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District Of Columbia Council Bill PR26-0156

District Of Columbia 2025-2026 Regular Session

District Of Columbia Council Bill PR26-0156 Compare Versions

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1- ENROLLED ORIGINAL
2-
3-
41
52 1
6-
7-A RESOLUTION
8-
9-26-91
10-IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
11-
12-April 1, 2025
13- To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Open Meetings
14-Act to clarify the definition of meeting, to provide for a public body’s ability to be briefed
15-about potential terrorist or public health threats so long as no official action is taken, to exempt from the act meetings between the Council and the Mayor provided that no official action is taken at such meetings, and to provide that a meeting shall be deemed
16-open to the public if the public body takes steps reasonably calculated to allow the public to view or hear the meeting while the meeting is taking place, or, if doing so is not technologically feasible, as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable.
17-
18-RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
19-resolution may be cited as the “Open Meetings Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution
20-of 2025”.
21-
22-Sec. 2. (a) The Open Meetings Act, effective March 31, 2011 (D.C. Law 18- 350; D.C.
23-Official Code § 2-571 et seq.), became effective on March 31, 2011.
24-(b) The Open Meetings Act requires that any gathering of a quorum of a public body
25-where members consider, conduct, or advise on public business offers the opportunity for the
26-public to observe the meeting. The public must be given proper notice of these meetings and afforded the opportunity to review recordings of these meetings upon request. The Open
27-Meetings Act also exempts several governmental entities from these requirements based on the
28-definition of the term “public body .” Exempted entities include the District of Columbia courts,
29-the Mayor’s cabinet, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (“ANC”), but not the Council.
30-(c) In recent months, the District government has had to deal with a variety of
31-consequential, large-scale business and economic development propositions, most notably, the
32-effort to retain Monumental Sports and Entertainment in the District. This effort involved significant negotiations between the parties, much of which had to be kept confidential until
33-agreements in principle were reached.
34-(d) The District is currently facing the prospect of having to cut approximately $1.1
35-billion from its FY 2025 budget (in the middle of the fiscal year) based on Congress’s passage of
36-a continuing resolution that requires federal spending to be consistent with FY 2024 levels and ENROLLED ORIGINAL
37-
38-
39-
3+ ___________________________ ____________________________ 1
4+Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie Chairman Phil Mendelson2
5+ 3
6+ 4
7+____________________________ ____________________________ 5
8+Councilmember Anita Bonds Councilmember Christina Henderson 6
9+ 7
10+ 8
11+____________________________ ____________________________ 9
12+Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr. Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau 10
13+ 11
14+ 12
15+____________________________ ____________________________ 13
16+Councilmember Brooke Pinto Councilmember Matthew Frumin 14
17+ 15
18+ 16
19+___________________________ _____________________________ 17
20+Councilmember Janeese Lewis George Councilmember Zachary Parker 18
21+ 19
22+ 20
23+___________________________ ___________________________ 21
24+Councilmember Charles Allen Councilmember Wendell Felder 22
25+ 23
26+ 24
27+A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 25
28+_____ 26
29+ 27
30+IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 28
31+______ 29
32+ 30
33+To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Open Meetings 31
34+Act of 2010 to clarify the definition of “meeting”; to provide for a public body’s ability to 32
35+be briefed about potential terrorist or public health threats so long as no official action is 33
36+taken; to exempt from the act meetings between the Council and the Mayor provided that 34
37+no official action is taken at such meetings; and to provide that a meeting shall be deemed 35
38+open to the public if the public body takes steps reasonably calculated to allow the public 36
39+to view or hear the meeting while the meeting is taking place, or, if doing so is not 37
40+technologically feasible, as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable. 38
41+ 39
42+RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 40
43+resolution may be cited as the “Open Meetings Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution 41
44+of 2025”. 42
4045 2
41-
42-Congress’s choice to treat the District as a federal agency as opposed to allowing the District to
43-spend local funds at approved levels as had been the case for many years prior.
44-(e) Each of the described circumstances called for a certain level of awareness and , in the
45-case of the budget, coordination among the District’s elected officials – including the members
46-of the Council – to develop a workable strategy to effectively respond to the situation. While
47-such coordination is relatively simple for the Executive and the Office of the Attorney General,
48-since these entities are not “public bodies” under the Open Meetings Act, current law creates
49-significant barriers for 13 members of the Council to prepare to function as a single unit in times
50-of crisis.
51-(f) Beyond that, there is a legitimate expectation that further circumstances like those
52-described in subsections (c) and (d) of this section are imminent and will require a significant
53-degree of organizational nimbleness on the part of the Council, as well as other public bodies
