I'm calling to order this meeting.
this is a meeting of the council of the district of columbia.
it's the 32nd legislative meeting of councilmember 26.
it's also an additional meeting, meaning that it's not our
regular monthly meeting. That will be next tuesday, the
30th. We are.
I'm phil mendelson, chair of the council, and we are meeting in
room 500, the council chambers of the johny wilson building.
and this meeting is being broadcast on cable television,
channel 13, as well as on the council's website, w w w.dc.gov.
we always begin our legislative meetings with a moment of
silence. So if we could have silence in
the chamber and on the dais and everywhere else.
mr. Assistant secretary, would you please call the roll?
councilman allen here. Councilmember barnes here.
council member crawford here. Councilmember felder present.
councilmember frumin present. Councilmember henderson here.
council member. Lewis.
george here. Council chairman mendelson.
present. Councilmember nadeau here.
councilmember parker here. Councilmember pinto.
present. Councilmember.
robert white. Present.
councilmember trayon white, sr. Present.
mr. Chairman, you have a quorum. Thank you.
we have the consent agenda. Are there any changes to the
consent agenda? Hearing none to vote will be on
the consent agenda as circulated.
all those in favor say I, I, I I I.
are there any opposed. Are the ayes have it unanimously
turning to the non consent agenda.
we will begin with the fiscal year 2027 local budget act of
2026, bill 26-659. This is a final reading and I'll
moving these with leave for staff to make technical
conforming and reconciling changes with the budget.
there are a lot of lines and attributes and all kinds of
detail, and so it needs to be understood that budget staff has
leave for that. So moved.
there's an amendment in nature of a substitute that I
circulated yesterday. And so I will at this time move
that amendment in nature of a substitute.
in addition, I have circulated for amendments, and I'm making
that part of my motion. The I said four but it's
actually. Five I'm making the five
amendments part of my motion. So let me give a little bit more
background. The amendment in nature of a
substitute for the local budget act, the memo that was
circulated yesterday goes into detail about changes that that
list of changes may not be. Entirely complete, but it is
mostly representative of the changes.
and I'm going to mention some, but not all of them now.
so there's some additions to the workforce investment account.
but we had previously had $100 million for fy 27 and this
increases it a small amount. We restored some funding to the
department of transportation for some vacancy savings that
subsequently, we were told, was more than they would be able to
handle. We have added some money to the
department of general services to maintain janitorial services
and some buildings, as well as for school readiness.
and hvac maintenance. We added $2.1 million to the
board of elections. Up for election supporting the
elections in fy 27 increased by 2 million.
the sustainable energy trust fund, or the sustainable energy
utility. There's some additional money in
the department of behavioral health for school based mental
health. A little additional money in the
office of the state superintendent of education to
provide some additional money for the pay equity program.
I think it's about 72 million, not 70 million at this point,
but also some additional dollars for the literacy initiatives and
for the math initiatives. There was a math task force,
literacy task force. And this goes further with those
recommendations, $1.4 million to the department of corrections
for the lead up lead out program.
funding for the resale act, which has not been adopted by
the council but will not need to be adopted, subject to
appropriation. The some funding for this may be
an ac as well. Special education,
transportation for special olympics.
some additional dollars at dyrs. Some additional dollars.
and the office of victim services justice grants.
I'm not going through all of them, just trying to hit some of
the highlights. I think I'll leave it there.
I'll be happy to answer questions.
the amendments that are part of my motion with the amendment,
instead of a substitute amendment number one.
funds an fte at the ombudsperson for children to support
increased oversight of juvenile justice facilities that house
youth under the care of the department of youth
rehabilitation services. That's one fte amendment.
number two is a small amount of money for 2fdes to restore
funding for positions within the department of housing and
community development. Amendment number three is.
I will characterize it as somewhat technical to clarify
the type of contracts for which the district is appropriating
termination costs. Amendment number four is the
contingency list. I'll come back to that in a
second. An amendment number five is a
technical adjustment within the office of planning's budget.
resigning, reassigning recurring funding for the targeted
homeowner grant program to the special local fund associated
with the program. Amendment number four is the
contingency I felt. I hope members agree that
yesterday's discussion was very helpful and constructive.
this amendment, the. This part of my motion is the.
if there are excess funds identified in the revenue
estimates, june, september, and I believe.
december that the first $150 million increase would go to
restore. Funding in the fiscal
stabilization reserve, and then. Thereafter, if their recurring
revenues that the first 9 million would fund would be
placed in non-departmental for transfer to the housing
authority if needed for use in the event the federal emergency
housing voucher program expires, the next 3 million at would be
placed in dhs for emergency rental assistance program.
the next 2 million would be placed at the department of drs
for the credible messenger program, bringing that up to 4
million. I should note that the previous
amount. 3 million for erap, brings that
up to 10 million, and then the next 36 million on one time
funds to the workforce investment account, so that
there's less doubt about whether any cbas are negotiated.
next year could be funded. And our discussion yesterday, we
talked about the out years of the financial plan.
that's not part of this amendment because we are
focusing on the fy 27 budget on july 7th, when we take up the
budget support act, that's when we will address the out years.
we'll have a similar amendment, but it will address the out
years with regard to the financial plan.
so that is my motion to approve the amendment.
nature of a substitute with the five amendment sheets that I
just mentioned and that were circulated earlier.
is there a discussion on the motion?
council member parker. Thank you, mr. Chairman.
I was just sharing. I didn't know we could move five
amendments at once, but I didn't know what I didn't know.
we can move five amendments at once.
when you're in all seriousness, I think what again, you've done
is pretty remarkable. I do want to thank you publicly
for your work with me in funding special olympics.
that was a gap that would just be unconscionable if we were not
able to meet the need there, and I'm glad that we're able to do
it. I also think where we landed
with the contingency list feels right.
these feels like must haves as well as necessary services and
programs. Should the funding be available
to fund them. I did want to offer remarks on
your first amendment, which relates to the fte fund.
the ombudsperson related to facilities oversight for
doctors, and I would just share. I plan to support this amendment
today, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge that this
is yet again, in some ways, the us kicking the can down the
road. And mr. Chairman, we've talked
about this. And so this is more for the
public record, the road act, which this body passed in late
2024, called for independent oversight of drs, namely for
eyes to be set on the number of facilities around the country
where young people are placed. We never funded that part of the
bill. My committee in this budget
process set aside $500,000 to do what advocates are demanding,
which is to stand up independent oversight.
and yet here we have an amendment for a mere $150,000 on
a one term basis, a one year basis.
and I want to be clear, we need this oversight.
and I challenge the suggestion that was made in the mayor's
letter to the council a few weeks ago, that oversight is
merely the responsibility of the council.
yes, that is true. But when dr. S was under federal
receivership, the jerry m consent decree mandated that
there be independent oversight of the agency.
following the ruling on a class action lawsuit filed on behalf
of youth who suffered unjustly and the district secured
juvenile detention facilities. I see the clock ticking, so I'm
going to shorten this. But the point I want to make
here is when we had the o, I, j, j, f o or the independent
facilities oversight, we were able to have someone on the
ground in the facilities every day around the clock, which is
challenging for committee staff to do.
on top of that, as the road act mandated, there is a need for us
to better oversee what is happening with young people in
different jurisdictions and states, not to mention, there is
also a need for more robust research and investigative
reporting on what's happening in our facilities.
I would just acknowledge that because of the o, I, j, j f o's
work, we were able to. Mr. Chairman, if I could have
two extra minutes and I'm going to wrap up because of the oijj2
extra minutes. Yes.
let's try one minute and without objection.
okay. Because of the oijjfos work, we
were able to identify that the fire systems at dr s were not
working, and they have now been fixed.
so what? My point here is I am grateful
that we will have this $150,000 for an fte, but it is a drop in
the bucket. And again, it's kicking the can
down the road. We need to commit to more robust
oversight for all of our agencies that are caging human
beings. That includes on the adult
system as well. And I just do not think we are
taken seriously. The conditions in these
facilities. I'll conclude with this, where
we are focused now as a committee, is on making sure
that the agency properly and fully implements the road act,
and I look forward to working with the ofc or the ombudsperson
to ensure that we can hire someone to engage in the more
robust and routine oversight that is needed, at dr s so that
is a longer rant than I want to end on a positive note.
and again, thank you for your work on the budget.
thank you for funding special olympics and working with all of
us to create a contingency list that gets us to where we need.
thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you.
