh professional which is not a surprise given her long uh and productive tenure uh at the DC public defender service but also her experience from the NAACP legal defense and education fund um you may have said this in your remarks and I apologize if I I missed it I'm I'm glad Miss henkins will have an opportunity uh to U uh provide her wisdom and insights to the district um I did not catch when the term ends how long is this term it's a three-year term to end April 30th 2026 uh thank you chairman thank you there's no further discussion the motion is on both the print and Report would leave for staff and we'll do a roll call Mr Cash council member Allen yes Council M Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member fuman yes council member fruman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Le George yes council member Le George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member noo yes noo votes yes council member Parker yes council member Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes Council M Robert White yes Council Robert White votes yes council member Tran white yes council member Tran white votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses uh thank you Mr Cash the um print and Report are approved unanimously mam General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is madam secretary's the record complete once the report and hearing record are filed mam budget director does the measure fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting uh the next measure for markup in the committee of the whole is PR 25-41 again this is a council appointment District of Columbia judicial disabilities and tenure commission Dr Patrick Jackson appointment resolution of 2023 the purpose of this of PR 25-41 is to appoint Dr Jackson as a member of the District of Columbia judicial disabilities and tenure commission for a six-year term ending May 5th 2029 the commission was established by Congress to discipline retire or remove judges on the superior court of the District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals the commission has the authority to suspend a judge convicted of a felony under federal law or which would be a felony in the district the commission may also remove a judge for willful misconduct in office for willful and persistent failure to perform judicial duties and for conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice or conduct which brings the judicial office into disrepute the commission also has the authority to retire a judge involuntarily if the commission determines that that the judge suffers from a mental or physical disability which is or is likely to become permanent and which prevents or seriously interferes with the proper performance of Duties in addition the commission may under appropriate circumstances publicly censor or reprimanded judge the commission consists of seven members one member appointed by the president of United States two members appointed by the mayor one of whom must be a non- lawyer one member appointed by the council who must be a non-lawyer one appointed by the chief judge of the district court for the District of Colombia who must be an act of a retired federal judge in the district and two members appointed by the Board of Governors of the DC bar a member of the commission must be a US citizen a district resident for at least 90 days prior to appointment and must not be an officer or employee of the legislative or executive branch of the United States or District government all members are appointed for six-year term except the president's appointee who serves a five-year term Dr Patrick Jackson is award three resident of the District of Columbia Dr Jackson received his Bachelor Arts from Harvard University his medical doctorate from Columbia University after completing his in medical internship at the massachusett General Hospital department of surgery in Boston Dr Jackson went on to complete his residency in a medical fellowship at Massachusetts General Dr Jackson currently is a professor of surgery and chief of division of surgery at Georgetown University hospital and also serves as MedStar Regional resident program director Georgetown University Hospital Washington Hospital Center Reading from the report assuming we adopt this based on his credentials and commitment the committee recommends the appointment of Dr Jackson to the District of Columbia Commission on judicial disabilities and tenure for term to end May 5th 2029 this resolution was introduced by me on September 18th 2023 the committee of the whole held a public Roundtable on the resolution on November 1st 2023 and received no testimony or comments and opposition without objection I'll move both the print and Report with leave for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion council member Allen thanks Mr chairman I just wanted to knowe this is a off often overlooked commission uh but a really vital one so I really appreciate that I want to thank you for for accepting a recommendation to nominate Dr Jackson this position uh I think his expertise is going to be a very significant uh addition to this commission so appreciate that and our moving forward today thank you if there's no further discussion we'll have a roll call the voters on both the print and Report with the Le for staff Mr Cash council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member fruman yes council member fuman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Le George yes council member L George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman mson yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member noo yes council member Nido votes yes council member Parker yes council member Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member trayon white yes Council Tron white votes yes council member Allen yes Council Allen votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the res the print and Report are approved unanimously Madam General councel is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our considerations yes it is Madam Secretary is the record complete once the report and caring recor files Madame budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does without objection this measure will be placed on the agenda for the additional legislative meeting today the next measure for markup is pr25 d480 again this is a council appointment board of directors of the Washington metropolitan area transit authority Valerie Joy Santos appointment resolution of 2023 uh the purpose of PR 25-48 is to appoint Miss Valerie Joy Santos as a principal member of the board of directors of the Washington metropolitan area transit authority for a 4-year term to end June 30th 2027 Miss Santos is award three resident she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Santa Clara University a master of public policy degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of government and a master of business administration degree from the Harvard Business School currently Miss Santos is a senior Urban Development specialist at the World Bank prior to that she was deputy mayor for planning and economic development for the government of the District of Columbia serving from 2009 through 2010 prior to her government service Mento served as vice president of Jones Lang laau a global Real Estate Services and investment management firm where she specialized in public sector real estate the wash met Fon Area Transit Authority is a regional instrumentality that was created in 1967 through an interstate compact between the District of Columbia the state of Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia to plan develop finance and operate a regional transportation system in the Washington metropolit area pursuant to the compact wada is governed by the wada board the purpose of the wada board is not only to govern wada but to develop policies and provide Insight excuse me provide oversight for the management maintenance funding and operation of the transportation system the wada board is comprised of eight principal directors who are voting members and eight alternate directors the signatories to the compact of each appoint two voting and two non-voting members the members both voting and non- voting are appointed by the council obviously that's us the Washington Suburban Transit Commission the northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the secretary of the US Department of [Music] Transportation um the law requires that to be eligible for appointment to serve on the board of directors an individual shall have a demonstrated interest in public transportation and experience sufficient to represent the district well on the board uh the committee report cited uh an earlier law that had a number of detailed requirements which are no longer required also the community report cites a um term limits and that was repealed by the council several years ago um during the public round table on this measure Miss Santos emphasized the importance of Transit oriented development as a means of reducing waste and increasing revenue on wada owned real estate she suggested that her background in Economic Development would be important as wada contends with expected budget shortfalls in the coming fiscal years reading from the report assuming this is adopted based on her interest credentials and her Transit advocacy the committee recommends the appointment of Miss Santos to serve on the wada board for a four-year term to end June 30th 2027 this measure was introduced by me on October 17 2023 the committee of the whole held a public Roundtable on November 1st 2023 received no testimony or comments in opposition uh and uh so if there's no objection I move both the print and report for with Lee for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion Mr chairman Mr chair council member Henderson thank you Mr chairman um I I don't have any opposition to miss Santos nomination um I actually think that her background um in real estate is quite helpful in terms of some of the joint developments that I know that wada um is seeking to pursue um at certain sites around the district um but I did have a question that um didn't come up in her testimony um nor in her resume which is whether or not she Reg regularly or semi-regularly actually uses Metro to get around the city not that that is a requirement but I do think it it it's helpful uh I agree with you um she is an occasional user of Metro both Rail and bus okay uh when I asked her about this because our other regular nominee or not Nomine appointee uses the bus or rail every day uh Miss Santos said that uh with I can't remember if it's one or two kids and driving them to school that public transit doesn't work every day for her understand it doesn't work every day for for lots of people but um to never use it and sit on the board I think would be problematic correct and no she's not a never user great great thank you thank you anything else on this council member Allen thank you Mr chairman um first I want to thank you for moving to fill this position as many of us know the seat had previously been filled by former deputy mayor lucenda babers who resigned effective July 1st 2023 which is more than four months ago we are in the middle of an existential crisis when we think about our public transportation in the district so we simply cannot let the district's second principal ma seat sit empty for long um I do want to thank spring worth the district's alternate board member for representing the council extremely well after Miss bber stepped down and I'm glad the