The D.C. Council conducted its legislative meeting on Oct. 1, the beginning of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
There was much to discuss, including changes to emergency rental assistance, medical marijuana, and Circulator bus employees. In the days leading up to the legislative meeting, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) started her fall season oversight of a beleaguered D.C. Office of Unified Communications.
In addition, the Council also unanimously passed the Emergency Rental Assistance Reform Emergency Amendment Act, and more information on the vote and bill can be found in a separate article.
Medical Marijuana Matters
On its final reading, the D.C. Council unanimously approved the Medical Cannabis Classification and Program Enforcement Amendment Act, legislation that D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large) initially introduced last year to address aspects of the District’s opaque medical marijuana laws that have allowed illegal marijuana shops to thrive.
Since the passage of Initiative 71, The council deliberated on this legislation amid a crackdown on illegally operating shops, as allowed by legislation that the council passed in July. As reported in Axios last month, the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) issued 21 cease-and-desist orders and 75 warnings to unlicensed shops.
At its inception, McDuffie’s legislation allowed for, among other things, ABCA to issue temporary non-resident registration identification cards that are valid for no longer than one year, the testing of samples of medical cannabis products from qualifying patients, and, most importantly, the imposition of a deadline date for existing cultivation centers and dispensaries to file applications with ABCA for additional medical cannabis facility licenses.
Much to McDuffie’s chagrin, D.C. Councilmembers Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Anita Bonds (D-At large) successfully included an amendment on Oct. 1 that: clarifies ventilation requirements for safe-use treatment facilities to apply to facilities where combustible medical cannabis products are available to qualifying patients consuming in a designated area; allows daycare centers to protest the establishment of medical cannabis cultivation center, retailer, or internet retailer license within 400 feet of their vicinity; and specifies restrictions on products that are likely to be mistaken for food that’s appealing to minors.
McDuffie, who voted “present” on the amendment, said that its passage would make medical marijuana laws more stringent than laws dealing with alcohol. Parker, who said he spoke extensively with McDuffie and Mendelson about his intentions, pushed back against that assertion, telling The Informer that he wanted to prioritize young people, teachers and staff at La Petite.
Last year, a person suffering a mental health episode attacked two teachers escorting two dozen children from the Ward 5 infant daycare center. Community members, still reeling from that episode, would later learn about a cannabis business attempting to set up shop in proximity to the center.
“Parents… realized they didn’t have the standing to make sure their concerns were registered at levels like elected officials,” Parker said. “It was about acting on that specific example but making sure that we expanded the voice and rights of early childhood education centers. We already extend protections to schools to not allow shops to open up in the vicinity of a school. There was a lot of fear mongering.”
Councilmember Allen Speaks on Behalf of Laid-Off Circulator Drivers
The 2025 Fiscal Year began with 90 layoffs from a now-defunct Circulator bus, with more to come throughout the end of the calendar year.
Days prior, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) told The Informer that the Bowser administration, via D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT), failed to create the transition plan that Allen and others requested for several months.
“You have a couple hundred employees told they would have a job through next spring. Now they’re being told their job ends next week. That’s not a transition plan,” said Allen, chair of the council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment. “This is about taking care of bus drivers. Some of them may end up working at WMATA, Alexandria DASH or somewhere else, but we must do right by the workers moving buses across D.C. and the region.”
Earlier this year, the D.C. Council approved the elimination of the Circulator, as outlined in Bowser’s FY 2025 budget proposal. This happened in the face of a fiscal cliff that threatened the future of the local transit system and compelled investments from D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
In the weeks and months leading up to, and following, those budget votes,, lawmakers and residents alike questioned what would become of, not only Circulator employees, but the eliminated bus routes and the dollars raised from auction of Circulator assets.
On Monday, employees continued to blame DDOT for not solidifying a plan that transitions them to Metro while preserving their seniority.
