DC Council Kicks Off New Year with First Legislative Meeting of 2026

While there is no such thing as a quiet legislative year for the DC Council, 2025 definitely outdid itself in terms of the scope of the legislative lift that year required. From the kickoff of Council Period 26 to approval of redevelopment of the RFK Stadium site to omnibus public safety and housing reforms to balancing the books in a tight budget year, the Council had its hands full in 2025.

Starting 2026 off right, the Council's first Legislative Meeting of the year took on a number of legislative priorities, from economic development to public safety to education. The meeting's agenda was built on the kind of modest, day-to-day, meat-and-potatoes bills that do not always attract media attention, but which are the essence of what the Council does and how it strives to maintain its focus on assisting the public and improving life in the District.

Soul of the City and Anacostia Business Improvement Districts

Via three pieces of emergency, temporary, and permanent legislation, the Council created a new
"Soul of the City" Business Improvement District (BID). The BID will encompass the Congress Heights neighborhood as well as the non-federal Saint Elizabeths East campus and other adjacent areas. It will consist of portions of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, Alabama Avenue, Southern Avenue, and Wheeler Road corridors. The BID will focus on beautification, revitalization, and economic development.

By simultaneously passing emergency, temporary, and permanent legislation, the Council accelerated the ability for the District to collect the new BID's assessments, accelerating its establishment and the roll-out of its services. The new BID will be the thirteenth in the District and the second in Ward 8. In other action at the Legislative Meeting, the boundaries of the first BID in Ward 8, the Anacostia BID, were expanded to incorporate the future 11^th Street Bridge Park project, as well as to bridge gaps between the previous BID boundaries and the adjacent Anacostia-Bolling military facilities.

Home Purchase Assistance for Transit Workers

This legislation expands eligibility for the Government Employer-Assisted Housing Program (GEAHP) to include workers employed by transit agencies owned or subsidized by the DC government. The GEAHP provides DC government employees buying their first home in the District with zero-interest loans and matching grants to go towards down payments and closing costs for home purchases within DC. Currently, only roughly one in ten DC-area transit workers lives in the District, and this legislation seeks to increase those numbers.

Extreme Heat Eviction Protection

Under current law, evictions in the District are postponed if, at 8AM on any given day, the prediction is that at the weather station at National Airport, the temperature will not exceed 32 degrees in the 24 hours to follow. Evictions are also prohibited if precipitation is actively falling at the time and place of an eviction. (An exception in both cases is provided if the tenant committed a crime in the unit, or if they constitute an undue hardship to the health and safety of other residents or neighbors.)

Via action at its most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council added a third weather-based exception to the eviction law: evictions in the District will now be postponed if, at 8AM on any given day, the prediction is that at the weather station at National Airport, the temperature will exceed 95 degrees.

First Responder Retention

With the District's public safety employment numbers under constant scrutiny, and in light of aggressive and lucrative recruitment incentives offered by competing agencies both locally and nationally, it is a high priority for the District to retain the first responders who already work for the District government. In pursuit of this goal, the Council passed emergency and temporary legislation at its most recent meeting to eliminate the mandatory retirement age (60 years old) for Metropolitan Police Department and Fire and Emergency Medical Service employees. All employees regardless of age would remain subject to existing physical fitness tests.

Public Benefits Security

Permanent legislation approved in the second of two necessary votes at the most recent Legislative Meeting would require the Department of Human Services to restore stolen public benefits to the recipient. Only benefits administered by the Department of Human Services would be covered, and any such thefts would need to be reported to the agency within six months. The bill was introduced in the context of increasing theft and fraud, particularly related to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The bill also requires the Department of Human Services to transition to more secure chip-based benefit cards, and away from those with magnetic stripes. Replacing the stolen benefits addresses the impact of the fraud on families, while the mandated technological fix would eliminate the most frequent method via which the theft occurs.

Petition Administration Clarification Emergency

With the District on the cusp of what promises to be the most active election season in years, it is essential that any potential shortcomings in the groundwork for this election be rapidly addressed. Via emergency legislation to ensure its timeliness, the Council took action to ensure that the sanctity of candidate nomination, referendum/initiative, and recall petitions be guaranteed. Under the terms of the new legislation, those circulating petitions will no longer be allowed to modify any information provided by a signer, unless the signer requests such assistance prior to signing. Petition circulators will have to affirm via their signature on a petition that they in no way modified others' signatures on the document. Additionally, the bill bans the use of White-out or any other correction tape or fluid on petitions.

Public Charter School Board Nominations

At the Legislative Meeting, the nomination of four candidates to the Public Charter School Board were approved. Given that the Board has seven members, the filling of four seats is a necessity to allow the Board to reach quorum for its votes. The timely release of recent government and think tank reports on declining birth rates in the District and the corresponding potential decline in DC school enrollment was discussed in the context of the approval of the nominations.

The first meeting of 2026 was also notable in that on that date, the Council only consisted of twelve members, rather that the statutory thirteen, due to resignation of Councilmember Kenyan Duffie taking effect the prior day. Rapidly filling that vacancy is a Council priority, but the exact timetable for filling it remains unknown.

The Council's next regularly scheduled Legislative Meeting will be held on February 3.