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A BILL 1
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25-48 3
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IN COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 5
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To require the Department of Buildings to establish a tiered proactive inspection program for 10
multifamily rental housing properties; and to amend D.C. Code § 10–562.02 to require 11
the Department’s Annual Enforcement Report to contain specific data on proactive 12
inspection program activities and enforcement. 13
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 14
act may be cited as the “Proactive Inspection Program Act of 2023”. 15
TITLE 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROACTIVE INSPECTION PROGRAM 16
Sec. 2. Definitions. 17
For the purposes of this act, the term: 18
(1) “Area” means a defined geographical area such as a ward, police district, 19
neighborhood, census tract, census block group, or advisory neighborhood council single 20
member district. 21
(2) “Code official” means a person designated by the Director of the Department 22
of Buildings to administer or enforce the Housing Code of Title 14 of the District of Columbia 23
Municipal Regulations or the Construction Codes adopted pursuant to § 6-1409. 24
(3) “Department” means the Department of Buildings. 25 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(4) “Director” means the Director of the Department of Buildings. 26
(5) “Extremely low household income” means a household income equal to 30% 27
or less of the area median family income. 28
(6) “Housing provider” means a landlord, an owner, lessor, sublessor, assignee, or 29
their agent, or any other person receiving or entitled to receive rents or benefits for the use or 30
occupancy of any rental unit within a housing accommodation within the District. 31
(7) “Mayor” means the Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. 32
(8) “Multi-building housing complex” means a group of 2 or more contiguous or 33
proximate structures, under management of a single owner or licensee, through single or multiple 34
licenses, of 3 or more dwelling units. 35
(9) “Multifamily rental housing property” means residential real property 36
consisting of 3 or more dwelling units that are rented or offered for rent for residential 37
occupancy, including an apartment, efficiency apartment, room, suite of rooms, a single-family 38
home, or duplex. 39
(10) “Tenant” includes a tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee, or other person 40
entitled to the possession, occupancy, or the benefits of any rental unit owned by another person. 41
Sec. 3. Program; purpose. 42
(a) The Director shall establish a program to proactively inspect all multifamily rental 43
housing properties. It is the purpose of the proactive inspection program to: 44 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(1) Proactively identify and address housing code violations in multifamily rental 45
housing properties across the District; 46
(2) Ensure significant compliance with the housing code in multifamily rental 47
housing properties; and 48
(3) Preserve and enhance the quality of life for District residents. 49
(b)(1) For purposes of the program, the Director shall classify multifamily rental housing 50
properties into two tiers: Tier 1, and Tier 2. 51
(2) Properties classified into the tiers shall be proactively inspected as follows: 52
(A) Properties in Tier 2 shall be proactively inspected at least once every 6 53
years; and 54
(B) Properties in Tier 1 shall be proactively inspected at least once every 2 55
years. 56
(c)(1) The Director shall assign multifamily residential housing property to one of the 57
tiers established by subsection (b) of this section. Tier assignments shall be made pursuant to an 58
algorithm developed by the Director that may take into account the following factors: 59
(A) The type of building on the property; 60
(B) The age of the building; 61
(C) The status of the rental housing business license for the property; 62
(D) The legal structure of the corporation to which the business license 63
was issued; 64 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(E) The number and class of housing code violations found at the 65
property; 66
(F) The average length of time (in days) housing code violations remained 67
unabated at the property; 68
(G) The number of stop-work orders issued for the property; 69
(H) The number of violations for failure to properly store solid waste at or 70
on the property; 71
(I) Whether the owner has been delinquent in paying property taxes; 72
(J) Whether the property is located within an area where the percentage of 73
vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities, people who are foreign-born, people 74
who have limited or no-English proficiency, and households with extremely low household 75
income, is greater than the overall percentages for the District; 76
(K) Whether the property is located in an area where the percentage of 77