district will be fully represented at the next board meeting which is coming up because it's the next wada board meeting that's a huge one the board will get its first look at wada's proposed fiscal year 2 budget in fact the board will see more than one proposed budget given that the district and our neighboring states have not yet approved additional funding wada is in the position to have to propose a doomsday budget based on the $750 million deficit that it's facing next year as well as at least one other proposed budget on possible actions by the charter member states to increase our dedicated funding I've worked with Miss Santos for a long time dating back more than a decade I know her to be a smart dedicated public servant as well as an expert in Economic Development and local Finance which I think is going to be invaluable expertise over the next coming months and years and of course as we just talked about she does ride Transit and I expect we'll see her become a more regular Transit Rider as well um I know I'm looking forward to working closely with Miss Santos and with our other board member Tracy Hayden low as we have to fulfill our commitment to fully fund our regional public transportation system and I know that Miss Santos is and all the rest of us are up to that task that we have over the next couple of months and in the year to come thank you Mr chairman thank you City council member Robert White uh thank you chairman um I want to thank you for moving this nomination forward uh in what is such a critical time for wada charting a course for the future as council member Allen just articulated I had the opportunity to work with uh Miss Santos when she was Deputy Mayor I was legislative Council to congresswoman Norton and handled uh District issues I have always found her uh to be sharp to understand the district really well in a time where wada is going to have to make some very difficult choices uh I am happy to know that we are likely to have someone on the board who understands the district who understands our needs who understands Transit oriented development and has uh some experience dealing with significant budgets uh even during challenging times so I think uh Valerie Joy Santos will be an excellent addition to the wada board uh particularly at a time where we need some experience folks uh representing our district residents thank you chairman thank you council member uh anything further or if there is no further discussion uh the vote will be on both the print and Report with leaf for staff and again I noted an error in the report which will be fixed uh Mr Cash would you call the role council member Freeman yes council member Freeman 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 Lewis George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member noo yes Council noo 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 member Robert White votes yes council member trayon white yes council member trayon white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allan votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses uh thank you Mr Cash the resolution the print and Report are approved unanimously M General councel is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is mam secretary's the record complete once the report and hearing record a file and Madam 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 today's additional legislative meeting there's no objection I'm going to move the next two resolutions together that's pr25 d410 District of Columbia Corrections information Council governing board Katherine aen Huffman reappointment resolution of 2023 NPR 25412 Corrections information Council governing board and Ki tiifa tiifa reappointment resolution of 2023 these are both reappointments they are Council appointments uh to the corrections information Council governing board the corrections information Council was created by Congress in 1997 as part of the revitalization and self-government Improvement act uh the purpose is to investigate generally the conditions of the District of Columbia sentenced felon population scattered throughout the Bureau of Prisons facilities following the closing of the lon Correctional Complex the correction information council's role was expanded by the jail Improvement Act of 2003 which requires the cic corrections information Council to conduct inspections of local correctional facilities and mandates that the Department of Corrections provide access to members of the cic um the in 2010 the council amended the law and restructured the cic by creating the board and an independent executive director position and provided subordinate Personnel the 20 act vested in the executive director several responsibilities that had been with the appointed members prior to the 2010 amendments the executive director acts as the investigator as well as Ombudsman looking to condition looking at conditions responding to complaints and making recommendations to the board role of the board is to provide advice and information to the director of the Bureau of Prisons and to the director of the Department of Corrections regarding matters affecting District of Columbia inmates in addition the board is tasked with reviewing the findings of the executive director and making recommendations were appropriate regarding the conditions of confinement of District of Columbia inmates in the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the DC Department of Corrections the board is also tasked with giving final approval of the executive director's annual report to the director of the Bureau of Prisons and the director of the Department of Corrections the board consists of five members three appointed by the mayor and two by the council the mayor designates the chair of the board the board members serve for two-year terms and they all serve without confirmation uh Katherine Huffman that's pr25 d410 uh was first appointed to the board in May of [Music] 2012 and Miss tiifa I have that here um I don't see it readily but she this is a reappointment so she has been on the cic for a number of years I believe that there are three other resolutions pending in the committee on Judiciary and Public Safety that were uh introduced by the mayor just so everyone is clear Council appointments come through the count Committee of the whole and uh the other appointments from the mayor nominations to the mayor go through the appropriate subject matter committee uh Katherine Huffman is award 3 resident received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Emory jurist doctorate from Yale um after completing her law degree she clerked for the federal sixth circuit and um that's an incomplete sentence um any event she's been quite involved in the field of um Corrections for a number of years Miss tiifa is a board for Resident received a Bachelor of Arts from Howard jurist doctorate from George Washington University Law School uh she has served as a a staff attorney for the national prison project of the ACLU Foundation also served as public policy Council for the women's legal defense fund legislative Council for the American civil liberties Union and as an Adjunct professor at American University and the report gives other experience both of these resolutions were introduced by me well actually miss Huffman on September 18th and Miss Ta on September 19th the committee of the whole held a round table on both of these nominations on November 1st 2023 and the commit has received no testimony or comment ments in opposition to either nominee again without objection I move both The Prince and reports with for both PR 25410 and 25-42 with Le for staff to make tactical conforming and editorial changes discussion Mr Cash would you call the role 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 McDuffy yes council member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon 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 member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member Tron white yes Council trayan white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes Council bonds votes yes council member fuman yes council member fuman votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the two resolutions to prins and reports are approved unanimously mam General Council are these two measures legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes they are mam secretary is the record complete for each once the reports and hearing records are filed mam budget director do the measures fiscal impact statements comply with Council requirements yes they do not objection these measures will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting the next measure for markup is pr25 d444 Child Support guideline commission meridell bulu reappointment resolution of 2023 again this is a council appointment and it's actually a reappointment the um Miss uh the purpose of pr25 d444 is to reappoint miss pul Vu as a member of the Child Support guideline commission for a four-year term ending December 20th 2026 the commission consists of nine members all of whom must be District residents the mayor shall appoint the chairperson as well as two members one of whom must be a member of the DC bar and an expert in the fields of family law and child support the mayor must also appoint one member to represent the child support enforcement division of the Office of the Attorney General the chief of the chief judge of the Superior Court U May appoint two members the council shall designate one council member which we did by resolution I think at our last meeting and appoint two additional members one of the two members shall be a member of the DC bar and an expert in the fields of family law and child support Miss bulu is a w 3 resident she received a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton a jurist doctorate from chargon University Law Center currently she is employed as a supervisor in attorney in the domestic violence and family unit at the legal aids Society of the District of Columbia as a supervising attorney she represents low-income clients and child custody and child protection order cases and custodial and non-custodial parents and child support and paternity cases she also mentors pro bono attorneys in family law the Child Support guideline commission examines the child support guid lines and makes recommendations to the mayor under District law any case involving the establishment of Child Support or modification of an existing child support order requires a Judicial officer to conduct a hearing and make a finding in accordance with the child support guidelines the child support guidelines uh provide a presumptive formula for determining the amount of child support in cases where the parents are unmarried separated or divorced uh Miss bu Vu will continue to serve as the family law and child support expert as required in the code she meets those requirements uh and reading from the report assuming this is approved based on her significant contributions to the Child Support guideline commission and her impressive credentials and commitment the committee recommends the reappointment of Miss buou to the commission for term to end December 20th 2026 this resolution was introduced by me on September 26 2023 the commit H held a public round table on November 1st 2023 and the Committees received no testimony or comments in opposition to the appointment objection I move both the print and Report with lead for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes [Music] discussion Mr Cash would you call the role