I have to say, I'm not quite sure how I structured this.
so I have the five amendments on the ans.
I propose that we vote on that so that we then have one
document before us. I know there's some additional
amendments. So then we'll let's vote on this
and then take the additional amendments.
I also left out a few words in my remarks.
so if there's no objection, let's just have a vote on what's
before us right now. The ans and the five amendments,
and then continue with additional amendments and some
additional remarks from me. I don't know why I'm looking at
that. And I could look at I do have a
quick question. Quick question, sorry, on
amendment one. And I believe my team reached
out this morning. So I know this is late, but we
an fte. And is it possible to move that
to nps so that if they wanted to contract out for it versus hire
someone, that that might be possible?
I have no objection to that. And if there's no objection from
anyone, then that will be accepted as part of this.
thank you. So the 150 000 amendment, number
one will be nps, not ps. So the vote will be on the ans
and the five amendments. And then we'll continue with
additional remarks from me and amendments.
all those in favor of the motion say I, I are there any opposed?
the eyes have it unanimously. I sort of left out in my
remarks. Members know that we received a
letter yesterday from the chief financial officer.
I have sent a response to him, and I don't know if that's.
copies have been distributed. They're being distributed right
now. We.
we believe in paper. So I'm just going to read from
part of this. The cfo, in his letter,
suggested that it was imprudent for for us to use this budget to
to use in this budget, $150 million in the reserves.
it is not imprudent to leave almost 95% of the reserves
untouched, especially when the reserves have never been higher
and still will hold over $2 billion, which is equal to
maintaining 62 days of operating expenses.
62 days is above the government financial officers association,
or gfoa gold standard. Moreover, our reserves are more
than enough to satisfy wall street in its april rating
action, moody's stated that their concern would arise if the
district's available fund balance fell below 15% of
revenue. Our fund balance will remain
comfortably above that threshold.
it's my belief that the chief financial officer is attempting
to impose a policy view. Policy decisions are reserved
under the home rule act to the council and the mayor.
the creation of two local reserve funds was a policy
decision of the council. The use of local reserve funds
to support appropriations, which we have done several times in
the past, is a policy decision of the council.
the level set in the law for the two local reserve funds also has
been a policy set by the council.
the chief financial officer does not have the authority to now
make a policy decision that even though we have used reserve
funds in the past for appropriation, that at this time
the council may not use local reserves to support
appropriations. And again, the amount that is in
this budget is small, less than 6% of the total reserve funds.
the need that the cfo has conveyed is liquidity, but it's
liquidity. In 2028.
now, I will note we had a hearing a couple months ago with
the chief financial officer, and I asked then for a monthly cash
flow analysis through 2028. We still have not received it.
when I asked him in person last week, it was clear that they
were unable to produce a monthly cash flow analysis through 2028.
such an analysis would actually quantify what the need is in
terms of liquidity. In 2028, we would then know the
effect of numerous measures that are being taken or could be
taken to address that need. For instance, the chief
financial officer right now is restructuring their approach to
capital financing to reduce the impact on cash flow included
with our budget action today and with the bsa is a provision
spreading pension payments over the years instead of one large
payment made in the first month of the fiscal year, the cfo has
indicated that he's negotiating the timing of transit subsidy
payments to armada. That will change cash flow.
and maybe I've mentioned this publicly.
I'll mention it now. We could change the timing of
real property tax payments, which are made twice a year,
right before they're made, is when we have the lowest level of
cash in our accounts. And I want to emphasize this is
a liquidity issue, not a balancing issue.
without having that cash flow analysis to 2028, we are unable
to know how much each of these measures I just itemized will
reduce or even eliminate the liquidity problem in 2028.
we asked the attorney general for the district two years ago
for an opinion on this issue, because this was an issue a
couple years ago. And ultimately, we did use money
from I think it was fiscal stabilization two years ago, the
attorney general for the district issued an opinion that
included that, that allowing the cfo.
this is just one excerpt allowing the cfo to dictate the
funding level of the local reserves.
quote, would remove the local budget process from within the
control of the mayor and council, and interfere with the
locally elected officials decisions about how district
government resources should be spent, unquote.
so I think it would be fair for me to say that every council
member is concerned that the district's cash flow is such
that we don't have a point where we cannot pay our bills, not
because of budget, but because of cash flow.
and I think it would be fair to say that members of the council
are more than willing to adopt measures that would smooth or
moderate cash flow, so that it is less volatile.
and we have two years to do this until 2028, so that certainly is
my commitment. I think it is our commitment as
well, that liquidity is something that we absolutely
want to ensure is not a problem, but that alleged problem in fy
2028 should not and cannot impede our ability to take a
small amount from the $2.2 billion in the local in the
reserves for support of this budget.
so that was I wanted to just add that to my remarks.
I do at this point have an oral amendment I want to move, and
then I'll recognize, I believe, councilmember henderson.
we have in the budget documents that were circulated, $21
million for park morton redevelopment.
we placed it in the wrong line. And so I'm looking at a document
that the budget office gave me. So this is in writing that we
would take $21 million from eb0 .016 c park morton redevelopment
initiative, and move that to eb0 point 509 c point.
bruce monroe. Each year.
that's 21 million in fy 27 and 21 million in fy 28.
so those sums, there's no effect on the budget.
this is simply moving them from one line to another line.
I'll turn to council member nadeau to see if I got this
right. Well done.
it's perfect. So that's one oral amendment.
if there's no objection, it will be accepted.
hearing no objection that's accepted.
the second oral amendment is to adjust slightly funding for
johnson middle school athletic field.
and also to move it so it would be moved from am oh point sk120c
point athletic facilities improvement moved to am 0.20, h
three seven. C point johnson middle school
renovation, modernization and the amount is $1,080,000.
there's no objection that will be accepted.
councilmember trayon white, sr. Does that sound right to you?
yes, sir. Chairman, we thank you for
restoring that funding. If there's no objection, it will
be accepted. Hearing no objection, it's
accepted. The third is garrison.
I don't have the project in front of me, but we had in the
budget $500,000 to improve the field at garrison elementary
school. I have to say, we've gone back
and forth on the amount. We had $1 million in first
reading. Maybe.
I was told it should only be 500 000.
so the documents have it at 500 000.
this morning I was informed it should be a million.
so my oral amendment is to increase it to a million with
leave for the budget staff to make the appropriate adjustments
to debt service if necessary. From the slight plus up we did
in workforce investment. If there's no objection,
councilmember pinto, does that work?
yes. That's right.
thank you so much, mr. Chairman. And if there's no objection,
this amendment will be accepted. Hearing no objection, it's
accepted. Councilmember henderson, you
have an amendment. Thank you, mr. Chairman.
today I this kind of feels a little deja vu, but here we are.
today I'm moving an amendment to provide funding for the
implementation of the open primary provisions approved by
district voters through initiative 83 in november of
2024, district voters overwhelmingly approved
initiative 83, with 73% of the vote.
since then, the council has taken important steps to
implement the ranked choice voting portion of that, and we
saw that system successfully utilized in last week's primary
election. I do want to extend a
congratulations and a thank you to the dc board of elections for
their work on that rollout. But initiative 383 was not
solely about ranked choice voting.
it also included provisions to allow independent voters to
participate in primary elections.
today, that portion of the initiative remains unfunded and
therefore unimplemented. The amendment before us would
complete the work that the voters asked us to do last year.
we did come close to funding these provisions, and my hope is
today we can come together and continue this track record.
approximately 85,000 district residents are registered
independent voters. They pay taxes, volunteer in
communities, serve on advisory, neighborhood commission, coach
youth sports, attend civic meetings, and contribute to
every part of public life in every corner of our city.
