Busy Fall Legislative Season Continues with Legislative Meeting's Pragmatic Agenda • Council of the District of Columbia

The Council has scheduled an aggressive fall agenda, with hearings on the topics of foremost interest to District residents. Beginning this week, and continuing through the coming month, the Council has a hearing schedule packed with the topics constituents are eager to see them address. These include:

dangerous drivers, including license suspensions, automated traffic safety, and the proliferation of expired and fake temporary tags
the operation, accuracy, and transparency of the District’s 911 system
school building readiness, and the work order system that leads to disappointing results each back-to-school season
confirmation of agency directors at the Department of Health and the Department of Buildings
fare-jumping in the Metrorail system

In the lead-up to those hearings, however, the Council took action on focused, practical measures that are already further along in the legislative process. At the most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council

extended the applicability of emergency public safety legislation the Council passed in July, to avoid a gap in implementation due to intricacies of the Congressional review process (the July bill made endangerment with a firearm a felony offense, made strangulation a standalone felony offense, expanded pretrial detention in certain cases, prohibited those convicted of stalking from carrying a firearm, etc.)
updated DC’s divorce laws, eliminating a mandatory six to twelve month waiting period, particularly necessary in divorce cases involving domestic violence
reformed insurers’ use of prior authorization, setting explicit timelines for approvals and banning insurers from making prior authorization decisions based exclusively on cost
extended a regulatory window for the elimination of the last hurdle before the much-anticipated 11^th Street Bridge/Park project (similar to New York City’s High Line) can receive final permits and proceed
finalized the removal of COVID from the list of mandatory vaccines for DCPS students
ceremonially renamed a number of streets to honor prominent Black Washingtonians, such as former At-Large Councilmember Julius Hobson, Sr., Delta Sigma Theta sorority co-founder Edna Brown Coleman, and health care/daycare luminary Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee.

The Council’s next Legislative Meeting is scheduled for November 7.