council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Lewis George yes Council L George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member nidau yes Council noo votes yes council member Parker yes Council Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes Council Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member Tran white yes Council Tran white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member Bond Council bonds yes Council bonds votes yes council member fuman yes council member fman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses uh thank you Mr Cash the um print and Report are approved unanimously Madam General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is M secretary's direct complete who wants the report and hearing record are filed and budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirement yes it does without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting the last measure for markup in the committee of the whole is actually not a council appointment it is a confirmation of a mayoral nomination and that's pr25 d486 Board of zoning adjustment car Blake confirmation resolution of 2023 the purpose of this resolution MO is to confirm the reappointment the mayor's nomination for reappointment of Carl Blake is a member of the board of zoning adjustment for a term to expire September 30th 2025 the board of zoning adjustment is a creation of federal law it's composed of a member of the national cital Planning Commission or ncpc staff member a rotating member of the zoning commission and three members appointed by the mayor uh with the advice and consent of the Council of the three members appointed by the mayor each must have been a resident of the District of Columbia for at least three years immediately preceding his or her appointment and at least one of those three members must own his or her own home um the uh Board of zoning adjustment is authorized to consider applications for special exceptions and variances as well as to hear appeals from decisions granting or refusing a building permit or granting or withholding a certificate of occupancy or appeal from other administrative decisions based on the zoning regulations or zoning map Mr Carl Blake is a financial services professional and has been a resident of the district since 2003 he currently is award for a resident and owns his residents uh in addition he owns a number of other residential investment properties throughout the district he is director of financial planning for Bluewater Group Inc a risk management and Financial Consultant consulting firm focusing on public and private utilities he's also founder of Blake properties net LLC a real estate a real estate investment management and financial services consulting firm the firm uh manages a portfolio of rental properties including mid income single family and multif Family Properties throughout the district New York New Jersey and North Carolina um Mr let me see um assuming that this is approved by the committee the committee believes that Mr Blake has developed expertise in this field and that he has been a collaborative member of this important board and therefore the committee recommends the confirmation of Mr Carl Blake uh for reappointment as a member of the board of zoning adjustment for a term to expire on September 30th 2025 no objection I move both to print and Report with lead for staff to make technical conforming and editorial changes is there discussion Mr Cash would you call the role council member Lewis George yes Council L George votes yes council member McDuffy yes Council McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendon yes chairman Mendon votes yes council member Nido yesc noo votes yes council member Parker yes Council Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member Tran white council member Tran white yes Council Tran white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes Council M bonds votes yes council member freman yes council member frean votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Mr Cash the uh print and Report are approved unanimously mam General councel is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is mam secretary is the record complete once the report and hearing record are filed Madame 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 today's additional legislative meeting that completes items completes items for markup in the committee by the committee we have two measures from the committee on housing shared by council member Robert White the first is pr25 d448 Chief tenant advocate of the office of the tenant Advocate Johanna shrieve confirmation resolution of 2023 Mr White thank you chairman pr25 d448 would reappoint Chief tenant Advocate Johanna shrieve for a new three-year term to end June 3rd 2026 this resolution was introduced by you chairman melon at the request of the mayor on September 29th the committee held a round table on this resolution on Thursday November 2nd and the committee marked it up unanimously on November 9th Johanna shrie had already been serving in a holdover capacity for some time before the resolution reappointing her was introduced Miss shrie has been a champion for tenants in the district since she originally created the office of the tenant Advocate as a temporary division within the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in 2006 she continued to lead the office when it became independent in 2007 and otaa has never had another Chief tenant Advocate throughout her tenure OTA has only grown becoming a respected voice for tenants at the council and throughout the city Miss shev's advocacy has had wide ranging impacts from helping create a tenant Bill of Rights to leasee reform supporting elderly tenants with tenants and tenants with disabilities and safeguarding tenants through the pandemic Miss shri's career started with the National Corporation for Housing partnership in 1978 she has also worked at DC public housing the National Association of homebuilders and her own consulting firm on housing policy given my experience working with Miss shrieve I support her reappointment as Chief ten an advocate I look forward to working with her as she implements her vision for the future of otaa over the next three years thank you chairman I move pr25 d448 and request that it be place on the consent agenda of the legislative meeting later today uh thank you Council M white are there questions from members from Le strge um I wanted to note that MRI has done an outstanding job leading the office of the tenant Advocate uh her and her office have been extremely responsive to the needs of for residents and tenants when issues have arised uh given the housing crisis and the rent crisis we have in the city uh they have had to uh work a lot with a little um My Hope Is that when we go into budget next year we take into account the work and the amount of work that the off Advocate uh under shri's leadership uh has to take on and what that may look like in the future um but I think I I support this reappointment and I thank M ree for being willing to serve further uh despite all that uh they have to endure with housing in the city council member Robert White wouldn't you agree I would thank you council member anything further in terms of questions well I have three questions Madam General council is the measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Madam Secretary is the record complete yes it is mam budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements it does without objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting council member Robert White you have the next measure PR 25449 rent administrator Lauren perir confirmation resolution of 2023 uh thank you chairman proposed resolution 25449 would confirm the reappointment of Lauren PE as rent administrator under District law this nominating resolution would be deemed approved on January 11th 2024 without Council action the committee on housing unanimously supported Miss PA's nomination and I encourage my Council colleagues to do the same today the rent administrator leads the rental accommodations division within the Department of Housing and Community Development and is responsible for implementing the rental Housing Act of 1985 under the rent administrator's leadership the division is tasked with protecting tenants from rising housing costs creating and preserving affordable rental housing and managing systems to resolve disputes between housing providers and tenants the division also carries out the district's rent stabilization or rent control program this work includes standing up a publicly accessible rent control database which the division has been working on for years because there was confusion earlier this year I want to clarify that the rent administrator does not have the authority to depart from the law or maximum or maximum rent increases for rent stabilized housing the mayor and Council first appointed Lauren peir as rent administrator in 2017 Miss peir is a native Washingtonian and Ward for Resident she holds a masters in public administration and a law degree and she is licensed to practice law in the district Maryland and before The Supreme Court miss pe's work history shows a demonstrated commitment to public service and housing regulation prior to dhcd she worked as a Judicial law Clerk and as a commercial real estate attorney beginning in 2006 Miss peir joined dhcd as the rent conversion and sale administrator she also served a one-year term as dcd's interim inclusionary zoning program manager through these roles Miss pair gained experience investigating claims and disputes advising the executive on technical rent control matters and initiating enforcement actions if reappointed Miss PA plans to strengthen the division's relationship with sister agencies and to complete her division's work on the rent control database Miss peir has effectively led the rental accommodations division at dhcd for six years her expertise will continue to serve the district's renters and housing providers well and I look forward to moving this resolution today thank you chairman uh thank you council member are there questions from members mad General council is to measure legally and technically sufficient for our consideration yes it is Madame secretary's director complete yes it is Madame budget director does the measures fiscal impact statement comply with Council requirements yes it does the objection this measure will be placed on the consent agenda for today's additional legislative meeting that's can conclude conclude complete all the business items for this committee the whole meeting uh I want to remind members that um the budget submission resolution has been introduced and members are encouraged to look at it well maybe not encouraged but welcome to look at it and um because this is what sets forth what information the executive and the CFO are required to provide when we get the budget as well as set to date if any member has comments on this or suggestions edits whatever uh please work with the budget director um even though I introduced this this is uh um any amendments will go through the budget director's office well maybe me but through the budget director so and do please feel free to talk to the budget office about this uh with that the time is 12:20 and oh we will start in how many minutes by we will start at 12:25 the meeting it's 12:20 p.m. this meeting is adjurned um Mr chairman there is no after school care for DCPS today so if we can move this right along I'm calling to order this meeting this is an additional