we all have constituents who are federal employees and cannot
affiliate with a particular political party.
we have neighbors who are judges, who are members of the
military, journalists, or simply residents who have chosen not to
join a party. Regardless of the reason.
they care deeply about the city and deserve a meaningful voice
in shaping its future. And district residents agree.
according to a recent poll, 68% of dc voters support allowing
independent voters to participate in primary
elections, with a majority of support in every ward in a
jurisdiction where one party dominates most elected offices,
the primary election is often not always, but often, the
election that matters most. Excluding independent voters
from that process means excluding them from a stage in
the election where many of their most consequential decisions are
effectively made. Let's be clear about what this
amendment does not do. It does not take away anyone's
right to vote. It does not prevent party
members from participating in their party's primary.
it does not require anyone to change their political beliefs.
it simply says that voters who choose not to affiliate with a
political party should not be forced to do so in order to
participate in a meaningful election.
we should not be telling our residents that the price to the
price of admission to our democracy in the district is
changing their voter registration.
independent voters are not spectators.
we are district residents. We are constituents, and we're
governed by the same laws, and we pay the same taxes and
deserve the opportunity to choose the leaders who represent
us. I want to address very briefly,
mr. Chairman, if the additional 30s this funding source for this
amendment to avoid any concern for my colleagues, this
amendment takes $965,250 from the workforce investment account
and spreads it across through fiscal year 27 through fiscal
year 29. In fy 30.
the remaining costs are funded through available unbudgeted
resources in the financial plan. I did work closely with the
chairman and the budget office on these sources, and is my
understanding that this limited use of the workforce investment
funds will not materially impact our ability to meet anticipated
labor obligations. Also, even with this amendment,
there will still be approximately 105 million
available today for the workforce investment account,
which is 105 million more than that was available for this
account 70 days ago. So this modest investment will
help us fulfill the will of the district voters and expand
participation in our democracy. I hope and urge my colleagues to
support this amendment. Thank you.
thank you. Councilmember is there a
discussion on the amendment? Councilmember bonds?
yes, thank you very much. And thanks to my colleague for
putting this issue before us yet again.
my question is about the cost, and I ask it because we thought
the cost for ranked choice voting was, I think, 421,000.
and we ended up adding 2.1 million, another 2.1 million is
proposed today. And of course, with the.
this does not include replacing the voting machines, which were
antiquated, ten years old, not very efficient, as we know from
the primary. So I just want us to look at
this holistically. What is it really going to cost?
we do not have to put all the money that it will cost in
today's budget. The 27 but have we really looked
at that? And I just hope, since I won't
be here to chat with you in the future, that you're looking at
it realistically as to what it will cost.
thank you for that question. Councilmember bonds.
you're correct. As you know, though, we get the
fis from the agency that tells us what they believe is their
best estimate at that time of how much it's going to cost.
the good news in this is that there's some additional time.
so any special election that would occur in 2027 would be a
special election, and therefore everyone would have the
opportunity to participate regardless of of political party
anyway. The larger cost for this hits in
fiscal year 2028, when. It would be a traditional
election year. Thank you, councilmember.
pinto. Oh, I don't know if
councilmember barnes was done. I, I was hoping to get some
sense of update of costs because the board of elections is
indicated, I guess, even in correspondence to you, that
their, their thoughts and their plan about implementation of
this part of the initiative would require separate.
I guess, information that they would have to disseminate.
and so I just want to make sure that we're talking real numbers
for a change. Yes.
councilmember barnes, we got an updated fiscal impact statement
from the board of elections yesterday.
they did add 50,000 to their estimate.
and so that is what's before us today includes that.
all right. And also just to note, this is
separate and apart from the funding because you mentioned
that around my understanding for the additional well, new not
additional machines, which we included, I believe at the first
vote. No.
oh, it's today, it's today. No, we did not include the
machines in the first vote. The first vote, we included 200.
I mean, sorry, 2.1 million, which was brought to us via the
mayor's budget. We included in today's what
we're voting on another 2.1 million, which helps with the
voter registration and all of that and getting us through the
general election. So I'm just trying to make sure
that we be realistic about it. That's that's the point of my
question. But thank you very much.
thank you, councilmember barnes. Councilmember pinto.
thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you so much, councilmember
henderson, for moving this amendment.
you know, I think one of the most.
beautiful things about being an american is that we believe here
that one person gets one vote. And no matter what party you're
in, no matter the differences, you might have agreement with
your neighbor. That's the society that we live
in that we get to choose our own leadership and increasing the
enfranchisement of nearly 100,000 residents of our city
who have traditionally been left out of the ability to
participate in our primary process is good for democracy.
it is good for the leaders that we're going to elect to the
city. And I think it's a really
important example to set nationwide.
and as we continue to. Have partizan divides, that can
be very extreme in this nation. I hope that our independence,
participating in our primary process continue to to.
or continue to are able to participate now.
so I appreciate you moving this amendment.
as you know, this is an amendment that I moved last year
in the budget, and so I hope that today we will be able to
make this difference. And I want to really
congratulate the many organizers and leaders of I-83, and
especially lisa rice and brian strategy, who have just been
working on this issue for many, many years and have really
pushed us to live up to our values in the district.
so congratulations to you all for the incredible work that
you've engaged in for many years.
thank you. Thank you, councilmember pinto
councilmember trayon white, sr., thank you, chairman, I want to
thank you. Councilmember henderson.
one of the things I am concerned about with this bill that would
fund the primary portion of I 83 is the taking the two taking the
payments from the council's workforce investment accounts.
there has been a lot of talk about unions negotiating
salaries, and it looks like this is going to take 900, 600,
$965,250 from the council's workers investment fund for
fiscal year 2027. Which provide cost of living
increase for our employees and was negotiated in good faith by
our unions. Then I think from what I'm
seeing, it further commits dollars from fiscal year 2030,
and we haven't even passed our fiscal year 2027 budget yet.
so I'm concerned about the funding source.
quite honestly. So I'm just going to digress
with that. Our workers need more pay, and
I'm not sure if this is the right funding source.
mr. Chairman, councilmember felder.
thank you, mr. Chairman. Couple questions.
first and foremost, councilwoman henderson, I do appreciate your
leadership and. On this matter, it seems like
this is deja vu. We were just having this
conversation last year around this time.
could my first question is, have you had an opportunity to talk
to the party, the democratic party, specifically, how this
may potentially water down the democratic party?
or have there been any studies as it relates to the
implications of open primaries? Well, councilmember felder.
I'll choose my words here. I believe the dc democratic
party did file a lawsuit to stop not just this, but the entire
initiative, which they were unsuccessful in terms of moving
that forward in court. And so I do believe that that
kind of exhausted that piece there.
I'll end there. Okay.
given that we recently had a, a a on under ranked choice voting,
and given that open primaries was another portion of what was
put forth last year, have you had an opportunity to talk to dc
board of elections about how. Implementing a new law would.
how would that. Do they have the necessary
resources based on them? Just recently, going through
ranked choice voting, like, is there a lessons learned?
how will open primaries, if passed, be incorporated in the
implementation of a new. A new voting system?
well, so as I said to councilmember bonds, we did have
a conversation with board of elections yesterday to get the
updated numbers. So they did indicate that they
would need additional resources. And that's what we provided
here. But I will say this is that if
we're thinking about what happens in 2027, the dc board of
elections was going to have to send every registered voter a
ballot for elections that will take place next year anyway.
so really, the big change would be around 2028.
and I think this gives us leeway to both do the voter education
that's necessary. But really the largest
difference for the board of elections is just around now.
you got to send every a mechanism to send everyone a
ballot who requests to participate in the democratic
primary. Thank you.
