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Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie Chairman Phil Mendelson2
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Councilmember Anita Bonds Councilmember Christina Henderson 6
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Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau 10
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Councilmember Brooke Pinto Councilmember Matthew Frumin 14
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Councilmember Janeese Lewis George Councilmember Zachary Parker 18
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Councilmember Charles Allen Councilmember Wendell Felder 22
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A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 25
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 28
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To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Open Meetings 31
Act of 2010 to clarify the definition of “meeting”; to provide for a public body’s ability to 32
be briefed about potential terrorist or public health threats so long as no official action is 33
taken; to exempt from the act meetings between the Council and the Mayor provided that 34
no official action is taken at such meetings; and to provide that a meeting shall be deemed 35
open to the public if the public body takes steps reasonably calculated to allow the public 36
to view or hear the meeting while the meeting is taking place, or, if doing so is not 37
technologically feasible, as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable. 38
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RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 40
resolution may be cited as the “Open Meetings Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution 41
of 2025”. 42
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Sec. 2. (a) D.C. Law 18-350, the Open Meetings Amendment Act of 2010 (the “Open 43
Meetings Act”), became effective on March 31, 2011. 44
(b) The Open Meetings Act requires that any gathering of a quorum of a public body 45
where members consider, conduct or advise on public business offer the opportunity for the 46
public to observe the meeting. The public must be given proper notice of these meetings and 47
afforded the opportunity to review recordings of these meetings upon request. The Open 48
Meetings Act also exempts several governmental entities from these requirements based on the 49
definition of the term “public body.” Exempted entities include the District of Columbia courts, 50
the Mayor’s cabinet, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANC), but not the Council. 51
(c) In recent months, the District government has had to deal with a variety of 52
consequential, large-scale business and economic development propositions, most notably, the 53
effort to retain Monumental Sports and Entertainment in the District. This effort involved 54
significant negotiations between the parties, much of which had to be kept confidential until 55
agreements in principle were reached. 56
(d) The District is currently facing the prospect of having to cut approximately $1.1 57
billion from its FY 2025 budget (in the middle of the fiscal year) based on Congress’ passage of 58
a continuing resolution that requires federal spending to be consistent with FY 2024 levels and 59
Congress’ choice to treat the District as a federal agency as opposed to allowing the District to 60
spend local funds at approved levels as had been the case for many years prior. 61
(e) Each of the described circumstances called for a certain level of awareness and, in the 62
case of the budget, coordination among the District’s elected officials – including the members 63
of the Council – to develop a workable strategy to effectively respond to the situation. While 64
such coordination is a relatively simple for the Executive and the Office of the Attorney General, 65
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since these entities are not “public bodies” under the Open Meetings Act, current law creates 66
significant barriers for 13 members of the Council to prepare to function as a single unit in times 67
of crisis. 68
(e) Beyond that, there is a legitimate expectation that further circumstances like those 69
described in subsections (c) and (d) of this section are imminent and will require a significant 70
degree of organizational nimbleness on the part of the Council, as well as other public bodies 71
within the District government, in order to respond in a timely and appropriate manner. For this 72
reason, several U.S. states exempt completely, or make special exceptions for, their state 73
legislatures with respect to open meetings laws. 74
(f) While the official action of a public body to make or adopt public policy is, and 75
should be, required to be made public, the preparation put into moving toward official action, 76
including background research and briefings, organizational discussions and information 77
gathering (under certain circumstances) does not necessarily need to be. In fact, in certain 78
circumstances, particularly circumstances related to threats to the health, safety and welfare of 79
the public or members of the public body, provisional and pre-decisional information should not 80
be disclosed prematurely. 81
(e) This emergency legislation is particularly necessary in the current political climate to 82
allow the Council to be briefed as a body in a timely manner and to develop appropriate 83
responses to rapidly unfolding issues, and to ensure that other public bodies in the District are 84
able to receive, discuss and analyze relevant information securely, while also ensuring that the 85
process for taking any official action with respect to that information is conducted publicly. 86
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute 87
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emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Open Meetings Clarification Emergency 88
Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single reading. 89
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately 90