legislative meeting of the Council of the District of Colombia today is Tuesday November 21st 2023 the time is 12:21 in the afternoon this meeting is being held in room 500 of the council chambers of the Johnny Wilson building although there's several members who are participating virtually we always begin our legislative meetings with the moment of silence if everyone in the chamber and actually everyone participating virtually would respect a moment of silence please mam secretary would you call the role council member Allan I'm here council member bonds here council member fuman present council member GR here council member Henderson here council member LS George here council member McDuffy here chairman Mendelson president council member nadoo here council member Parker here council member Pinto present council member Robert White present council member Tron white present Mr chairman you have a quum thank you Madam Secretary we have the consent agenda which includes two ceremonials uh all of the appointment resolutions that came through the committee of the whole the temporary bills from last the last council meeting are there any changes to the consent agenda I don't hear any changes should note the temporary bills are final reading uh we'll have a roll call vote on the consented agenda and uh there are no changes to it mam secretary counc M Nell council member nadell yes council member Parker yes council member Pinto yes council member Robert White yes council member Tran white yes council member Allen yes council member bonds yes Council mman yes council member gray yes council member Henderson yes council member Lewis George yes council member mcdy yes chairman melson yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Madame secretary the consent agenda is approved unanimously we have the non-consent agenda uh the first measure is the opioid opioid crisis and juvenile crime public emergencies exension authorization uh first is the Declaration PR 25-5 36 council member pintto thank you Mr chairman today along with council members Henderson and Council Tran white I am moving the opioid crisis and ju juvenile crime public emergencies extension authorization emergency Amendment Act of 2023 on November 13th 202 3 the mayor issued order 20231 141 which declares two separate public emergencies in the district related to the ongoing opioid crisis and the ongoing crisis of Youth violence in the district the emergency declaration allows District agencies to respond more flexibly cooperatively and expeditiously to these crises first regarding the opioid emergency as the council has formally recognized opioids have inflicted profound harm on communities within the district and Across the Nation between January and July of 2023 we've averaged 42 opioid fatalities every month the mayor's order addresses this crisis by improving information sharing so we can more quickly identify communities heavily affected by opioid linked fatalities and better provide services and care to those communities second regarding the youth crime emergency the district is experiencing an increase in violent crime including very concerned concerning Trends among our youth in the first 9 months of 2023 there were 458 arrests of juveniles for robbery including carjacking homicide or assault with a dangerous weapon a number which is already 10% more than the total number of such arrests in all of 2022 the number of District youth victimized by violent crime has also increased significantly the mayor's order aims to improve our response to this crisis we have seen an increasing population at the department of youth rehabilitation services or dyrs in recent months and we know that overcrowding at DS leads to worse outcomes it's critical that we take steps to ensure that our youth rehabilitation system is doing what it is intended to do which is to rehabilitate our kids to address this the mayor's order contains a number of directives to DS and other agencies aimed at among other things improve improving our capacity at DS both of these crises require urgent action and it's important that the mayor be authorized to extend her order so that District agencies can respond appropriately under District law however a public emergency declaration may not extend beyond 15 days without Council authorization this legislation authorizes the mayor to extend these emergencies until March 31st 2024 I'll note that we made one change to the bill after its initial circulation last week the bill now requires that the executive provide written notice to the council prior to the exercise of the authority granted by the emergency act I am first moving an amendment to the emergency declaration resolution this amendment makes the minor technical edits including to statistics on youth carjackings in the district this year I move the amendment thank you councilman Pinto so we have before us a declaration and councilman rep pentos moved that and then moved an amendment to it the amendment was circulated this morning I believe at 11:26 a.m yes that sound right yes and the amendment says um subsection a of section three subsection a is a amended to read as follows and then subsection D is amended by uh changing some language that is the de yes the Declaration are does anybody need that better explained or are we fine with the amendment and I'll just ask if there's no objection it will be accepted let's try if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted hearing no objection the amendment is accepted we have the Declaration as amended discussion Mr chairman council member Henderson um thank you Mr chairman um as many of you know the committee on health has been incredibly focused on the opioid uh crisis in the district this past year holding multiple hearings on November 7th the council unanimously voted to approve PR 25- 386 the sense of the Council on the opio and fital epidemic resolution of 2023 the mayor um excuse me the measure urged the mayor to declare the opioid and fital crisis in the district as a public health emergency recognizing the seriousness of the situation and committing sufficient resources to safeguard the well-being of District residents the following week the mayor did Issue a mayor's order that declared two separate public emergencies one related to the ongoing opioid crisis and another related to the related to juvenile crime um I'm going to focus most of my comments on opioids as council member Pinto covered um the juvenile abortion as of October 2023 there have been a total of 296 opioid related fatal fatal overdoses in the district the city is on track to experience an increase from 20 2022 which was 461 alarmingly more than 90% of the opioid related fatal fatal overdoses in the past three years were link to fanol or its analoges um we've had even more um non-fatal overdoses over um calls or suspected cases of non-fatal overdoses in the district as well we need a major shift in this trend the mayor's order is a critical step towards more effectively responding to this crisis in times of emergency Swift and coordinated action is Paramount one key aspect of the mayor's order for this particular portion involves enhancing data sharing uh between vital agencies the Department of Behavioral Health DC Health fire and Emergency Medical Services and the the office of the chief medical examiner this collaborative effort ensures real-time information on non-fatal overdoses enabling us to deploy Outreach teams more strategically with up-to-date data Outreach teams can swiftly be directed to overdose hotpots in impacted areas their primary focus will be on providing harm reduction supports and services to those most in need contributing to a more proactive and impactful response additionally the mayor's order includes an expedited procurement process the streamlined approach is designed to empower the Department of Behavioral Health and other related agencies to rapidly allocate funds for initiatives programs or other Goods as a reminder for my colleagues and for the public the district currently has approximately $14 million in opioid settlement funds that are currently available for investments in community the agility provided through this public emergency is crucial and making substantial impact on the crisis um I want to thank the mayor for moving on this effort and I look forward to continuous work um in this area thank you thank you council member Henderson further on the Declaration we'll have a roll call vote on the declar Declaration the Declaration was amended without objection with council member Pinto's Amendment Madame secretary would you call the role this is on the Declaration council member Parker yes council member Parker votes yes council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member Tron white yes council member Tran white votes yes council member Allen yes council member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member Freeman yes council member Freeman votes yes council member gray yes council member gray votes yes council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member LS George yes council member L George votes yes council member McDuffy yes council member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendelson yes chairman Mendon votes yes and council member nadoo yes council member nadoo votes yes Mr chairman there are 13 yeses thank you Madam Secretary the Declaration as amended is approved unanimously we have the underlying Bill Bill 25-57 n council member Pinto thank you Mr chairman I move amendment number one to the emergency Act this amendment makes one change the mayor's orderorder invokes broad Authority for the executive to wave District laws to respond to the emergencies declared by the order the bill that we filed yesterday granted a more limited set of authority and the intent was to avoid giving blanket authority to wave laws without knowing precisely which laws we were giving authority to wave we tried to work with the administration over the weekend to understand which laws specifically they need to wave in the short term to to accomplish the things they're trying to do here however the administration was not able to provide this list with the choice of being overly restrictive um or not acting was not a good choice to move forward as I believe we need to act in accordance with the true emergency that we are in I do believe it's important for the administration to be able to act with this urgency here and because of that this amendment removes language seeking to specify the laws that may be weaked reverting to the language in the originally introduced Bill simply allow the mayor to extend the emergency orders for a determined amount of time which is also why we included language uh to provide notification to the council about which laws are being waved we can always revisit this when we have a clearer picture of which laws must be waved and I hope that the administration will work openly with us on this so in the future we can limit the authority to those laws that must be waved specifically this is about transparency and good government and I hope that we can come back to revisit this with true cooperation and collaboration I do want to note chairman I'm going to have one additional technical edit that I'd like to move by Oral Amendment after we vote on this amendment I move the amendment uh thank you coun from rinto so the amendment was circulated together with the amendment to the Declaration at around 11:26 this morning right uh it strikes Lines 43- 49 of the bill that's the substance of it um maybe I will speak first I usually