I would also just like to go on the record as well, to voice my
concerns about the funding for this, similar to last year, I
think we took money from food access, and I know,
councilwoman, I know there was a it was food access and another
program that really impacts the needs specifically of ward 7 and
eight residents. So I just want to be mindful of
where the money is coming from to support this initiative.
so I don't support this, and I urge my colleagues not to do the
same. Mr. Chairman, can I ask a
question to the budget director? Yes, madam budget director, does
this small reduction in the workforce investment count make
a material difference in our ability to meet our anticipated
labor obligations? Thank you for the question.
that's that's a judgment call, which might be a little bit
unfair. As you stated in your remarks 70
days ago, there was zero in this account.
at first reading, there was 100 million in this account.
after your amendment, there will be.
105.5 million in this account. And, you know, budgeting,
workforce investment is always an educated guess because we
don't know what the cost of each of these cbas are going to be.
however. You know, this is more than we
had 14 days ago. And again, more than what was
there. 70 days ago.
thank you, councilmember henderson.
I'll point out that the contingency amendment that is in
here now does have. If the revenues if the revenue
growth is sufficient, that there would be 36 million, up to 36
million more added to workforce investment.
and I appreciate that addition, mr. Chairman.
I do want to just say I spoke to several members over the
weekend, and I said that if I had an issue with the source, I
would ask that members would be mindful.
I'll even say add that they would support me in objecting to
the source. As councilmember henderson said,
when she moved this, she had talked with me about this.
I don't have a problem with the source.
that doesn't mean I'll be voting for this.
in fact, I'll speak to it in a minute, but I don't have a
problem with the source, so that's not an issue.
okay, next on the list is councilmember allen.
thank you, mr. Chairman. Knowing that I only have three
minutes, I'm not going to bury the lead.
I'm supporting this amendment today.
thank you, councilmember henderson, for moving it.
you're in your opening comments. You laid out very well why this
is the right thing to do. I'll add to it a conversation I
had with somebody when I had some initial skepticism around
independence, voting in primaries, and they kind of laid
it out for me, really around how we spend our tax dollars.
and so in some jurisdictions, a political party holds their own
primary process. They fund it.
that's how they select their political party nominees.
and that moves forward. Here.
we spend millions and millions of your public tax dollars to
hold a primary, of which a significant number of people
cannot participate. That was really compelling for
me, because if we're going to use our public tax dollars for
an election, then it stands to reason.
you want to give everyone the opportunity to participate.
they don't have to, but we'll give them the opportunity.
so I wanted to add that as one more reason why I think this
makes sense for our jurisdiction for d.c., this would take effect
for 2028. So I think the board should get
a lot of credit. I think they did a phenomenal
job and they really stepped up to the plate on a pretty
compressed timeline to implement ranked choice voting.
and I heard a lot of positive feedback from folks around how
that worked. And I think the board did a
really great job in implementing that.
they'll have two years here to be able to implement this.
that also gives us the time to be able to use oversight to make
sure that we are doing our job, to make sure the board is both
supported and any other laws or changes we need to make to make
sure it can be in effect for 2028.
makes sense. So to that, I had two quick
questions to miss henderson. One is for obviously, as a
democrat who just won the democratic primary to get access
to the ballot, I had to collect petitions and get signatures,
and I had to toss out every registered independent that
signed my petition I had to toss out.
could only accept the registered democrats.
does this move make it so that if independents can vote in the
primary that I might be a candidate on.
they also are able to sign the petition for the ballot access
for that primary. Or is that an issue we need to
work out between now and 2028? Thank you for that question,
councilmember allan. So.
the ballot initiative did not touch the petition process or
change that in any particular way.
so as it stands right now, only members of the relative party
would be allowed to sign the petition.
and that's something that we could discuss at a future time.
okay. I think that's something,
obviously, we bring our oversight to this to look at
between now and 2028. The other question I had to do
is right now, about 60% or so of voters vote using their the
ballot that comes in the mail, either by returning it by mail
or using our ballot drop boxes. So dc voters really, really like
the ballots in the mail board of elections mails a physical
ballot to every registered voter in the district, but that ballot
they receive is based on their party registration.
mr. Chairman, if I just have 30s to finish this question without
objection. Thank you.
I, I don't believe dc law lays out yet, but again, this could
be something we've got to address before 2028.
if a voter is an independent, wants to participate in a
democrat, republican green party primary, then they would be
receiving an independent ballot in the mail.
they need to request it in advance.
or is this another issue we need to probably work out between now
and 2028 about how the board needs the the guidance and
instruction to be able to make sure people get their physical
ballots the way they prefer. Thank you for the question,
councilmember allen. So this is a question of
implementation. The fee for the ballot
initiative indicates that the board of elections would create
some sort of portal for unaffiliated voters to be able
to say which ballot they prefer to receive, because the way that
this is designed, presumably they could vote in the
republican primary if that is something that they choose.
so the fifths also notes that the board said that they could
absorb the cost of that particular portal.
it might just be something that's already in their system
where, you know, you go in and check your voter registration
and you can declare which ballot that you will want to receive,
but that would be a further conversation we have with the
board of elections. And again, for all the elections
that we know of in 2027, everyone will have the
opportunity to vote. So this isn't something that
needs to be cleared up, right? With the two year on ramp to
2028, I think we can tackle the implementation issues.
they're not a barrier. We can't figure out how to get
over. And that's a charge to us.
should this amendment pass today for the council to be able to
hold the oversight and make adjustments or tweaks as
necessary to have successful implementation?
thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chair.
thank you, councilmember, allen councilmember crawford.
thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, council member
henderson and your team for this for your work on this amendment
and for the advocates that have continued to raise their voices
and support, especially lisa rice and commissioner strategy
as one of the two independent members of this council, I
believe it is important that the roughly 80,000 independent
voters in the district have a meaningful opportunity to
participate in the consequential elections that shape our city's
future. I have also heard from many
voters who supported ranked choice voting, but opposed
semi-open primaries and others who supported semi-open
primaries but not ranked choice voting.
combining multiple subjects into a single ballot measure made it
difficult for voters to express their views on each proposal
independently and continue to hear from constituents today who
do not support semi-open primaries today.
so for that reason, I would support aspects of pending
permanent legislation that prevent multiple subjects from
being combined into a single ballot initiative.
as always, implementation must be done thoughtfully.
my hope is that if this amendment passes today, this
funding will help ensure that the board of elections has the
resources necessary for voter education, registration updates
and election administration so that any potential transition is
clear, orderly, and accessible to the voters.
I wish I had more hard data on the effects of ranked choice
voting and where we ended up, but obviously we will not know
the full picture of what happened until the certification
date. So my hope is that the council,
in the future will update the law if needed.
if we ultimately learn that any of the initiative 83 changes to
our elections unfairly benefits our marginalizes one group of
people over another. Thank you.
further on the amendment, councilmember frumin.
thank you very much. Chairman mendelson.
and thank you, council member henderson for coming forward
with this. Thank you to the advocates for
I, 83, who have pushed for this at every step along the way, I
enthusiastically support this amendment.
I think it's really important to note I it's 73%, but let's just
call it three quarters of the electorate said, do this.
and that is very important. It is also one of the lessons of
this last election is that ranked choice voting seemed to
have worked pretty smoothly. I mean, what we're not hearing
is a ton of complaints. And actually, we're seeing we
saw the mechanics of it work quite smoothly.
so I think that should give us some confidence also in terms of
independents voting in the primary, there's lots of
prognostication about what impact that will have.
will it pull the elector to the left?
will it pull the electorate to the right?
I think we have no idea. And I actually think that what
we saw in this last election, not necessarily directionally,
but in terms of magnitude, shows that we have no idea what's
going to happen in elections. I mean, it was I don't know that
anybody predicted what we saw, and I don't think we can predict
what will come from this in terms of impact on the
electorate. Could go left, could go right.
the one thing we do know is tens of thousands of d.c. Residents
who, for whatever reason, choose not to affiliate with a party,
which is an increasing phenomenon not just in
washington, d.c., but in the country, will have their voices
meaningfully heard in our elections, which is exactly what
three quarters of our electorate said should happen in the
referendum. So I really hope we can push
this over the finish line and enfranchise tens of thousands of
d.c. Voters. Thank you for what you brought
forward. Further on the amendment.
councilmember robert white, thank you.
chairman mendelson. I don't need to repeat what's
been said, just a couple points. One, to highlight that this is
something that was passed by voters.
and so even if we don't like the process, we can fix the process
going forward, but we can't go back and undo it.
the second piece is in dc, increasingly in this federal
administration, there are people who are removing party
affiliation just to keep their jobs.
and and we have to be mindful of that.
last year when this came up, there was a last minute
amendment to move money from somewhere that I had a concern
about.
