Council’s End of Year Legislative Pace to Accelerate; Two New Council Subcommittees Created

Each two-year Council Period tends to see a fairly predictable ebb and flow to legislative activity during different phases of its 24-month life cycle.

In the early weeks of a new Council Period, there is a vast flood of introductions, as newly-elected Councilmembers cut their legislative teeth by introducing their first bills, and bills that did not complete their legislative journey in the prior Council Period are revived so they can have a second chance. The pace of legislating slows somewhat in the following several months, as the Council is consumed with its intensive agency-by-agency performance and budget oversight hearings, followed by the drafting and passage of the budget itself. The legislative pace ticks back up during the fall and winter that bridges from the first year of the Council Period to the second. Things slow again as the second of two budget cycles in the Council Period comes and goes.

This brings us to where things stand in our current Council Period, Council Period 25 (which, incidentally, also marks the 50^th year of the District's Home Rule era). In the final three and a half months of a 24-month Council Period, the legislative pace hastens by necessity. Under the Council Rules, any bill that has not received two affirmative Council votes prior to the end of the Council Period must restart its legislative life anew in the next Council Period.

In the remaining weeks of this Council Period, you can expect to see any urgent new legislative priorities tackled in an expeditious manner, since relevant bills would need to both begin and complete the legislative process prior to year's end. And you can also expect to see legislation that was previously introduced as far back as January of 2023 to awaken from its legislative slumbers and progress to completion before 2025 and Council Period 26 arrive.

Two New Council Subcommittees Created, and Investigation Authorized

In contrast to the seasonally predictable ebbs and flows of the legislative process as were just delineated, an unusual bit of Council procedural timing occurred at the most recent Legislative Meeting. Normally, just prior to the organizational meeting that kicks off each two-year Council Period, the Chairman introduces a resolution that lays out the organization and procedures for the subsequent two years. Most notably, this resolution includes the number of Council committees, their jurisdiction, chairs, and membership.

Subsequent changes to the organizational element of this January resolution usually only occur in the unexpected context of potential or actual changes in the membership of the Council. Such was the case at the most recent Legislative Meeting, when, in the context of the ongoing legal investigation into Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, a resolution restructuring of the Council's committee structure was introduced and passed with just three and a half months remaining in the Council Period.

The Committee on Recreation, Libraries, and Youth Affairs (chaired by Councilmember Trayon White) was eliminated, and replaced with two new subcommittees that fall under the Committee of the Whole. The Subcommittee on Recreation and Community Affairs will be chaired by Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin and the Subcommittee on Libraries and Youth Affairs will be chaired by Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker.

Additionally, the resolution authorizes a Council investigation by the law firm assisting the Ad Hoc Committee created by the Chairman on August 23 to investigate Councilmember Trayon White.

Licensed Cannabis Businesses Encouraged, Enforcement Against Unlicensed Businesses Increased

In other legislative action at the most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council passed, with the first of two needed votes, a bill to further heighten the distinction between the treatment of licensed and unlicensed cannabis businesses in the District.

Throughout the present Council Period, the Council has acted to facilitate legal cannabis transactions by licensed medical marijuana businesses while steadily turning up the heat on unlicensed businesses. Due to Congress' longstanding refusal to allow the District to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis products, a de facto two-tiered system of providers developed across several years.

In the first tier are licensed medical marijuana providers, who dispense regulated and quality-controlled products to all those with a medical need, including those who self-certify that need. In the second tier are the so-called "gifting businesses" that circumvented the ban on recreational marijuana sales by ostensibly providing "free" marijuana in exchange for over-payment for unrelated token items such as shirts and stickers.

In earlier legislation, the Council created a pathway for businesses in the latter category to come clean and transition into the regulated and licensed category. As long as the un-transitioned businesses in the second category continue to operate in an unregulated manner, they provide dramatic unfair competition to the businesses operating legally in the first category, threatening their viability and survival.

The latest legislation passed on first vote by the Council at its most recent Legislative Meeting builds upon past legislation's attempts to facilitate more extensive business operations from the licensed businesses, while further cracking down on the unlicensed providers.

In regards to the licensed businesses, the bill creates a new category of qualifying patient-the non-resident. Non-residents from other states and countries who are not enrolled in any other jurisdiction's medical cannabis programs would be able to apply for a temporary credential in the District and purchase cannabis in our licensed businesses.

In regards to non-licensed businesses, the bill provides the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration with the permanent authority to conduct inspections of such businesses, as well as enforcement authority against these businesses and their landlords. Penalties include fines and the ability to padlock businesses to force their operation to cease.

Unrelated to the licensed/unlicensed business stratification, the bill also increases the minimum distance allowed between a new cannabis business and any school/recreation center from 300 to 400 feet, and requires that the approval process for new businesses also take into account proximity to daycare businesses. The bill also requires that Councilmembers and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners receive advance notification of the location of proposed new or relocated cannabis businesses. Finally, the bill expands the definition of social equity applicants seeking new cannabis licenses to also include the direct family members of those adversely affected by the War on Drugs.

Other Legislative Business

Also at the most recent Legislative Meeting:

• The applicability of a previous bill allowing retired police officers and firefighters with the ability to work for the beleaguered Office of Unified Communications as 311/911 call-takers without interrupting or endangering their ongoing pension payments was extended.
• Sharon Kershbaum was confirmed as the Director of the District Department of Transportation.
• A previously approved property tax abatement for the United Negro College Fund headquarters which had inadvertently lapsed was reinstated on the first of two necessary Council votes.
• On the first of two necessary votes, current legislation emphasizing the availability and quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) services by the District government would be expanded to ensure that schools have plans to respond to cardiac emergencies, in light of the recent uptick in such emergencies among student athletes
• A bill passed on the first of two necessary votes to begin the process of establishing criteria for the eventual certification of general contractors, a process that exists in neighboring states but not the District.
• Also passed on the first of two necessary votes was a bill to require applicants for building permits to demonstrate that their insurance provides coverage for potential loss or damage to neighboring properties.

The Council's next Legislative Meeting will be held on October 1.

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