D.C. Council adopts rules for new session after rejecting move to make general counsel parliamentarian

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to adopt its Rules of Organization and Procedure for Council Period 26 after several hours of debate over who should serve as the body’s parliamentarian and how referrals of measures may be challenged. Chair Phil Mendelson said the package before the council included the text circulated Dec. 31 plus oral amendments and a written amendment.

Mendelson described two oral changes to committee listings and said he would "strike from the list" certain advisory committees already covered under agency umbrellas and asked the general counsel to correct a facility name to "Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center." He also read new language for Rule 2-41 clarifying that the Office of the Attorney General would be listed "jointly only for juvenile justice oversight purposes with the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety."

A center point of the session was an amendment from Councilmember Henderson to make the general counsel the council’s parliamentarian. Henderson said, "The first is to establish the general counsel as the council parliamentarian," arguing the change would put the council on similar footing with other legislative bodies. Chair Mendelson opposed that shift, arguing the presiding officer must retain the ability to manage meetings. As Mendelson told colleagues, the presiding officer "has to be able to remain control over a meeting." The council rejected the parliamentarian change in a roll-call vote (recorded 6 yes, 7 no).

Members also debated a Henderson proposal to let a member-majority challenge the chair’s referral decisions; after discussion a two-thirds threshold was proposed but that change failed in a roll-call vote (recorded 6 yes, 7 no). Councilmember Charles Allen won acceptance of a separate oral amendment restoring six advisory bodies to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, which Mendelson accepted without objection. Allen said the groups "do stand alone" and sometimes take views that differ from larger agencies.

One amendment the council accepted would change Rule 8-04 to require that a supplemental committee report explaining amendments "be voted on" by the committee before filing with the secretary. Chair Mendelson said he had no objection to clarifying that committees must vote on supplemental reports and agreed the wording could be refined later.

The council adopted PR26-1 as amended. Chair Mendelson announced "the ayes have it" and recorded Councilmember Tran White as the lone no on final passage. The council scheduled its next legislative meeting for Tuesday, Jan. 7, at noon.