I appreciate councilmember henderson working with members
in order to identify a place in the budget that will have a
substantial impact on funding mechanism.
that is needed. I look forward to voting in
favor of this. Chair mendelson: thank you,
councilmember white. Councilmember parker.
councilmember parker: I admit that I moved on this.
I originally voted against us when it came up last year.
part of the reason is I'm a very proud democrat.
I am clear the democratic party, for all of its issues that some
may cite, has been a party to many folks that look like me,
and people that came before me that fought for the right to
vote. I think of people across the
city like councilmember bonds and others that have worked to
strengthen our democratic party. And I saw this effort as an
attempt intentionally or unintentionally, to weaken the
democratic party. I also worried, even though I
wanted independence to weigh into an election, I wonder
whether or not semi open primaries was the right vehicle.
were there other means that we could explore to both empower
independence but also to respect and strengthen the democratic
partner? I will just say, I've been most
moved by the neighbors I have had heartfelt conversations
with, as councilmember white alluded to, have shared, I'm an
independent because I cannot register as a democrat or
republican, what have you, or the independents that are just
playing whack a mole because they switch their party just to
vote in an election and then switch back.
for all of those reasons, because of the conversations I
had, I plan to support this today.
I would just say, implementation matters, but I think this is
also an opportunity for us as a district, a city to make perfect
our own local democracy but we are fighting on a national level
for statehood. I would just leave it at that.
I want to thank councilmember henderson for advancing this and
everybody that has made this demand.
I know I said that was my last thing, but more than 200,000
residents voted for this. So I think we should respect the
rule of the voters. Thank you, mr. Chairman.
chair mendelson: anybody else wish to speak on this?
as I indicated earlier, I don't have a problem with the source.
I spoke to members over the weekend and said if I had a
problem with the source, please stand with me.
that is not my objection here. Don't be confused about that.
I am not going to be voting for this, I didn't go for it last
year. The thoughts that go through my
mind, there are a couple. When our country was founded,
the founding fathers did not think about parties.
I think it was the third presidential election was all
screwed up because parties had involved, the constitution
didn't contemplate parties. Why do I mention that?
I want to say, is human nature, politics, there are going to be
parties, people will gravitate to parties.
so that is what we have. I understand there is happiness
within the democratic party, unhappiness within the
republican party. I think within the republican
party. I just have a challenge in my
mind with the idea that non-democrats would select who
the democratic candidate is. I will acknowledge, the
arguments made about people who choose not to be democrats, and
therefore are disenfranchised. They are not actually
disenfranchised but they are unable to vote in a democratic
primary. I think parties are about
parties. Democrats should be selecting
who their nominee is, republicans should be selecting
who their nominees are, not non-democrats or
non-republicans. That is the reason behind how I
will vote. Since nobody asked to be
recognized, the vote will be on this amendment.
all those in favor say aye. Are there any opposed?
>> mr. Chairman, please record me as no.
>> record me as voting present. >> present.
chair mendelson: two no's, two presents.
the ayes have it. I believe there are no other
amendments. The vote will be on 26-658.
no. 26-659.
the amendment in nature was a substitute moved with swap five
amendments. There were oral amendments that
I move that are included here, councilmember henderson's
amendment. I believe that is everything.
all those in favor, final reading.
>> mr. Chairman, can we make some remarks?
chair mendelson: if you are asking permission, I will say
no. If you feel motivated.
>> it is my last one. Chair mendelson: councilmember
nadeau. Councilmember nadeau: thank you,
chairman. I want to thank each and every
committee chair for their initial contributions to this
budget as well as you, chairman mendelson, the budget office
team for restoring a significant number of gaps that were present
when we received this budget from the mayor.
we all know how bad this but it was, we have talked about it.
we made it less bad. Chairman comes you've done a
great job filling those gaps. In my final committee budget, we
were able to send funds to every other committee to help fill the
gaps in the safety net created by the mayor's safety proposal
including to support more people in temporary housing, to expand
food access, wellness or seniors, programming for teens,
we found ways to take small action such as licensing and
building code changes to affect big results like building more
housing and speeding up business and contracting issues.
even more, the council as a whole plugged in many funding
gaps and made numerous investments such as adding
millions and healthy food programs, increasing the
availability of public restrooms across the district, restoring
cup to the office of the attorney general, lifting and
egg moratorium for health enrollees, restoring some
equilibrium to the childcare subsidy program, restoring the
pay equity fund and access to justice.
we successfully averted the merits opposed to step down in
benefits and work to restore the pathways program.
and much needed investments for ward 1 including a billion
dollars in one ton pumping for a grant to enable the rosemont
center to purchase its building, two hundred thousand dollars in
one-time funding program to support the implantation of
columbia heights not vision framework.
funding to support ongoing senior programming at the senior
center. More money to renovate the park
view recreation center, parks in lower georgia avenue, columbia
heights and not pleasant. The ground designed, implement
the substance abuse disorder outreach act, and business
grants to support pedestrian activation on 18.
in may, we were handed a budget that was balanced on the backs
of our most vulnerable residents, but at that has
nothing of our most fortunate residents.
although the council has identified one-time funding to
address many though not all of the funding gaps, this but it
still asks something a people who can afford more.
I propose an amendment that would have implemented a small
surtax on passive income capital gains and some other investment
that require no work by the investor on the wealthiest of
residents making $400,000 or more.
the tax was estimated to raise close to 200 million dollars in
the first year in over $100 million in subsequent years.
I appreciate the chairman's commitment to continue this
discussion of tax and revenue what the public hearing in the
fall because the next mayor will face a significant structural
debt with the budget we are passing now.
I'll be introducing permanent legislation soon for a what
proceeds tax so it can be given robust consideration.
acknowledging that we tax the earned income on people
significant me more than on earned income.
I will also ask for us to consider the tax and revenue
commission establishment act. Mr. Chairman, may I have another
minute? A permanent bill introduced last
year in and in the previous counsel period.
we are still operating in a shadowy tax revision commission
that failed to do its job and for too long this council has
buried conversations about revenue and long-term financial
stability. If we keep suppressing
legislation that proposes a better tax system, future
councils will have no choice but to try and address revenue
shortfalls through the budget process.
this is my last vote on a local budget act as a ward 1
councilmember. Have now worked on 12 annual
budgets, I can say with some experience that not only do the
residents of the district deserve a more just tech system
and social safety net, we all deserve a better way of doing
business. In closing, I want to thank the
chairman and his team and the budget office for today's
updated budget which includes a huge win for ward 1 that I have
not previously mentioned today. This capital plan fully funds an
outstanding budget cap so we can finally break ground on the
bruce monro new community site. We are more than a decade into
this effort to deliver on promises to replace all public
housing units at park horton, expand affordable housing
options, and move forward in a catholic investment in lower
georgia avenue. So I have very small gifts of
appreciation for everybody on the dais today.
I will pass these pencils down. >> can you tell us the value of
those pencils for ethics reasons?
councilmember nadeau: these pencils say bruce monro,
make it pencil. Thank you, everybody, for your
forthcoming boat on these. Thank you, chairman.
chair mendelson: thank you. We don't need speeches from
everyone. Somehow that might be out of my
control. Councilmember felder.
councilmember felder: thank you, mr. Chairman, good afternoon.
first and foremost, I want to extend my sincere and heartfelt
thanks to my council colleagues for your collaboration and
dedication throughout this budget process.
I also want to recognize and thank the budget team from the
incredible staff who supports each member on this counsel.
mr. Chairman, I also want to thank you for your partnership
about this process. I would be remiss if I did not
acknowledge that there were aspects of the budget at the
first reading that I was not fully satisfied with.
