Last week, the DC Council kicked off Council period twenty with a meeting to set the framework for the next two years by finalizing the Council’s committee structure ‘ including the re-creation of an education committee ‘ and approving the rules that will govern their operations and procedures. DCFPI, along with several others, had proposed a number of changes to the Council rules to improve transparency and public access to information. Unfortunately, the majority of those changes were not accepted.
The majority of the Council’s committees will have new Chairs in Council period twenty (see below for a full listing of chairs and members); however, the biggest change to the Committee structure is the re-creation of the Committee on Education, which was eliminated by the Council in 2007 following mayoral takeover of the DC Public Schools. The Committee on Education will be chaired by Councilmember Catania (I-At Large) and it will oversee several agencies, boards and commissions related to education, including the DC Public Schools and DC Public Charter School Board, the State Board of Education, the Deputy Mayor for Education, the Office of State Superintendent for Education, and DC Public Libraries.
The Council also adopted a set of rules that will govern its organization and procedures for the next two years. Last month, DCFPI, along with several organizations and individuals, sent a memo to the Council that highlighted ways that the rules could be amended to improve the transparency of the Council’s operations and public access to information. The Council did adopt changes that will help increase public access to information: requiring use of government issued emails for public business and including relevant documents, in addition to testimony, as part of the public record for every piece of legislation. Unfortunately, many of the suggestions that would have improved the transparency of the Council’s operations, such as improving the notice to the public of hearings and roundtables and the transparency and public access of emergency legislation and amendments, were not adopted.
The Council holds its first Committee of the Whole and Legislative meeting tomorrow starting at 10am. DCFPI looks forward to working with the Council in council period twenty to improve the lives of DC’s low- and moderate-income residents.
Council Committee Membership: Council Period 20
Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
- Chair: Councilmember Orange
- Members: Councilmembers Alexander, Cheh, Graham and Grosso
Committee on Economic Development
- Chair: Councilmember Bowser
- Members: Councilmembers Bonds, Evans, McDuffie, and Orange
Committee on Education
- Chair: Councilmember Catania
- Members: Councilmembers Alexander, Barry, Grosso, and Wells
Committee on Finance and Revenue
- Chair: Councilmember Evans
- Members: Councilmembers Barry, Bowser, Catania, and Grosso
Committee on Government Operations
- Chair: Councilmember McDuffie
- Members: Councilmembers Bowser, Catania, Cheh and Orange
Committee on Health
- Chair: Councilmember Alexander
- Members: Councilmembers Bonds, Catania, Grosso, and Orange
Committee on Human Services
- Chair: Councilmember Graham
- Members: Councilmembers Barry, Bonds, McDuffie, Wells
Committee on the Judiciary
- Chair: Councilmember Wells
- Members: Councilmembers Bonds, Bowser, Cheh and Evans
Committee on Transportation and the Environment
- Chair: Councilmember Cheh
- Members: Councilmembers Evans, Graham, McDuffie, and Wells
Committee on Workforce Development
- Chair: Councilmember Barry
- Members: Councilmembers Alexander, Graham, McDuffie, and Wells.
