Committee on Facilities and Family Services approves Period 25 activity report, highlights facilities, child-welfare, and disability investments

Councilmember Janice Lewis George, chair of the Committee on Facilities and Family Services, moved and the committee approved the Period 25 committee activity report at a virtual meeting on Thursday, Dec. 19. The report summarizes two years of oversight, legislation and budget actions on facilities, child welfare and disability services.

In her opening remarks, Lewis George said the committee had conducted dozens of site tours of city schools, recreation centers, shelters and other public facilities and used those findings to press for maintenance and transparency reforms. "We passed the Work Order Integrity Amendment Act," she said, "which required more training, enhanced communication, better opportunity for feedback, and stronger quality assurance to improve the maintenance of our government spaces." She also cited the Greener Government Buildings Amendment Act and budget allocations aimed at improving school security and day-to-day maintenance.

The committee highlighted several specific budget actions: the report cites $1,000,000 added for work-order reduction in the FY25 budget, including $300,000 earmarked for repairing locking doors in DC public schools; additional funding to hire maintenance supervisors and trades employees; and a requirement that the Department of General Services (DGS) publish open maintenance work orders on a public dashboard, make the data downloadable, provide Salesforce access to client agency staff and the committee, and publish an annual maintenance plan and school-readiness checklist.

On child welfare, Lewis George told members the committee moved to repeal a religious-exemption from the District's definition of child neglect and passed a Child and Family Services Agency investigation completion amendment. She said the committee also approved the Luggage for All Youth and Foster Care Amendment Act of 2024 (referred to in the meeting as "Lisa's Law"). The report documents restored and new funding for family services: two additional employees for the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, restoration of $1,300,000 for the SafeShores program in FY24 and a $1,350,000 restoration in FY25, plus new investments in home visiting and supports for grandparent and close-relative caregivers.

Lewis George also credited a policy change affecting caregiver eligibility: the committee worked to exclude Supplemental Security Income from income-eligibility calculations for the grandparent caregiver and close-relative caregiver subsidy programs, an action intended to expand access to those programs.

The committee reviewed disability-related oversight and investments, including $200,000 in FY24 for the Rehabilitation Services Administration to develop best practices for hiring people with disabilities; restorations for administrative fees for disability service providers in 2025; a restored clothing allowance; and a renewed focus on Randolph–Sheppard vending program operations. The chair announced a transfer in FY25 of responsibility for American Sign Language interpretation and live-captioning requests from the council secretary's office to the Mayor's Office of Disability, Deaf, Deafblind, and Hard of Hearing to centralize accommodation requests for hearings and meetings.

Members thanked committee staff and directors by name for their support. Councilmember Zachary Parker and Councilmember Matthew Fruman each offered brief remarks praising the committee's preventive-maintenance focus and oversight of school readiness. At the conclusion of remarks, Chair Lewis George moved adoption of the report with leave for staff to make technical and editorial conforming changes; members voiced "Aye," and the chair declared the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 12:55 PM.

Next steps: the report was adopted with leave for staff to make conforming edits; the committee did not schedule additional votes during this meeting.