I expressed my concerns about several priorities that I
believed were important not only to ward 7 but to residents
across the city. I appreciate your willingness to
continue working collaboratively with me and my office on the
21st and 22nd reading to identify solutions and secure
investments that will make a meaningful difference across the
district. Thank you, sir.
this was undoubtedly one of the most challenging budget seasons
many of us had experienced. We entered this process facing
significant fiscal constraints, ongoing economic uncertainty,
and the reality that the district wants to continue to
navigate federal interference in our local affairs.
these challenges require difficult conversations and
difficult decisions. Despite those challenges, I am
pleased to share that between first and second reading, we
were able to secure funding to reopen kelly miller pool.
I wanted to thank councilwoman janeese lewis george for your
continued support and partnership on making that
investment have been. We were also able to secure
funding to support the planning and advance the goal expansion
from union station. Thank you, councilmember allen,
for your continued partnership, shared commitment to ensuring
the equitable transportation investments happened throughout
the district. Furthermore, there have been
many conversations over the last several months about our young
people, particularly regarding team takeovers and whether the
district is making significant investments in youth engagement
outside of programming administered through the d.c.
department of public parks and recreation centers such as
late-night hike. That is why I'm productively
pleased to fund the youth activation initiative which will
allow main street organizations and business improvement
districts across the city to access additional resources to
develop initiatives, innovative initiatives in a way that
engages our young folks. Speaking of main streets, one of
the items in this year's budget that I'm most proud of is
establishing a new main street along the benning road corridor.
there are several other notable investments.
mr. Chairman, one minute, please.
there are also several other notable investments included in
this local budget act but I will not discuss in great detail
today, however, I will simply note that they include
investments in environmental initiatives, public green
spaces, support for small and local businesses, additional
resources to combat illegal dumping, and improved
cleanliness across ward 7. Last but certainly not least,
strengthen and grow ward 7's economy.
the truth is, if we do not begin to make difficult decisions in
the near future, we may very well find ourselves in the same
position next year, facing many of these same challenges.
that is why I believe that it is so important to increase
conversations about fiscal accountability.
with that, I will wrap this up, mr. Chairman.
chair mendelson: thank you, councilmember.
councilmember trayon white. Councilmember white: thank you,
mr. Chairman. We can all agree that one got
the first budget in may, we faced some critical decisions.
we saw some critical safety nets that were in serious peril.
we saw how those who are working-class and poor in the
city were fighting just to stay and thrive in a fragile and
growing city. For ward 8 city residents, I
want to acknowledge today, we have see movement in our healthy
food object included one point $4 million in food access grants
along with money for programs such as programs plus, farmers
market, nourish d.c. We say we are what we eat, but
is important as a government to provide access to quality health
care and healthy food options and across the district.
we see movement in our school, behavior health that includes
1.6 million, fy 27, 6 .4 million to exit two financial plans to
support school-based behavior health programs, and 7.7 million
for the program overall. 29.3 million for the program
overall. We see our schools, 2.4 million
support, community schools partnership.
we see of adult literacy, one .4 million for our washington
literacy center to support adult learners to increase adult
transit subsidy from 70 to $100 per month.
we see improvement in our ward 8 business corridor where a lot of
our small and local businesses are struggling to stay in the
district. We put money to do that and stay
steadfast, increasing recreational opportunities and
opening up three more recreation centers in ward 8.
I've seen movement on the utility assistance protection
including several sweeps from utility assistance, and
prevention funds to ensure those resources remain available for
residents who need support. Thank you you, chairman, we have
supported funding to demo of our family success centers in ward 8
, congress heights, bellevue. We see movement in supporting
including two million-dollar support of violence interruption
safety work. We see movement.
we had a recreation center being built in ward 8.
the gym was taken out. We proposed that adamantly.
we don't see a purpose of having a record without a gym.
seems like you want to keep kids out.
thank you to my counselor colleagues or supporting that.
$1.5 million to support early childhood pay equity, to bring
the total to 60.5 million. There's a list of other things
that I would like to talk about as well but I think we are not
where we need to be, but we are far from where we started.
I want to thank the budget office, committee chairs,
council colleagues, staffers who do the hard work of lifting the
budget up each and every day. To everyone who advocated for
equity in this budget. Thank you, chairman.
chair mendelson: thank you, councilmember.
councilmember frumin. Councilmember frumin: thank you,
chair mendelson. In april, when we got this
budget, I would never have dreamed that we would get to
where we are. The mayor face enormous
challenges with hurdles out of her control.
she came forward with the best budget she could, but she
acknowledged in a moment the shortcomings of that budget.
in the two months that followed, we have all look for savings and
ways to strengthen this budget and we have achieved all lot.
restoring pay equity, childcare subsidy, funding new volunteers,
protecting tanis, protecting the workforce accounts,
strengthening our libraries, supported the arts,
strengthening the department of buildings that is so critical,
acting in support of our seniors, providing health care
insurance for folks who need it, providing for medical education,
funding the setf. The list goes on and on.
we have done a phenomenal job. You have done a phenomenal job,
mr. Chairman. Councilmember nadeau talked
about a revenue raiser which might have fit into the mix here
but did not in this round. Part of what you said was that
doing revenue raisers through the budget process is not the
way you do it. We need to have a hearing on
revenue raisers. We need to vet ideas around
revenue raisers. It is not that we cannot do it,
but we need to do it right if we are going to do it.
mr. Chairman, thank you to you for agreeing to have a hearing
on that topic so we can put ideas on the table.
instead, the way in which, part of the way in which we are
achieving what we are achieving is by drawing from cash
reserves. The cfo says that that is
imprudent. You addressed this before.
it is the cfo's job to tenaciously push for fiscal
restraint and accountability. I get it.
but I actually think the way in which we are doing this is
maximally thoughtful and prudent.
what has been set up is a solid budget that can be part of a
soft landing as we are trying to find savings in this budget
going forward, and we will again next year.
also, it sets up a hearing in the fall after we have gotten
the revenue estimates come after we have a sense of what the fy
26 close is, to make a determination or to consider
ideas about how we move forward. It sets up our next mayor with
the information based on those things to make decisions and
what will be her most consequential first budget.
one minute from mr. Chairman. Chair mendelson: without
objection. Councilmember frumin: right now,
it looks like the fy 26 close will allow us to replenish the
reserve. We will see.
but every indication is that it will.
if it does, then it really truly validates the approach that you
have taken. Meanwhile, the whole process
sets up the next mayor as well as we possibly could.
I want to say, I'm incredibly grateful, chairman mendelson, to
you and your team. I'm incredibly grateful to my
team and all of the staff of the council for the work that has
happened over the last 10 weeks. We have really come up with
something that we can all be very, very proud of.
I will very probably vote for this budget.
thank you for everything you've done, mr. Chairman.
chair mendelson: thank you, councilmember frumin.
so we have the bill as amended before us.
