It’s the start of budget season, and that means that the DC Council will soon hold performance and oversight hearings on the DC government agencies they oversee. These hearings give the public a chance to testify and air concerns and questions, and to offer suggestions they have for a particular agency. But did you know that now ‘ before the hearings even begin ‘ is a great time to ask and possibly get answers to some of those questions you may have about an agency?
This is because Council committees are currently doing a lot of work to gather information in preparation for the hearings. This includes submitting a detailed set of questions to each agency focusing on its performance over the past year (Once the Mayor’s proposed budget is submitted, the committees will submit another round of questions.) The committees then use the agency’s responses to develop questions that will be asked at the actual hearing.
You can get involved by submitting your questions about an agency to the relevant Committee. All you have to do is contact the committee clerk. There is no guarantee that your questions will be passed on, but there is a good chance they will if the committee staff thinks they are worth getting answers to. The questions can be as simple as “How much was spent on program X?” or, “How many people were served by program Y in fiscal year Z?” Some committees have already started submitting their questions for the oversight hearings, so you may want to move quickly. Submitting questions gives advocates and members of the public another tool to help them prepare for the hearings and advocate for programs they are concerned about.
The list of questions submitted, and the answers the agency provides are available to the public. Where do you find the questions and answers? The Council will post them to their website, but you can also contact the committee directly to find out when they plan to submit and receive their questions back from the agency. Many committees will let you review the answers in their office or make copies for you to take. Committee contact information can be found here.
