Doni Crawford Appointed as Councilmember, Council Committees Reorganized

In the month of January, it is traditional for the DC Council to swear in new Councilmembers and to reorganize its committee structure and jurisdiction. However, in the fifty years of Home Rule history, it is almost always at the beginning of a two-year Council Period, in January of odd-numbered years (following elections in the even-numbered years) that these biennial traditions occur.

However, following the resignation of At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (announced in December and effective earlier this month), these traditions are unusually taking place at the mid-point of a Council Period-in January in an even-numbered year.

Per the terms of the Home Rule Act, "With respect to a vacancy on the Council of a member elected at large who is not affiliated with any political party, the Council shall appoint a similarly non-affiliated person to fill such vacancy until such vacancy can be filled in a special election in the manner prescribed in this paragraph."

This being the case, after dozens of potential candidates were recommended or self-nominated, the Council unanimously passed a resolution at its most recent Legislative Meeting appointing Doni Crawford to fill the vacant At-Large Council seat. Crawford was, up until her appointment, a Council staffer with the Committee on Business and Economic Development. She joins Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Charles Allen, Anita Bonds, and Christina Henderson as former Council staffers who have made the leap to actual current Council service.

In fifty years of District Home Rule, when prior mid-term At-Large Council vacancies had occurred, the outgoing councilmembers were registered with a political party. As such, per the terms of the Home Rule Act, it was the political party in question that appointed a Councilmember to temporarily fill the role until a special election could be held. In past instances, both the Democratic and Statehood Green parties temporarily filled At-Large vacancies in this way. But until this year, there had never been a vacancy in an Independent At-Large seat, and therefore, until the most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council had not directly filled at At-Large seat until now.

Councilmember Crawford will serve on the same Council committees as did Councilmember McDuffie, with one exception. The Committee on Business and Economic Development, which had previously been chaired by Councilmember McDuffie (and on the staff of which now-Councilmember Crawford has previously served) was dissolved per the terms of a resolution passed by the Council at its most recent Legislative Meeting.

Among the Council's most critical responsibilities is the rigorous cycle of agency-by-agency Performance Oversight hearings held each year. The agencies overseen by the now-defunct Committee on Business and Economic Development received the full battery of pre-hearing questions from the prior committee late last year, but the Performance Oversight hearings themselves will now be conducted under the new committee structure approved at the most recent Legislative Meeting.

A new Subcommittee on Local Business Development, chaired by Councilmember Wendell Felder, will now have jurisdiction over several elements of the dissolved former Business and Economic Development Committee's purview, including Business Improvement Districts, the Department of Small and Local Business Development, and oversight of community benefits connected to the new RFK Stadium zone development..

Per the resolution passed at the most recent Legislative Meeting, the other agencies previously under the jurisdiction of the defunct Business and Economic Development Committee now fall under the purview of the Council's other committees. Highlights of that distribution include:

• Destination DC going to the Executive Administration and Labor Committee
• Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking going to the Health Committee
• Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development going to the Human Services Committee
• Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration going to the Public Works Committee
• Office of People's Counsel and Public Service Commission going to the Transportation and Environment Committee
• Commission on Nightlife and Culture going to the Youth Affairs Committee

These shifts in committee oversight jurisdiction will apply not just to the now-ongoing Performance Oversight season, but also to the Budget Oversight season that will then follow.

Outside of the oversight realm, all pending legislation that had previously been referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development will need to be re-referred by the Chairman to other Committees. Action on that front is expected in the coming weeks.

A final critical element of the unusual mid-Council Period reorganization was the designation of a new Council Chair Pro Tempore, a role previously held by Councilmember McDuffie. The resolution passed at the most recent Legislative Meeting elevated Councilmember Anita Bonds to that role. Bonds is the first female Chair Pro Tempore since Councilmember Mary Cheh served in the role in Council Period 19 (2011-2012). The Council's very first female Chair Pro Tempore was Councilmember Willie J. Hardy in Council Period 2 (1977-1978).

Interestingly, the Home Rule Act states the Council "may establish and select such other officers and employees as it deems necessary and appropriate to carry out the functions of the Council," but does not specifically require the Council to have a Chair Pro Tempore. The Chair Pro Tempore role is only referenced by the Home Rule Act in instances where there is a vacancy in the Chair role, or if the Chair becomes Acting Mayor. In either case, the Act requires that the Council then appoint two At-Large members as Chair and Chair Pro Tempore during the transitional period.

The current Council Rules state that the Chair Pro Tempore "shall act in the place of the Chairman when the Chairman is absent or recused." Astute Council watchers will also recognize the Chair Pro Tempore as the individual who, at the beginning of the Council's Committee of the Whole meetings, moves to waive the reading of the Secretary's Report and the Secretary's Log of Introductions and Referrals.

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