In the spirit of protecting Circulator workers, the D.C. Circulator Transition Emergency Amendment Act mandates the deposit of money from the sale, lease or transfer from D.C. Circulator assets to be deposited in the D.C. Circulator Fund. It also requires coordination between DDOT and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, also known as WMATA, to determine the hiring of former Circulator employees at their senior status, alternatives or additional bus service, and the feasibility of assuming control of the Circulator.
Bowser, a longtime critic of the council’s budget decisions, spoke out against Allen’s bill long before it reached the dais. In her letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) on Tuesday, she implored council members to practice fiscal responsibility as she sees it.
“Ending the D.C. Circulator was not an easy decision to make, however, you made it in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. This was a necessary decision given the need to meet the many other needs the District and its residents face,” Bowser’s letter said. ‘’
The mayor said WMATA bus and train riders “have multiple transit options to traverse” throughout the District and explained how funds from the Circulator would now be allocated to address other concerns.
“As we work to address WMATA’s systemic operating and capital fiscal cliffs, any funds generated from auctioning off Circulator assets should be dedicated to closing those budget gaps and not creating a new entitlement program,” Bowser continued.
Pinto Follows through on Promise of OUC Oversight
On Sept. 30, a day before the council’s legislative meeting, D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) conducted the first of several committee oversight roundtables that she promised would take place this fall with the Office of Unified Communications (OUC).
The oversight hearing, which happened amid OUC’s efforts to boost call taker and dispatcher staffing, opened with Pinto revealing the details of her latest surprise visit to OUC on Saturday night, during which she saw staffing levels below what the agency considered fully staffed.
“There were only three Fire and EMS dispatchers present when ideally there should be six. Furthermore, there was one EMS dispatcher handling dispatch for the entire city,” Pinto said on Sept. 30. “I noted there were only 15 call takers working that night as four called out. Ideally, there should be between 18 and 20 for that shift. That’s not only unacceptable, but dangerous.”
Pinto and other members of the council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety spent nearly five hours on Sept. 30 asking OUC Director Heather McGaffin and Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor for public safety and justice, questions about interagency efforts to upgrade the office’s Computer Aided Dispatch and improve OUC’s perceived lack of transparency. However, OUC staffing levels dominated much of the conversation in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building.
Since sitting at the helm of OUC in 2023, McGaffin reduced call taker and dispatcher vacancies from 57 to 19. On Sept. 30, she said that 10 of those would be accounted for in October with the installment of a new class of trainees.
Earlier this year, OUC invited nearly 350 call taker and dispatcher applicants to its prospect day. Out of the nearly 200 who accepted the invitation and attended, only 19 successfully navigated a vetting process that included a drug screening, psychological test and assessment of their typing skills. Days before the committee oversight roundtable, McGaffin told reporters that 31 trainees total will be prepared to support 911 operations, while all incoming professionals will be trained as call takers and dispatchers during the 2025 fiscal year.
In regard to current OUC staff members, McGaffin celebrated an $800 attendance incentive that she said compelled more 911 personnel to show up to work more consistently. In her testimony, McGaffin said that, since August, 94 OUC employees received the bonus, while average staffing increased from 84% to 103% in a 30-day span.
The incentive, McGaffin told council committee members, opened the door for conversation about aspects of the job that are mentally and emotionally taxing.
“For the people who aren’t there… making contact and getting them with their wellness person,” McGaffin said. “Everyone is there because they want to help, so if you want people we need you to get it here.”
While an OUC employee who requested anonymity expressed their relief that the office is making an effort to boost staffing, they said that the agency should have taken such steps much earlier.
The employee, who has worked at the agency for more than two decades, told The Informer that she and many of her colleagues find honor in their work, despite the verbal abuse they take from residents, police officers and fire personnel. She also pointed out how 12-hour workdays allow for a total of 15 workdays per month and every other weekend off the clock.
Such arrangements, she said, won’t suffice as long as OUC is understaffed.
“That’s why everyone is tired,” said the employee, an OUC assistant watch commander. “When we have more staff, the workflow is being distributed more evenly. It wouldn’t be the same person being slammed with calls. It’s the same for dispatchers. They can get some relief dealing with officers, ambulances and citizens.”