>> my hand was raised. Chair mendelson: finally on the
side of the day is. Councilmember lewis george:
vekic, mr. Chairman. After the first vote, I spoke
broadly about this budget including the city investments
and trade-offs and challenges before us.
today I want to speak directly to ward 4 residents about what
this but it delivers for our community and why these
investments matter for the whole district.
ward 4 is a community that shows up for each other from tacoma to
brentwood, shepherd park to riggs park on pepper three
tributaries. Ward 4 residents care deeply
about the city and deserve a city that reflects their needs
and values. For ward 4, this but include
some important wins. It invested in our schools and
school facilities including modernization funding for what
your elementary school, lasalle elementary school, funding for
the shepherd park thorton library modernization.
these are long needed investments in public facilities
that serve ward 4 families every day.
it includes more than 3,000,004 summer .26 school readiness
work, helping to make dcps campuses, making sure they are
ready to welcome students, educators, and families the
school year. It also includes funding for a
career ready early scholars which helps our young people
explore career pathways earlier and build the skills they need
for the future. It invest in recreation and
community spaces across ward 4 including hvac and russo played
that work in chevy chase recreation center, hvac
placements at la salle recreation center, community
garden at fort stevens recreation center, also includes
funding for many of the amenities that are community
supports. This budget as a target
investment that includes rodent resistant litter cans at emory
heights recreation center, and up share recreation center,
additional support for what resistant trash cans and a new
building inspector at the department of buildings.
also includes a greenhouse gas emission study to help the
understand and reduce emissions as we plan for a healthier
future. I also proud of this budget that
includes ward 4 specific investments into, main street
and the bright white family success center.
these are investments in local businesses, families and
community support systems that help neighborhoods thrive.
importantly, this budget includes winds for workers.
it provides 6.5 million dollars in additional enhancement for
the workforce and has been at account to support overdue pay
increases for essential public sector workers including
firefighters and other workers to keep our city running.
it also fully funds the electric and gas utility underground work
wage act of 2024, extending prevailing wage protections to
underground utility work performed by gas and electrical
workers. Public dollars and essential
info structural work should support good jobs can reduce the
risk of labor disruptions, and ensure high quality for the
district residents. Thank you for working with me to
get that done. I want to make clear to our
constituents that our work is not done once we pass this part
of the budget. There is still important work to
be done to ensure that out-of-state corporation that
benefit from our resources and infrastructure are paying their
fair share of taxes. We cannot continue to kick the
can down the road as more than two years after the tax revision
commission published a recommendation for a broader,
more resilient taxpayers to protect against economic
downturn and to ensure future funding for high quality public
services. We cannot continue to rely on
last-minute solutions. I support the chairman's
decision to hold a fall hearing on a full array of choices
including councilmember nadeau's and others provisions.
the people of the district deserve a full hearing on where
they can weigh in on the options before us and where we can
thoughtfully consider the proposals and make any needed
adjustments based on their feedback.
I look forward to hearing from district residents at the
hearing later on this fall. This budget is not perfect, no
but it never is. There are still urgent needs and
ward 4 and across the district. We will have to keep fighting
for affordable housing, safe streets, reliable basic
services, and a government that works for every resident.
today, I'm proud that we were able to secure investments for
residents enrolled for while protecting citywide priorities.
these investments reflect the work of residents, advocates,
workers, families, anc commissioners, community
organizations who showed up and made clear that there
neighborhoods and the city needs matter.
thank you again, chairman, council collars, council budget
staff, committee staff, my team from everyone who worked hard
through this budget process. Chair mendelson: thank you,
councilmember lewis george. Councilmember pinto.
councilmember pinto: thank you so much, mr. Chairman.
thank you for all of your work and partnership on this budget.
thank you to everybody in the budget office and the office of
general counsel. My team, all of my colleagues
teams. This is a very intense process
for the last couple of weeks. I appreciate everyone's
partnership. As I mentioned at the first
vote, do is grappling with a shifting federal landscape,
building vacancies, shifting uses in our downtown, and the
rising cost of living that has become prohibitively expensive
for so many of our residents. The policies of this
presidential administration on government layoffs, immigration
policy, and tariffs have deeply hurt district residents and our
economy. Even while wages were district
workers rise, families are feeling it with soaring costs at
the grocery store, housing, and utility bills.
the increase in the poverty rate particularly for black residents
is especially troubling, and ensuring we have a tightly woven
safety net and robust opportunities to lift every
resident out of poverty must continue to be a priority.
our role on the council to put forth a budget is ever more
important as we confront the urgent need to diversify our
local economy and provide innovative economic
opportunities for our residents while we maintain fiscal
responsibility, ensure public safety for our residents and
visitors, increase affordability for housing and childcare, and
support our seniors, young people, and residents most in
need. I am pleased for your
partnership from mr. Chairman, to continue to support the
workforce investment fund so that we can pay our hard-working
firefighters, union and nonunion employees additional money for
the pay equity fund, $200,000 for the structure and literacy
training, additional $1.4 million for the lead up, lead
out program, to support residents in the d.c. Jail, over
$800,000 for rat proof trash cans.
probably the number one concern I hear from residents in all
eight wards. Support is coming.
restoration of ftes the department of rehabilitative
services, so important to keep for kids in custody and staff
there safe. Additional funding to support
our bids to activate space for our young people in particular.
excited to see much of this funding become available even
in, the fiscal year supplemental budget so we can make sure our
kids have safe thing to do this summer.
I will say, though, while the chairman has found hundreds of
millions of dollars to fund these other important programs,
and I appreciate doing so while avoiding significant tax
increases, I continued to have serious reservations about the
use of our reserves and caution the continued use of these funds
in the future could prove perilous for the district.
reserves should be used for cash flow and emergencies, not for
one time funding of programming. I'm glad to see some changes in
the lba that clarify their punishment of the reserves
moving forward from this year if we are in a budget surplus.
I know the chairman will have a hearing in the fall about
different options for raising taxes.
raising taxes while our economy is on such uneasy footing could
very well backfire. Having tremendous impact on our
businesses and our families. I think it is very important and
do see that we have a tax structure that is progressive,
and we know that we have one of the most progressive tax
structures in the entire nation. And at the same time, encourages
growth so we can generate jobs can keep businesses here, and
bring new ones, and help ensure all of our families, all of our
residents and seniors can drive. We cannot do this and fund
everything we need to as a city without people coming here and
growing and opening up their business here.
we need both. I will end there.
thank you, mr. Chairman. There is lot of work and
conversation we need to have around the bsa which I look
forward to having in the coming days.
I'll be voting for today's budget.
thank you. Chair mendelson: thank you.
councilmember parker. Councilmember parker: thank you,
mr. Chairman. I'll be brief.
I want to leave by thinking my team and committee staff.
I want to thank the budget team as well as your team, mr.
chairman. There is a lot of work that goes
into preparing this budget. This year, like has been said,
it has been a really challenging year.
a few committee highlights. I'm thrilled we were able to
restore five of the nonfamily success centers that were cut.
those include bellevue, braidwood, congress heights,
deanwood. We restored to chores as well as
partially restored at million for critical messengers, fund of
the soul act which will create a new permanency pathway for our
older foster youth. Ward 5, we secured 15 million
additional dollars one the langdon park recreation center
modernization, added policy language to ensure project
reflects the desires of residents.
we also added policy language for the harry thomas recreation
center project for the same reason, added $1 million to the
new york avenue recreation center to put it on the map for
future monetization. Thanks to the chairman's
partnership, we were able to secure $700 million for a new
hvac system for wheatley which is long overdue.
thanks to councilmember allen's partnership, we were able to
safeguard the $6 million for wmata for metrobus improvements
to ensure the c63 adn d36 are addressed and can support
seniors and ward 5. We secured 155 thousand dollars
to improve traffic safety with truck cameras.
we secured new retail grants for our major corridors including
rhode island avenue and 12th street in northeast.
I want to give a shout out to the brooklyn neighborhood civic
association for their partnership there.
last but not least, really looking forward to the office of
planning as we look toward the comp plan to assure that we can
finally address the concentration of industrial land
use in communities endboards, 57, eight.
there's a lot to celebrate but I want to thank the budget team,
my team, and yours, mr. Chairman, for all of your work.
chair mendelson: thank you, councilmember parker.
now, if there is no further, we have the bill as amended before
us. Bill 26-659.
I believe for staff to make technical conforming and
reconcile changes. All those in favor say aye.
are there any opposed? Hearing none, the ayes have it
unanimously. We will turn onto the fiscal
year request act of 2026, 26-58. Not sure why this is on non-.
went to market through the committee as a whole today.
in any event, so moved. Is there discussion?
the what will be on bill 26-685, again with lee.
to make conforming and reconciling changes.
I don't think they'll need to do that with this.
bill26-685, final reading, all those in favor say aye.
are there any opposed? Hearing none, the ayes have it
unanimously. We have bill 26-208, open
meeting clarification amendment act of 2026.
so moved. I circulated an amendment, I
believe last evening. This amendment is not
substantively different from what was approved at first
reading. It clarifies the language in the
amendment that councilmember allen had moved, was adopted.