speak last I'm um not comfortable with this amendment at all uh in fact I'm not going to support this amendment um I have heard nothing but concern from lawyers all over the place for the last six days with regard to um the mayor's interpretation of flexibility and I'll start with this the mayor's order which can only be in effect for something like 15 days which is why we have this legislation so that the public emergency can be extended the law only allows her to do this for 15 days but her order says in it on page five uh District agencies May without regard to established operating procedures enter into contracts etc etc including reprogramming and it's clear that what the mayor or the executive office of the mayor or her top officials have intended is that Council review of contracts and reprogramming both of which are requirements of the home rule act uh could be waved by this order um my understanding is it's still there interpretation that uh the language uh uh without regard to established operating procedures is very Broad and could apply to a whole range of laws and I would say by precedent this is now what we did with the public health emergency for two years with covid we were quite explicit with regard to what could be waved and it's concerning to me that when the mayor or the executive office of the mayor was asked will tell us what laws you want to wave that uh we couldn't get a list I believe that's what uh my w two colleagu said uh that we couldn't get a list so I think the language that's in the bill as uh filed uh notwithstanding um notwithstanding the law the mayor shall comply with all district laws when exercising her Authority except that the mayor May wave the the requirements of title four of the procurement practices Reform Act so that gives her uh some quite a bit of flexibility with regard to procurement and um that's been our practice with emergencies in the past if she needs explicit Authority with regard to other laws let her be explicit and we'll probably uh give her that but she should be explicit so I won't be supporting this amendment further on this house member White uh thank you chairman I I'll see a little bit more when I uh offer an amendment but uh I I I appreciate your your thoughts uh chairman declaring an emergency is a tool it is not a plan uh so the council here is taking action by declaring dual emergencies we're giving the mayor expansive powers to act but we still don't have a plan even looking at the mayor's order I'm seeing data Gathering and procuring beds I don't see anything in the order that actually requires uh an emergency um the we could have started procuring beds a month ago two months ago collecting data on opioids could have started some time ago and I don't think requires um an emergency uh I I am concerned that we are so far into these crisis and uh we don't have a plan we don't seem to be able to get information from the mayor on which laws she wants to wave and we understand from the discussion last time we met that the powers granted to the mayor uh under an emergency uh are expansive they include procurement they in include rationing things like food and gasoline acquiring property um arresting people they are expansive so a blank check with no indication of a plan makes me very nervous uh I appreciated the proposal council member Pinto uh put forward uh I believe it was yesterday I'm concerned about pulling that back um so um I I I plan to vote no on on this amendment thank you chairman thank you council member further discussion we have the I see activity at the far end Mr chairman I have a question of council member Pinto Please Mr chairman um if you could uh seek to get an answer to or clarification around the timeline provided in getting the details that council member Pinto requested of the executive it sounded like the request was made uh the executive did not return the information but I'm curious if there's a timeline that was provided of giving said information uh Council Pinto you when did you start working with the executive on this um last week week and on Saturday I asked for a list of specific laws that needed to be waved on Friday um there is not a specific timeline that they gave that they would have this information I I would say I think that it is certainly preferable to have a list of statutes that we're going to wave but in the absence of that if we all are saying which I believe we are that there is an emergency with opioids and with juvenile crime and violence we have to move forward I believe in a way that allows the executive to move quickly um and that does not mean that we shouldn't come back to this to revisit if there once we have that list of additional uh laws that we need we could always do that in two weeks um that's also why we included the notification requirement to say that before or waving any laws notice has to be given to the council which will also allow us to develop our own list of of laws that are going to be fundamental here as we move forward to addressing these crises um but I think we have to ask ourselves is this an emergency we declared two weeks ago that there was an opioid emergency we declared several minutes ago that there were two emergencies in these in opioid and and juvenile crime um and I think in order to ensure that that means something we have to extend Authority for the mayor to act quickly um and to address these crises and so I I do not think today is the end of the conversation but I don't want the fact that we don't yet have that full list to inhibit our ability to of moving forward and we will see more lives lost and we will see less action than we could have today so it's not perfect it's not my ideal either but I think it is the best path forward Mr chairman one quick follow-up question if if I yeah although I have an answer as well our general Council reached out on Friday to ask for what laws they were looking at and uh so um I think what's at work here is that they want the broadest flexibility they can possibly construe and uh we've been through this before with the public health emergency as I noted um and I would add there was a sort of an analog to uh when the council went on recess I think it was in 2021 the because of the pandemic and the uh Public Health Emergency the executive wanted authority to proceed with contracts on an expedited basis with the minimal list of council review and we said give us a list of the contracts and they they just want the flexibility and it was very hard to get that list and the list was like if I remember correctly hundreds of contracts and that was like no understood I I would just quickly note that without giving a timeline and it doesn't seem like a timeline was given to council member Pinto or uh the council at large deadline for their response well we've asked for information they haven't given the information I was asking that they at least give a timeline and it doesn't sound like there's a timeline either which is what I'm getting at is I don't think there is a plan to get us any more information and instead there's this request for an overarching authority um but I just want to clarify for those that may be watching that voting against this uh adjustment to the amendment still allows for the Emergency to go forward with special powers for procurement and so it's not as it's not as though the council was saying there is no emergency and we're not moving forward uh but I do share some of your concerns that just waving a magic wand and saying the mayor should have all power here without more information provided is pretty dangerous and so the council has a job to do I trust the mayor's good intent here and I hope that uh the mayor's team can follow up with more information thank you uh who is next in the line council member Henderson and then fuman Council council member fan so maybe it's a question for council member Pinto but just to make sure that I understand them the suggestion was made that we could add the specific list of laws that were waved in two weeks at the December 5th hearing or legislative meeting am I right that we could have the more limited extension of power without including the amendment and then amend again come back in two weeks with the list is that a that's that was a question to council M Pinto I mean it seems to me obviously that that is the case yeah sorry go ahead yeah go go ahead that is certainly possible I would just say let's remember what we are fighting for here we want to ensure that the executive can act quickly it's it's not over dramatic to say people are dying um as a result of inaction and so I would rather air on the side of being more broad so that she can act with deliberate speed to address this to make sure that we don't have overcrowding at DS she can contract for safe houses for example um and shelter houses that is an emergency today we need that ability today and so I would rather then continue to work with with everybody and with the executive on trying to figure out what that list of statutes that need to be waved as opposed to waiting indefinitely for a list and and not acting um in a way that's I think going to undermine our goals to make progress on these two emergency areas but I mean it isn't that we wouldn't be giving any power to the executive we'd be giving broad powers to the executive presumably that would enable them to do that in the coming weeks and I I it feels like it's an interesting dynamic because we urge them to declare an emergency then they declared an emergency that we worry is over Brad and so we are you know a little on a back foot but we want to do this right we want to do this in a way that's responsible and so it isn't licensed for a you know unlimited waiver we should be working together to come up with what are those things that need to be waved in order for them to get the job done but presumably waving the the procurement requirements enables them to do the key thing that you were talking about Mr chairman can I just respond briefly to that um if it wasn't a question no but I'll come back to you any further looks like council member Henderson wants to be recognized um thank you Mr chairman I um I can appreciate my colleagues concerns particularly colleagues who um were here during the public health emergency in terms of the broad um Powers um I think there was some back and forth uh among staff this weekend in terms of just trying to get an outline of what are the additional laws especially given that um at least as it pertains to uh well as it pertains to both emergencies um there seem to be some desire for um expedited procurement one for shelter space um and then also for expedited procurement in order to move on some of the opioid settlement funds that are available um it has been alluded that there are other things um but it sounds as though we have not received Clarity on that front that being said I don't want this um debate to be misconstrued in terms of saying that the council is not serious about an emergency that the council is not serious about this particular issue or excuse me either ISS um on that front um I I'm not sure council member Pinto as you are the um introducer of this amendment how you want to proceed um but just in terms of conversations with colleagues here um perhaps this is something that we can try again um in December uh given the executive more time for us um to continue to collaborate on what additional is needed Beyond procurement thank you thank you council member Henderson Council Mr chairman council member Allen's next and then you council member bons thanks uh Mr chairman um