54-within the District government, in order to respond in a timely and appropriate manner. For this
55-reason, several U.S. states exempt completely, or make special exceptions for, their state
56-legislatures with respect to open meetings laws.
57-(g) While the official action of a public body to make or adopt public policy is, and
58-should be, required to be made public, the preparation put into moving toward official action,
59-including background research and briefings, organizational discussions, and information
60-gathering (under certain circumstances) does not necessarily need to be. In fact, in certain
61-circumstances, particularly circumstances related to threats to the health, safety, and welfare of
62-the public or members of the public body, provisional and pre -decisional information should not
63-be disclosed prematurely.
64-(h) This emergency legislation is particularly necessary in the current political climate to
65-allow the Council to be briefed as a body in a timely manner , to develop appropriate responses to
66-rapidly unfolding issues, and to ensure that other public bodies in the District are able to receive,
67-discuss and analyze relevant information securely, while also ensuring that the process for taking
68-any official action with respect to that information is conducted publicly .
69-
70-Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
71-enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Open
72-Meetings Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single reading.
73-
74-Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately
46+Sec. 2. (a) D.C. Law 18-350, the Open Meetings Amendment Act of 2010 (the “Open 43
47+Meetings Act”), became effective on March 31, 2011. 44
48+(b) The Open Meetings Act requires that any gathering of a quorum of a public body 45
49+where members consider, conduct or advise on public business offer the opportunity for the 46
50+public to observe the meeting. The public must be given proper notice of these meetings and 47
51+afforded the opportunity to review recordings of these meetings upon request. The Open 48
52+Meetings Act also exempts several governmental entities from these requirements based on the 49
53+definition of the term “public body.” Exempted entities include the District of Columbia courts, 50
54+the Mayor’s cabinet, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANC), but not the Council. 51
55+(c) In recent months, the District government has had to deal with a variety of 52
56+consequential, large-scale business and economic development propositions, most notably, the 53
57+effort to retain Monumental Sports and Entertainment in the District. This effort involved 54
58+significant negotiations between the parties, much of which had to be kept confidential until 55
59+agreements in principle were reached. 56
60+(d) The District is currently facing the prospect of having to cut approximately $1.1 57
61+billion from its FY 2025 budget (in the middle of the fiscal year) based on Congress’ passage of 58
62+a continuing resolution that requires federal spending to be consistent with FY 2024 levels and 59
63+Congress’ choice to treat the District as a federal agency as opposed to allowing the District to 60
64+spend local funds at approved levels as had been the case for many years prior. 61
65+(e) Each of the described circumstances called for a certain level of awareness and, in the 62
66+case of the budget, coordination among the District’s elected officials – including the members 63
67+of the Council – to develop a workable strategy to effectively respond to the situation. While 64
68+such coordination is a relatively simple for the Executive and the Office of the Attorney General, 65
69+3
70+since these entities are not “public bodies” under the Open Meetings Act, current law creates 66
71+significant barriers for 13 members of the Council to prepare to function as a single unit in times 67
72+of crisis. 68
73+(e) Beyond that, there is a legitimate expectation that further circumstances like those 69
74+described in subsections (c) and (d) of this section are imminent and will require a significant 70
75+degree of organizational nimbleness on the part of the Council, as well as other public bodies 71
76+within the District government, in order to respond in a timely and appropriate manner. For this 72
77+reason, several U.S. states exempt completely, or make special exceptions for, their state 73
78+legislatures with respect to open meetings laws. 74
79+(f) While the official action of a public body to make or adopt public policy is, and 75
80+should be, required to be made public, the preparation put into moving toward official action, 76
81+including background research and briefings, organizational discussions and information 77
82+gathering (under certain circumstances) does not necessarily need to be. In fact, in certain 78
83+circumstances, particularly circumstances related to threats to the health, safety and welfare of 79
84+the public or members of the public body, provisional and pre-decisional information should not 80
85+be disclosed prematurely. 81
86+(e) This emergency legislation is particularly necessary in the current political climate to 82
87+allow the Council to be briefed as a body in a timely manner and to develop appropriate 83
88+responses to rapidly unfolding issues, and to ensure that other public bodies in the District are 84
89+able to receive, discuss and analyze relevant information securely, while also ensuring that the 85
90+process for taking any official action with respect to that information is conducted publicly. 86
91+Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute 87
92+4
93+emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Open Meetings Clarification Emergency 88
94+Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a single reading. 89
95+Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately 90