I move the amendment. If there is no objection, the
amendment will be accepted. >> mr. Chair.
not objecting but I have a question.
chair mendelson: councilmember allen.
councilmember allen: I agree. For my politics following this
closely, the amendment in front of us is not sensitive in
nature, it is clarifying wordsmithing as it were.
I had one question to make sure that it was on the record to
make sure there is not any misinterpretation.
one of the elements of this clarifying amendment is that
email messages are not considered meetings under the
open meetings act. I want to make sure it is clear
for the record your intent does not foreclose someone requesting
those email exchanges through foia as long as they are
responsive to that foia request. Just to clarify that for the
record, moving that language is not an act of singles those
email messages are not foia, if they were subject to a request.
chair mendelson: you are correct, this bill does not
implicate the freedom of information act.
councilmember allen: I just wanted to make sure that was
clear. Chair mendelson: if there is no
objection, the amendment that I circulated will be
accepted. Hearing no objection, it is
excepted. We have the bill as amended.
is there discussion? But what will be on bill 26-208
as amended. All those in favor say I.
any opposed? Councilmember allen: please
record as voting no. >> please record me as voting
present. Chair mendelson: mr. Assistant
secretary, councilmember allen, louis george are recorded as no.
councilmember trayon white is recorded as present.
the ayes have it. We will turn now to emergency
legislation, and the first item is the declaration.
2 this would be bill6-662, fiscal year 2026 revised local
budget emergency act. To get there we have to approve
the declaration. 460.
so moved. I circulated an amendment in
nature of a substitute. I think I will go over the --
and nature of a substitute to a good declaration.
I will speak to but we are doing to the revised local budget act.
this is what we call the supplemental.
the revision to the current fiscal year 2026 local budget
act. Ans was circulated yesterday.
there are reductions for overspending, savings across
agencies which are used to balance the budget and financial
plan. The largest of these reductions
which occurred over the weekend is $22 million from workforce
investment account in fy 26 to cover a spending pressure that
was identified over the weekend as a result of public charter
schools, special education funding.
all of that is consistent with upsff.
I'm not sure why that funding pressure was not identified
earlier in this budget season, but it was.
I will not go through all of the changes but includes $10 million
to the office of the state superintendent of education to
fully address the childcare subsidy spending pressure in fy
26. There are additional dollars to
the department of parks and recreation to support the
expansion of dpr hours and programs.
additional dollars in the department of general services
to support school readiness work in the summer.
there are additional dollars to the commission on arts and
humanities so that they can restore the large capital grants
program that was aborted with the mayor's proposed budget.
there is additional dollars to the board of elections to
replace 450 express boat ballot marking devices.
I think we call those voting machines.
we mentioned in connection with fy 27, there are some dollars
apparently in 26 related to the resale act.
those are just some of the highlights.
what I am moving is the declaration pr 26-40 so that we
can move to the bill. I circulated an amendment.
nature was substitute to the declaration.
I have to move that. So moved.
is there discussion on the ans? If there is no objection, the
nature of the substitute for the declaration will be accepted.
hearing no objection, it is accepted.
we have the declaration as amended.
discussion? Vote?
all those in favor of the declaration say body.
are there any opposed? Hearing none, the ayes have it
unanimously. The underlying bill, bill 26-662
which I just described. So moved.
I circling an amendment nature of the substitute which I just
described. Is there discussion?
I do want to note I am moving this measure with lee for staff
to make technical conforming and reconciling changes.
the amendment nature of the substitute.
if there is no objection, it will be accepted.
hearing no objection, it is accepted.
we have the bill as amended before us.
further discussion? I do have an amendment.
give me a second. Apparently I have two
amendments. One of them I circulated
yesterday last evening. It is to replace the chart in
section six, capital project funding rescissions and
increases with the following. That is budget neutral.
the chart and amendment nature substitute omitted the project
adjustments to move budget between funding details net to
zero dollars. These are highlighted in green.
if you have the color version for informational purposes in
the circulation. The green will be removed and
the final bill. I guess we are doing monochrome.
I move this amendment number one.
discussion? If there is no objection, it
will be accepted. Here are no objection, it is
accepted. What is my second amendment?
I remember that. Give me a second.
give me just a second. I don't have the paperwork in
front of me but it was circulated yesterday.
I have a two amendments. The first one was accepted to
the capital, the capital table in the bill.
this amendment is amendment number two, circulated yesterday
evening. What it does is, it clarifies
the amendment nature, substitute nature used in both fy 26 and fy
27. So moved.
amendment number two, circulated yesterday evening.
is there discussion? Hearing none.
if there is no objection, it will be accepted.
here no objection, it is accepted.
so we have -- we have the bill as amended.
bill 26-662, amended by the amendment of the nature of the
substitute, amendment by amendment number one, amendment
by amendment number two. Is there any further discussion?
all those in favor of the fiscal year 2026 revised local budget
emergency act of 2026 say aye. Are there any no boats?
hearing on coming the ayes have it unanimously.
the next measure is br 26, local budget resolution of 2026.
so moved. Give me a second.
my confusion is that the agendas of list it.
there was an amendment to the declaration of the substitution
but I circulated that yesterday, so I have move the declaration.
I'm now moving the end of the nature of the substitute.
apologize for the confusion. So moved on the amendment nature
of the substitute. This is to the declaration for
pr 36-639. Is there discussion?
what we're doing is adopting the local budget act for fy 27 on an
emergency basis. The local budget act which we
previously adopted at this meeting has to go to congress
for the congressional review so it's unlikely that it will be
effective by the start of the fiscal year.
we do this as an emergency version as well.
is there discussion on the amendment nature of the
substitute? If there is no objection, it
will be accepted. Here no objection, it is
excepted. The vote will be on pr 26-639 as
amended. All those in favor say I.
are there any opposed? Hearing none, the ayes have it
unanimously. I move the underlying bill,
bill26-660. Give me a second.
I am just double checking. I don't think we circulated an
amendment picture of the substitute.
>> we did in order because the mayor introduced [indiscernible]
chair mendelson: madam general counsel, barely I circulated an
amendment nature substitute. The reason I'm not sure, it is
not listed on the agenda. I don't know if I need to move
the amendment nature of a substitute because I'm going to
ask or say that my motion is conforming to the permanent.
I think that then encompasses everything.
>> that's correct. Chair mendelson: ok, our members
clear?on that the fiscal year 20.7 local
budget emergency act but I am moving conforms to the permanent
version. Bill 26-659 which we adopted
earlier in this agenda, and which we ended in several ways.
in fact, many ways. The emergency conforms to that.
any questions from members? Hearing none.
is there discussion? Hearing none.
the vote is on bill 26-660. Conform to the permanent bill.
all those in favor say aye. Are there any opposed?
hearing on coming the ayes have it unanimously.
we have under temporary legislation bill 26-663, fiscal
year 26 revised local budget temporary act of 2026.
so moved. Madame general counsel, same
question. There was an amendment nature of
a substitute but my motion is that this conforms to the
emergency we just adopted. >> that's correct.
chair mendelson: everyone clear? We are only passing one bill but
three versions of it. One version of three bills.
they are all the same. One is emergency, one is
temporary. One is permanent.
so moved. Discussion.
assuming everyone knows what we are doing, the vote is on bill
26-663 conforming to the permanent.
all those in favor say I. Are there any opposed?
the ayes have it unanimously. Madame general counsel, you are
clear on what we've done. >> yes, mr. Chairman.
chair mendelson: all of this was moved leaving room for
technical and reconciling changes.
there is no further business. The council will have a regular
meeting of the regular monthly meeting on june 30.
we will have an additional legislative meeting on july 7
where we will take up a budget support act.
we will have an additional meeting on july 14 where we will
have our last meeting before the council recess.
>> mr. Chairman. Question, it is the only thing
on the device of the agenda the budget support act?
chair mendelson: at the moment, yes.
because it is an additional meeting, I have the ability to
keep things off. If there was something like an
emergency that came up to him about an emergency, but a real
emergency. I don't want to say that it is
only that but it is probably only that.
the time is 1:53 p.m. This meeting is adjourned.