Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
D.C. Council advances a slate of temporary and first‑reading measures, postpones seasonal pricing bill
Loading...
Summary
Councilmembers removed two items from the consent agenda, postponed the Seasonal Pricing and Price Gouging Amendment Act of 2026, approved technical amendments to a net‑zero buildings bill, advanced a Mu Lambda Foundation tax‑exemption first reading with a recusal, increased subsidies for grandparent caregivers, and approved emergency measures on parish deed tax exemption and rental registry data integrity.
The Council of the District of Columbia on Tuesday handled a range of consent‑agenda and non‑consent items alongside the emergency transparency measures.
Chair Phil Mendelson removed two items from the consent agenda: Bill 206409, the Seasonal Pricing and Price Gouging Amendment Act of 2026, which the council moved to postpone to the next legislative meeting, and Bill 206586, the Net‑Zero Modification and Preservation Temporary Amendment Act of 2026, which was taken off consent for a technical amendment.
Councilmember Lewis George explained the technical amendment to Bill 206586, which sets a trigger date of March 1, 2026, to exempt covered projects with completed designs but not yet submitted to the Green Building Advisory Council (GBAC) from certain net‑zero requirements under the Greener Government Buildings Act; the amendment was accepted and the bill passed as amended.
On the non‑consent agenda Chair Mendelson read a recusal statement from Councilmember Zachary Parker regarding Bill 206221 (Mu Lambda Foundation, Inc. Real Property Tax Exemption Act); Parker stated he is a dues‑paying member of Alpha Phi Alpha and recused himself from participation in that matter. The bill was reported out of committee and taken up for first reading.
Councilmember Parker also moved and secured an amendment to the Increasing Support for Grandparent and Close Relative Caregivers Act of 2025 (Bill 206398) to raise subsidy allotments in the Child and Family Services Agency program; the amendment was accepted and the bill passed unanimously.
The council approved emergency declarations and moved underlying temporary measures for an Archdiocese of Washington parish property deed recordation and transfer tax exemption (PR26‑561, Bill 206612) and a Rental Housing Registration Data Integrity emergency measure intended to preserve DHCD's rent registry rollout while the public portal is finalized; both declarations and the corresponding temporary bills passed unanimously. Councilmember Robert White said DHCD expects incremental portal updates every two weeks with full completion anticipated by late April.
Finally, the chair took four temporary bills in block—conforming temporary amendments for the BWC transparency measure, the Full Accountability and Arrest Reporting measure, the Archdiocese tax‑exemption bill, and the rental housing registry bill—and the council adjourned at 2:39 p.m.