children under the age of 6 that have lead blood levels equal to or greater than 3.5 micrograms 78
per deciliter (>3.5 μg/dL) is greater than the overall percentage for children in the District; and 79
(L) Whether the property is located in an area where the rate or incidence 80
of pediatric asthma is higher than the rate or incidence of pediatric asthma for the District. 81
(2) The Director shall specify the weight to be assigned to each of the factors 82
listed in paragraph (1) of this subsection. 83 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(d)(1) The Director shall re-evaluate the tier classification for each multifamily rental 84
housing property as follows: 85
(A) Properties in Tier 2 shall be re-evaluated for classification every 6 86
years; and 87
(B) Properties in Tier 1 shall be re-evaluated for classification every 2 88
years. 89
(2)(A) The Director shall notify each housing provider of their initial 90
classification and of any subsequent change in that classification. 91
(B) The notification shall include basic information about the proactive 92
inspection program, the specific criteria that were used to classify the multifamily residential 93
housing property, and contact information for the Department for further questions. 94
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the Director may 95
reclassify a property at any time; provided, that the Department shall provide notice to the 96
affected housing provider describing the reasons for the reclassification. 97
(4) Classification and reclassification decisions made by the Director are not 98
subject to appeal. 99
Sec. 4. Proactive inspections; units inspected; consent of tenants. 100
(a) For purposes of a proactive inspection, a code official shall inspect the exterior, all 101
common interior areas, and individual units in a property. 102 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(b)(1) The number of units inspected in a multifamily rental housing property shall be 103
calculated as follow: 104
(A) At least 50% of units in a property with 25 units or less; 105
(B) At least 40% of units in a property with 26 to 49 units; 106
(C) At least 30% of units in a property with 50 to 199 units; and 107
(D) At least 20% of units in a property with 200 or more units. 108
(2) If the property contains more than one level, at least one unit on each level 109
shall be inspected. 110
(3) All vacant units shall be inspected for purposes of a proactive inspection, but 111
shall not count toward the percentages in paragraph (1) of this subsection. 112
(4) A multifamily rental housing property that comprises a multi-building housing 113
complex shall be treated as a single property for purposes of determining the percentage of units 114
that shall be inspected pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection. 115
(c)(1) The Director shall notify the property owner or property manager of a proactive 116
inspection and use best efforts to post notice of a proactive inspection at the property at least 60 117
days before the scheduled inspection date. Notice is presumed effective if provided to any e-mail 118
address on file with the Department in relation to the business license for the property. 119
(2) If a property owner does not consent to a proactive inspection after receiving 120
notice from the Director pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Director may apply to a 121
judge of the District of Columbia for an administrative search warrant to conduct the inspection. 122 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(3)(A)(i) The Department shall provide tenant inspection consent forms on its 123
website, and property owners shall be responsible for accessing these forms as needed. 124
(ii) The Department shall provide consent forms in all languages 125
covered by Section 4 of the Language Access Act of 2004 (D.C. Law 15-167; D.C. Code § 2-126
1933). 127
(B)(i) Consent forms shall advise tenants of the purpose and importance of 128
the Department’s proactive inspection program and that: 129
(I) A code official with the Department will enter the unit 130
for purposes of performing a proactive inspection if the tenant provides consent by signing the 131
form; 132
(II) The inspection will occur on a specifically identified 133
date and an approximate time; and 134
(III) The tenant has the right to see the code official’s 135
identification before the code official enters the unit. 136
(C)(i) A property owner or manager shall make a good faith effort to 137
obtain written consent from tenants of the units that have been selected by the Department for 138
inspection at least 25 days before the scheduled inspection date. 139
(ii) If a property owner or manager knows or reasonably should 140
know that the tenant speaks a primary language other than English that is covered under § 2-141 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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1933, the property owner or manager shall provide the consent form to the tenant in that 142
language. 143
(iii) Completed consent forms shall be transmitted to the 144