trying to follow the the little back and forth here uh I wanted to try to clarify one thing um because what I I heard in the discussion just a moment ago was um I mean let's just be very honest we've got a urgent need for the for the past several weeks we have watched at the at the ysc DS capacity has gone over its official capacity numerous times uh that creates a dangerous scenario for the staff for the young people it doesn't serve them well to be rehabilitated and so I think there is a clear and pressing need to be able to move towards the procurement for additional secure bed space my understanding though is the the emergency that's in front of us absent of the amendment that's in front of us the underlying emergency specifically and explicitly allows for the mayor to have Contracting procurement authority to increase those secure bed spaces is is that correct Mr chairman I missed the very last part of it but the the language that would be struck the language that would be struck is explicitly exempts title four uh meaning that the we're waving the mayor doesn't have to comply with title four of the procurement practice Reform Act which is the competitive bidding requirement uh the effect of that would allow the mayor to move more maximum flexibility yes to be able to exercise their powers yes okay I I think that's counter to what I heard a moment ago so I just want to make sure that was very clear for the record that that is explicitly part of what this legislation will allow yes and my understanding is that this is exactly what we did with the pandemic Public Health emergencies was that um the competitive requirement for procurement was waved okay um I reminded of just I guess about two weeks ago um when it was implored that we we just need to work in if we could just find a way to work in part parnership um and I I feel like I'm seeing everybody on this di desperately want to work in Partnership um to help solve a problem partnership with each other or partnership with the executive I'm gonna say all the above um but partnership as I said a couple of weeks ago it's a two-way street if there has been a request by this Council to say what laws do we what specific laws do you need help exempting from how do we help make sure you can move quickly and there's just no response to that um I I find that troubling and concerning while we're trying to Grant emergency powers and trying to allow uh emergency actions that we all agree to be taken can be taken um I was struck by my colleague who talked about um a plan that is needed because that that is desperately needed as well um thank you Mr chairman uh let me clarify U my understanding is it's not like our general counsel or attorneys on staff reached out and there was silence and crickets it's that the request was made council member Pinto said on Saturday I know our general Council on Friday um give us a list and they did not give us the list council member bonds um thank you chairman um I just wanted to add voice to this discussion and to let um my colleague um council member Pento know that I will be supporting her proposal I think that when we continue to debate these matters we're really wasting very precious time I really do feel that way uh we know what the mayor's order says we know what title 4 says um and it just seems to me we're at a point where we either are supportive of giving um the or extending the Privileges that are necessary at this time um or not thank you chairman thank you counc BS coun McDuffy just briefly I I understand that there's another amendment that's going to be offered I'm not sure where council member Pinto is on that Amendment but it might be useful to to hear it because as I contemplate whether or not to support the amendment that's before us at this moment I share concerns about not having appropriate constraints on a public emergency on the other hand I am I would be more willing to support the existing Amendment uh if there were some constraints on the amount of time uh the mayor had before the council would um have to review it again in other words if it's possible to look at how long um we're granting this Authority perhaps I would be a meable I'm not sure if any colleagues would to I'm supporting uh council member Pinto's amendment that gives me a little bit more flexibility to be able to address what I think we all agree is a public emergency around the opioid crisis and juvenile crime uh there's no disagreement there um um I I do share some of the concerns that been raised but I I I would be with the chair of the Judiciary Committee on allowing more flexibility uh given uh the serious crisis that we're facing right now so so if there were some constraints if maybe we can hear the amendment that's coming up next does anyone want to volunteer um I have a technical oral Amendment um just to get that out of the way perhaps briefly [Music] um or why don't I why don't I wait and and council member white if you want to present your Amendment uh that's okay with me to kind of pause on this discussion for a moment uh I'm not in the business of outing anybody with regard to amendments um so and there might be there might be some strategic thinking behind uh what what everyone's saying about amendments so kind of leave it at that okay Mr I speak on the current Amendment just a moment you would be second round let me see if there's anybody else first round uh second round have my hand raised chairman so you haven't got acknowledge yet uh go for it uh thank you uh well I know that we Face some peculiar circumstances in which uh the mayor has to uh have the ability to have flexibility to address uh some critical needs in emergency I'm in support of that but I do want to overemphasize that I would like for the mayor to give some clarity on what that is um I want to be supportive of this uh want us to let the executive branchs do what they do but at the same time want to keep our power and doing what we do with the legislative branch and if she was able to give Clarity on this would gave me much more ease and so um if we can I know councilman PTO you said you reached out to her and asked her for a list that she did not provide so I don't know what to do now just kind of listen in for these amendments and see where we land with this thank you council member white I think we're on second round which means minutes two minutes whoever's got the clock Council Robert White uh thank you chairman um I I just want to say on this this is a a difficult um conversation I think for everyone because uh I think the council wants to be in cooperation with the mayor uh for these very real crises we also want to make sure we're being responsible and not just doing something but doing the right thing um unlike covid-19 which came out of nowhere and was very unprecedented um opioid deaths have been rising for years gun violence has been on the rise for years so to not have a plan forward on covid-19 makes some sense to not have a plan on opioids and Public Safety does not make the same sense to me so if the council is asking what powers do you want us to w and we will wave them tell us what your plan is and we can't get an answer that strikes me as a problem so to give a blank check for something that was has been a known emergency for years and no plan in front of us strikes me as irresponsible of the council I think that we have to work in Partnership partnership goes both ways that means you can't be out in communities saying the reason that viol is out of controls because of the council and by the way Council give me a blank check and I'm not going to respond to your inquiries on what powers you need us to wave so we have got to be a a a partner in this government but being a partner in this government doesn't mean being run over uh when we need a a plan and action and what the city needs right now is a plan and action and what the council is saying I think is that we're ready uh to be part of that plan in action we just need to know what it is uh thank you chairman thank you council member there's no further discussion the vote will be on council member Pinto number amendment number one which is striking lines 43 through 49 uh by Voice vote all those in favor of the amend Mr chairman can we have a roll call vote please uh Madam Secretary would you call the role council member Pinto yes council member Pinto votes yes council member Robert White no council member Robert White votes no council member Tron white yes council member Tran white votes yes council member Allen no council member Allen votes no council member bonds yes council member bonds votes yes council member freman no council member Freeman votes no council member gray no council member gray votes no council member Henderson yes council member Henderson votes yes council member Le George no council M LS George votes no council member McDuffy yes council member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendelson no chairman Mendelson votes no council radoo no council radoo votes no council member Parker no council member Parker votes no Mr chairman there are five yeses and eight NOS uh thank you Madam Secretary the amendment failed uh council member Pinto you had an oral Amendment yes I do it's just a minor technical Amendment for line 51 of the bill would just like to strike the word paragraph and insert the word subsection in its place that's like a drafting comment or amendment that General council is nodding her head energetically uh if there's no objection the amendment will be accepted hearing no objection the Amendments accepted are there any other amendments Mr chairman uh council member Robert White uh thank you chairman uh I think as we've heard repeatedly there there is no question we are in a public safety emergency and an opioid emergency every week I have conversations with families residents and businesses about the safety of our city opioid and fital related deaths are at a crisis level the increase in violence in our city has cut so many lives short several of them kids and created fear among residents I know many of us saw the news report with a young child in third grade not much older than my own daughters telling the reporter I don't want to die these issues demand immediate and Urgent attention the council and mayor must use every tool at our disposal to stop opioid related deaths and improve safety in our city the mayor's order and this emergency legislation are tools that Grant the mayor emergency powers to respond to these real emergencies and like all tools they must be wielded carefully a declaration of public emergency provides the mayor with broad authority to respond to an emergency in in emergency situations and is only used in extraordinary circumstances it is council's responsibility to exercise strong oversight given the number of laws that we wave uh with emergency Powers even when when they are limited when the mayor requests emergency Powers I appreciate changes my colleagues made to the legislation um and to include transparency requirements and oversee emergency procurements these Provisions will help us avoid the concerning procurement practices that occurred during the covid-19 pandemic where the office of the Inspector General found instances of misuse of funds overspend and increased risk of fraud during much of the covid-19 pandemic Council extended emergency Authority for only three months at a time during that time we noticed these problems with procurements and the next time the council needed to extend the mayor's emergency Powers we we required her to tell us what they were buying before they used