Department at least 25 days before the date of the scheduled inspection. 145
(iv) Absent emergency circumstances or an administrative search 146
warrant, no proactive inspection shall occur of any unit for which the tenant has withheld 147
consent. 148
(D) When a tenant does not return a signed consent form provided by the 149
property owner or manager, the Director may provide the property owner or manager with 150
another unit to inspect; provided, that the failure to obtain the requisite number of tenant consent 151
forms shall not result in a delay or rescheduling of the proactive inspection of units for which 152
tenants have provided consent. 153
(d) A tenant may request that his or her unit be subject to a proactive inspection if he or 154
she does not receive a consent form pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. The request may 155
be made in writing or orally to the property owner, manager, or the Department. 156
(e) The Director shall publicly post a list of properties and units to be proactively 157
inspected at least 60 days prior to the scheduled inspection. 158
(f) A property owner or manager must be on the premises during inspections, and an 159
authorized agent or employee of the property owner or manager with means to access each unit 160
scheduled for inspection must accompany the code official during the inspection. 161 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(g) If two or more units selected for inspection, or 20% or more of the inspected units, 162
whichever is greater, are each found to have four or more class 1 civil infractions pursuant to 16 163
DCMR 3200.1, the Director may require that up to 100% of the units at the property be 164
inspected. 165
(h)(1) When it is necessary to make an inspection to enforce the provisions of the 166
Construction Codes or the Housing Code, including for purposes of a proactive inspection, the 167
code official is authorized to enter the premises, or any part thereof, at reasonable times to 168
inspect or to perform the duties imposed by the Construction Codes or the Housing Code, subject 169
to applicable law, including subsection (c) of this section. This authority includes situations 170
when the code official has reasonable cause to believe that a condition exists in or upon a 171
premise that is contrary to or in violation of the Construction Codes or the Housing Code. When 172
attempting to gain entrance for inspection, the code official and authorized representatives 173
thereof shall present official credentials. 174
(2) With respect to the inspection of an occupied residential portion of any 175
premise under the exclusive control of a tenant, the code official shall not enter that portion of 176
the premise without first having obtained permission from the tenant or other person of suitable 177
age and discretion who resides there, unless the code official has: 178
(A) A valid administrative search warrant which permits the inspection; 179
(B) A reasonable basis to believe that an imminent danger to the public 180
health, safety or welfare exists requiring immediate entry into that portion of the premises. 181 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(3) Any person who interferes with the code official in the performance of 182
authorized duties, or prevents or refuses to allow the code official to enter a premise or any 183
portion thereof for inspection in the performance of authorized duties, is in violation of the 184
Construction Codes and the Housing Code. 185
(4) If entry is refused, the code official shall have recourse to the remedies 186
provided by law to secure entry. 187
Sec. 5. Proactive inspection fees and fines. 188
(a) Fees assessed for proactive inspections shall be deposited into the Nuisance 189
Abatement Fund described in § 42–3111.01. 190
(b) Fines assessed pursuant to this act or District of Columbia Municipal Regulations 191
(DCMR) as a result of proactive inspections shall be deposited into the General Fund of the 192
District of Columbia. 193
Sec. 6. Proactive inspection algorithm evaluation report. 194
(a) The Director shall prepare and submit to the Council an evaluation report assessing 195
the efficacy of the algorithm used to classify properties. 196
(b) The report shall include: 197
(1) The final list of factors that will be used in the algorithm and an explanation 198
for why any factor listed in Section 3(c) of this act was not utilized in the algorithm; 199 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(2) A list and explanation of statistics that were used to assess the efficacy of the 200
algorithm, including statistics for accuracy, precision, recall, the F1-Score, the receiver operating 201
characteristic area under curve score, and the Brier score; and 202
(3) A plan detailing how the Department will assess the efficacy of the algorithm 203
in the future. 204
(c) The report shall be submitted to the Council 90 days after the effective date of this act. 205
Sec. 7. Section 202 of the Department of Buildings Establishment Act of 2020 (D.C. Law 206
23-269; D.C. Official Code § 10-562.02) is amended to read as follows: 207
“(a) On or before January 1, 2025, and January 1 of every year thereafter, the Director 208
shall submit to the Council and the Office of Attorney General an annual report detailing the 209
enforcement activities of the Department in the prior fiscal year. 210
“(b) The report required under subsection (a) of this section shall assess the Department's 211
progress against the Strategic Enforcement Plan required under Section 201 of the Department of 212
Buildings Establishment Act of 2020 (D.C. Law 23-269; D.C. Official Code § 10-562.01) and 213
identify any changes to operations necessary to implement the Strategic Enforcement Plan. 214
“(c)(1) The report required under subsection (a) of this section shall also include the 215
following data for the prior fiscal year: 216
“(A) Complaint data, detailing the number, type, method, determination of 217
validity, and resolution of complaints received by the Department; 218 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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“(B) Inspection data, detailing the number of inspections conducted by 219
complaint and program type; 220
“(C) Violation data, detailing the violations identified and cited in the 221
prior fiscal year and their status as abated or unresolved as of the date of the report; 222
“(D) Fine collection data, detailing the dollar value of the fines assessed, 223
dollar value of the fines assessed versus the fines collected, violations for which the fines were 224
issued, and identifying any reduction in fine amount due to an action by an administrative judge 225
to reduce the assessed fine, adverse judgment at an administrative hearing, administrative 226
settlement or dismissal by the Department, or other means resulting in a collection of less than 227
the levied amount, and any fines not yet collected as of the date of the report; 228
“(E) Abatement efficacy, detailing the number and nature of abatement 229
orders, the number of days taken to abate each order, the number of extensions granted by type 230
of abatement order, the justification for each extension, and the location of each abatement order, 231
and its status as abated or unresolved as of the date of the report; 232
“(F) Enforcement escalation data, detailing the number of violations 233
referred to the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, the aggregate dollar amount 234
assessed, and a description of the matters referred; and 235
“(G) Collections escalation data, detailing the number of violations 236
referred to the Central Collections Unit. 237 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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“(2) For all data required pursuant to subparagraphs (B) through (G) of paragraph 238
(1) of this subsection, proactive inspection program data shall be reported separately. All 239
proactive inspection data shall be reported by tier and Ward.”. 240
Sec. 8. Rules. 241
(a) The Mayor, pursuant to Title I of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure 242
Act, approved October 21, 1968 (82 Stat. 1204; D.C. Official Code § 2-501 et seq.), shall issue 243
rules necessary to implement the provisions of this act. 244
(b) Proposed rules promulgated pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be 245
submitted to the Council for a 45-day period of review, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, legal 246
holidays, and days of Council recess. If the Council does not approve or disapprove the proposed 247
rules, in whole or in part, by resolution within this 45-day period, the proposed rules shall be 248
deemed approved. 249
(c) Upon the effective date of rules promulgated pursuant to this act, 14 DCMR § 250
207.1(d) is repealed. 251
Sec. 9. Applicability. 252
(a) This act shall apply upon the date of inclusion of its fiscal effect in an approved 253
budget and financial plan. 254
(b) The Chief Financial Officer shall certify the date of the inclusion of the fiscal effect in 255
an approved budget and financial plan and provide notice to the Budget Director of the Council 256
of the certification. 257 ENGROSSED ORIGINAL
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(c)(1) The Budget Director shall cause the notice of the certification to be published in 258
the District of Columbia Register. 259
(2) The date of publication of the notice of the certification shall not affect the 260
applicability of this act. 261
Sec. 10. Fiscal impact statement. 262
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statements in the committee report as the fiscal 263
impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 264
approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 265
Sec. 11. Effective date. 266
This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 267
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional review as 268
provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 269
24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 270
Columbia Register. 271