District funds to buy it that's the council's responsibility we did not stop extending the power but we did exercise our authority to make sure these emergency powers are used to protect and benefit District residents I'm glad to see the transparency Provisions in this emergency legislation but the legislation extends these emergency powers to the mayor for more than four months that's over four months of expansive Authority without enough checks from the council we're giving the mayor uh essentially a blank check and with this legislation waving the law and much of the council's oversight we're doing it again as I said earlier without a plan as I mentioned before without this extension the mayor must get approval from the council to extend emergency every 15 days there's a reason for this the 15-day timeline ensures that Council actively provides oversight and review of the request in continued need for extraordinary powers if this is indeed an urgent situation that demands these extraordinary powers then the mayor should be able to ramp up procurement enhance data sharing and improve dyrs operations to meet the requirements in the mayor's order within a more urgent time period to be clear much of what the mayor says she will do in the mayor's order do not need emergency Powers she could have been procuring beds for dyrs in July when the Youth Services Center was already at capacity and when she asked us to change the law so more youth would be detained pre-trial at ysc or when she began enforcing curfew for youth which brought more kids to ysc she didn't do that and now we're here with a real crisis on our hands providing the mayor with a similar extension as we provided during the covid-19 pandemic will give the council an opportunity to review the ongoing need for emergency powers to enact required requirements identified in the mayor's order I I am proposing that we extend those Powers through February 15 um that gives the mayor almost 90 days after that time if we believe the mayor still needs emergency Powers she can request to extend it and we can act to extend it uh if I could have uh 15 more seconds chairman to uh explain one aspect 30 seconds without objection thank you chairman uh the amendment uh that I circulated earlier today would extend the powers through January 31st I believe that February 15th is a more appropriate uh time period given the fact that it will allow the mayor more time to act and uh will uh come after the council's February legislative meeting so I circulated an amendment with a January 31st date uh I would like to orally amend that uh amendment to change the date to February 15th uh thank you so the um Amendment that's before us I believe it's line 40 of the of the bill uh it is that paragraph or subsection c-1 paragraph 1 uh instead of March 31st it will say February 15 2024 discussion Mr chairman council member Henderson um Mr chairman I I spoke to council member white about this um I think um what it's one of the trouble spots of having a a legislation on public emergency about two separate different um issues is that sometimes we focus on one without thinking about the other or um the issues of one gets conflated with the other um I definitely um understand where um council member White is coming from in terms of the procurement of additional shelter bids as it pertains to the to the juvenile crime piece however on the opioid side um part of the public emergency and part of the flexibility in terms of procurement Powers was um in sort of related to the work of the opioid abatement settlement Commission of which I represent the council and sitting on that body um as a dustu reminder because all of you voted for this 21 person body um who decides on how the district makes recommendations um on how the district is to expend the funds um which I believe will be receiving upwards of 80 million over the next few years we currently have 14 million now the next opota batement settlement commission meeting is on November 29th and I'm telling you from sitting through these first two meetings both of which were two hours 3 hours in length both times the commission is not going to have funding recommendations by February 15 um we are hoping for notice of funding availability being made available in January but by setting the date at February 15 we will most certainly be coming back to the council for an extension of this um public emergency um March 31st seemed like a more reasonable timeline in order for us to complete the work for the first round of funding um so I'm not going to be supporting this just in terms of I know from the practicality of it at least on the opioid side while on the Juvenile Justice side they may be able to complete their work in terms of the procurement side on that it will not be done on the opioid side um by February 15th especially given when you add in the holidays we're talking about maybe seven weeks here to do all the things thank you council member Henderson I'm going to speak for a second I'm going to support the amendment I would urge colleagues to do it this is exactly what we did with the public health emergency for two years was that we uh extended it on a um a short-term basis over and over and over again and I think that's completely appropriate uh we with the emergency give the mayor um authority to do things that uh she would not otherwise be able to do as easily or and would have to ordinarily go through more review so I think it absolutely makes sense that we meet on February 6th I believe it's February 6th and uh we will take up an extension and assuming that everything is going right uh I think you council member Henderson are correct that uh procurements are not going to be done by February 6th but I dare say that's true on the opio opioid side as well as on the Juvenile Justice side they're not going to be done by February 6 they're not going to be done by March 31st and these crises will probably go on for longer so uh I I recommend that we do exactly what we did with the covid emergencies which was that they were uh extensions were constantly given continuously given on a short-term basis and uh and enables us to um refine The Authority maybe we'll even have a list of laws to be waved and uh we can give the mayor more flexibility if we take this up on February 6th council member fruman thank you very much chairman Mendon I I'm going to support this amendment but I want to say that I don't think we need to wait till February 6th I think if the mayor we need to work together we need to work together with the administration and if the mayor comes forward with a list of the laws that she wants to see waved and on December 5th we can revisit this if we have that specificity I'd be more than happy to extend the date further out but let's work together on this and let's get that specificity so everybody is doing their jobs and being responsible we all urgently want to address these things the the call for a an emergency came from the council it's not that we're in opposition to taking dramatic action in order to address these issues we want to do that but we need to do it in Partnership they need to do it in Partnership two weeks 10 days after the Thanksgiving holiday to come up with that list is not it there's no reason they shouldn't be able to do that and if they can work with us we can work with them and and I could support a longer date thank you thank you council member Froman further discussion uh we have the amendment before us the date was February 15th is that correct council member right correct chairman uh all those in favor of the resolution say I I I no no let's do the NOS when I ask for them um I'll start over again all those in favor say I I I all those in post say no no no how the eyes have it no really say what um Mr chairman did you hear that clearly could we do a roll call vote uh the roll call has to be asked for before I announce the result I didn't hear a result I said guys have it and then I heard an exclamation to my left um all right we have the bill as amended before us further discussion we'll do a a Voice vote on the bill since the um since the Declaration was approved unanimously a Voice vote on Bill 25-57 as amended and if I remember correctly uh council member Pinto had an oral Amendment and council member White had an amendment on the bill as amended all those in favor say I I I opposed I don't see or hear any no votes so the eyes have it unanimously uh the next measure is pr25 d535 office of independent Juvenile Justice facilities oversight establishment emergency declaration resolution of 2023 council member trayon white one second chairman trying to get to a quiet pleas thank you chairman uh this emergency legislation was written to guarantee that the office of independent Justice and ju and Justice facilities oversight I'm sorry Juvenile Justice oversight remain open for the remainder of this fiscal year it specifies that this office will sunset as initially planned but the office will have access to the budget allocated to them by the council and the authority necessary to to continue its work the department of youth rehabilitation services is at a critical point facilities are at close capacity there has been numerous safety incidents we recently confirmed a new director with a mandate to urgently fill many vacancies and we expect that the demand on the facility would increase in the near future much of the success we've had in the decade of the jury m is at State and the facility oversight office is one of the best tools we have to monitor these conditions and respond in real time this is not the time for Less transparency and accountability in fact it's time for more transparency and accountability especially involving information regarding our safety of our youth in the facility it my my current understanding is that as of yesterday the mayor has changed the course of plans to continue the operation of of of of this fiscal year I am I elected not to withdraw this legislation to alleviate any unnecessary uh any unnecessary around this office S I want to thank uh council members Allen Henderson and Parker for for co- introducing this measure will ask my colleagues to support um B25 d580 Amendment thank you chairman this amendment mirrors the temporary version of the emergency measures of the vicinity oversight Bill and will continue the operation of facility from March 2024 until October 2024 thank you thank you council member white so what we have before us is pr25 d535 and because a lot of paper's been flying I want to clarify that what we are cons and this is a question I think either to the Council secretary or general counsel what we have before us is what was filed and is linked on the agenda correct there no amendments to it that's right to the deck with regard to the deck right yeah secretary but we have there are no amendments on the Declaration okay and council member white has moved it so we have pr25 d535 before us is there any discussion uh roll call vote on the Declaration I I have a question uh hold on on the call yes Mr McDuffy we're on the deck but I want to just make sure I [Music] understand practically how this emergency would take effect or would be otherwise triggered if somebody could explain that would be helpful I'll take a stab at it and then council member white um correct me if I get any any of it wrong when the council adopted the budget for fiscal year 24 which is what we're in the council included funding for this office uh a few weeks ago the mayor issued a mayor's order that said that this office would close in January uh this legislation would override that mayor's order although what it does is it says if there is an effort to abolish the office or close the office then the emergency act takes effect the mayor issued a mayor's order yesterday extending the office the mayor could issue another order I don't think that's likely but she could issue another order and if she did then the terms of this bill would say that the office would continue I think what this bill actually does is establish the office so it's at this point it's uh what I would call a a safeguard that may not be needed but if there was another mayor's order that changed revised what was issued yesterday just because there was a mayor's order a couple weeks ago that revised what we did in the budget then um this bill would have effect does that answer your question it it's helpful just if you could point me to what paragraph you're referencing that would I think it's section two somebody said section two line 25 Harless said so a couple things would have to happen because I'm not sure if you mentioned it but after the mayor issued an executive order that would have closed the office she issued a subsequent executive order to open the office to open the off well or to extend the office or to repeal the sunset so there would have to be two two things done she would have to issue two additional executive orders just one that both repeal the existing one but also sunsetting the office again he only has to do one mayor's order I don't want to speculate too much on this because I'm hopeful that with yesterday's mayor's orderorder that uh this this will no longer be necessary okay but that's what that's why it doesn't have there's not a fiscal impact because this would only take effect if the office were Sunset it within this current fiscal year correct during the uh the duration of the emergency or that temporary which would be within this fiscal year and it's funded through this fiscal year in the Dy budget okay aler on that Tayon white yes thank you to answering short uh this office was already funded um I tried to get some clarity uh last week about the mayor's desire to keep open or close this office um which I was unclear which I spoke to the mayor spoke to other members it was a conflict conflict on where we were going to land and then I actually spoke to the director of the agency which confirmed that he was giv orders to start shutting down um which we already funded and like I said this is not the time to uh remove any transparency or accountability for this agency um and so we drafted this with my colleagues to ensure that we can keep this up and so if the mayor uh then issued this yesterday so we want to ensure that in the spirit of being a good partner that we can both support this um because it sounds like it's two different messages conflicting between last week and this week from the executive and we want to be ensure that we are doing our part as a legislative branch to keep this office open councilor McDuffy you good for the moment I I am good for the moment thank you okay um is there further with regard to the Declaration I said that with hesitancy we haven't voted on the Declaration yet correct that's right I was about to I'll ask for the role all right the uh measure before is pr25 - 535 the Declaration uh roll call vote council member Robert White yes council member Robert White votes yes council member trayan white yes counc member trayon white votes yes council member Allen yes counc member Allen votes yes council member bonds yes council member Vons 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 Le George yes council member leis George votes yes council member McDuffy yes council member McDuffy votes yes chairman Mendelson yes chairman Mendelson votes yes council member noo yes council member noo 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 Madam Secretary the Declaration is approved unanimously we have the underlying Bill councilor number White so move and I'm assuming council member that you are also moving the amendment nature of a substitute yes sir all right we have the amendment nature of a substitute before us it was circulated yesterday actually uh and it's also linked to the agenda uh if there's no OB now is not a good time sorry maybe it's maybe it's a good [Laughter] time um all right so we have before us I'm not quite sure what to say here um we have before us the amendment nature of a substitute if there's no objection the amendment nature of a substitute will be accepted uh hearing no objection it is accepted so we have the bill as amended before us is there discussion Mr chair council member Allen thank you very much uh first I want to thank my colleague Council trayon white and our co-introduced for Mo for moving this emergency legislation forward today as has been mentioned during our discussion on the prior emergency we consider the district is experiencing an increase in violent crime including deeply concerning Trends among young people as most of us know here DS came out of a more than 30 years long consent decree in litigation regarding conditions and services at DS facilities the mayor as part of the settlement agreement in that case created the Office of independent Juvenile Justice and Facilities oversight to ensure durability and promote the expansion of achievements under the consent decree and the executive has worked very hard to improve conditions at DS facilities as we consider legislation and strategies to combat violent crime and reverse the trends that we've seen especially with young people in particular it's important that the services we're providing to young people who are in DOS facilities are adequate and appropriate that we maintain the current level of services that we achieved under that consent decree both accountability and Rehabilitation depend on that my colleague Council M Tran white has spoken about his business dos facilities and highlighted Staffing challenges as well as safety incidents currently affecting the agency the office on Independent Juvenile Justice and Facilities oversight monitors and provides reports and serves as an important oversight role in general because of their important duties Public Safety agencies often require rigorous oversight we we currently have such a system for example with Department of Corrections and the corrections information Council and it should be no different here while this emergency ensures the office operates until the end of the fiscal year we know that we're need to consider whether the office should continue to exist beyond the current fiscal year transparency oversight and sunshine is crucial I know that Council M Tron White's working on permanent legislation that would address that and I look forward to considering the legislation when that's introduced um Mr chairman I have been made aware by Council we need to move an oral Amendment to the ANS though that was just accepted the mayor's order named the office as the office of independent Juvenile Justice and Facilities oversight so I hope Council M trayan white can accept as friendly just simply adding the word oversight each time the full name of the office appears now would be the long title on line 18 the name of the legislation on line 23 and lines 26 and 28 of the ANS that was circulated at 414 is that an oral amendment I yes if hoping that would be accepted as friendly simply to just make sure we add the word oversight at each time when the full name of the office appears so that would be in the long title on line 18 the name of the legislation on line 23 and lines 26 and 28 of the ANS so that the name is the office of independent Juvenile Justice and Facilities oversight yep okay General Council you're clear on that yes I accept this for only to chair all right if there's no objection that uh it's almost like a technical amendment is accepted um further discussion left us all speechless council member uh we have the bill as amended that is the amendment nature of a substitute which which was accepted and council member Allen noting the correct title to be amended throughout which was accepted I think we can do a voice vote on this since the Declaration was unanimous all those in favor of the bill as amended say I I I I I are there any opposed I don't hear any opposed the um bill is amended is approved unanimously that gets us to First reading and vote on temporary legislation we have Bill 25580 opioid crisis and juvenile crime public emergencies extension authorization temporary Amendment act 2023 council member Henderson oh I'm sorry why did I call on you opioid uh council member Pinto so moved we have the temporary bill in front of us council member Tron white did you have an amendment uh no uh yes Cil Tran white in your when you 58 Z yes yes okay I'm sorry yes this amendment mirrors the temporary version of the emergency measures of the facility's oversight bill it will continue to operate the facility from March 2024 into October 24 if this also a sunset during the fiscal year as Nally planned all right so let's be clear so that all the members understand and the record is clear council member TR white is moving an amendment to the to Bill 25- 580 Bill 25- 580 is a temporary for the opioid crisis and juvenile crime public emergency extension house members amendment is the temporary version of the office of independent Juvenile Justice facilities oversight establishment um to be clear and I need the general council's attention to be clear the temporary will reflect the amendments to the emergency including oversight of the ti including oversight in the title including the amendment nature of a substitute including all the amendments to um Bill 25575 does anybody have a question what's happening here Mr chairman council member Pinto I will need to move a corresponding oral Amendment the same as I did on the emergency um for line 51 to ex change the word paragraph and instead put in its place subsection well um Yes except that uh and I should have said this the temporary for both bills will be the same will reflect the amendments to the emergencies so there were two amendments to the um opioid crisis and juvenile crime public emergencies extension and there was there were two amendments to the office of independent Juvenile Justice fa ities oversight establishment emergency so I'm going to check with general counsel the temporary there's an amendment pending right now and the amendment is to add the office of independent Juvenile Justice facilities oversight to the opioid crisis and juvenile crime public emergencies extension authorization two Temporaries are going to be in one bill and the two Temporaries are going to reflect all the Amendments that were were made to the emergencies Federal councel is that clear yes yes it is Mr chairman is anyone on the council confused I heard a no or yes um all right we I think we can do this by a Voice vote unless there's discussion uh by a Voice vote uh Bill 25- 580 actually I did not see this council member Tron White's amendment is accepted without objection hearing no objection so it's part of the bill the bill is amended bill 25580 is amended all those in favor say I I I I opposed the eyes have it unanimously that was a lot of work there's no other business the next meeting of the Council of the District of Columbia is December 5th 2023 at noon I am told to say to everyone Happy Thanksgiving uh the committee of the whole you all are invited the committee of the whole has a hearing I believe at two o'clock today we usually do it in 4:12 2:15 no 2:10 that means I have to hurry it's 1:44 pm. and this meeting is adjourned