On Nov. 12, District Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and the D.C. Council returned to the John A. Wilson Building from a holiday weekend following what many considered the disappointment of former President Donald J. Trump’s electoral victory.
The council dived into a legislative agenda centering on independent oversight of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), adequate preparation for and response to seizures on school grounds, and illegal dumping, among other issues.
Meanwhile, Bowser outlined her plans for engaging the new Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress. Below is an overview of what took place on the fifth floor of the Wilson Building.
A New Federal Government, Same Engagement Strategy
Bowser, flanked by public safety officials and leaders in the Office of the City Administrator, recently expressed her commitment to working with the Trump administration when it returns to the White House next year.
She identified her ambitions for Downtown and the federal government employees as priority.
“We should all be focused on quick areas that aren’t new [like] how we can make sure our federal workforce is back to work and how to make better use of underused properties,” she told reporters on Nov. 12.
Since Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris (D) on Nov. 5, members of his team have reportedly spoken with the Bowser administration about what Bowser called a smooth transition and cooperative relationship.
As it relates to Trump’s promise to cut federal jobs, Bowser pointed out that some of the jobs in question aren’t located within the city boundaries.
“That’s a question for the metro region,” Bowser said. “We’re going to make our pitch.”
Meanwhile, in light of Trump’s choice of Tom Homan, former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as his administration’s “border czar,” Bowser emphasized the importance of helping D.C.’s immigrant population, particularly Temporary Protected Status recipients.
“While we don’t have control over presidential enforcement or immigrant policies, we should advocate for immigration reforms that allow people to come here legally,” Bowser said.
However, tackling immigration and other aforementioned priorities might be an uphill battle.
Election results show that, as of Nov. 12, the GOP is poised to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives. With a GOP-dominant Senate and conservative-leaning Supreme Court, it appears that the ball is in Trump’s court, politically.
With widespread fears of another Jan. 6 catastrophe, the Metropolitan Police Department continues to engage other law enforcement agencies, in advance of election certification and inauguration, to secure a police force of at least 4,000.
Despite concerns about a potentially unhinged president, Bowser said she plans to treat Trump and new GOP congressional leadership no differently than other federally elected officials she’s encountered as District mayor.
“We have to actually tell them about ourselves, who we are … and largely what they can do,” Bowser said, revealing that she will most likely, once again, host a meet-and-greet for newly elected congressional members. “We need the return to Downtown and the majesty of the federal government. We know the administration is focused on making the government more efficient, but we want to talk about the infrastructure for a productive workforce.”
Council Members Debate Feasibility, Effectiveness of Independent DYRS Oversight
On its first reading, the D.C. Council approved, in a 10-2 vote, legislation that D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) introduced this summer on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to strengthen independent oversight of DYRS.
However, the council didn’t do without reservations that will most likely be addressed in the days leading up to the second reading.
For one, D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At-Large) expressed doubt that the legislation, titled the Recidivism Reduction, Oversight, and Accountability for DYRS Act, gets at the heart of what’s preventing adjudicated youth at Youth Services Center, a DYRS-operated facility, from receiving court-ordered services in a timely fashion.
“When you talk to DYRS around why it’s taking so long to place young people, it’s not because someone isn’t there to process paperwork, but some of this is external,” Henderson told Mendelson during the council’s Nov. 12 Committee of the Whole hearing. “ [It’s about] whether you have shelter beds and how far parents are willing to go. We have kids placed as far as Utah. Maybe there’s something else we should be doing.”
The Recidivism Reduction, Oversight and Accountability for DYRS Act, formerly known as the ROAD Act, navigated the legislative process after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s attempts to phase out independent oversight of DYRS. It establishes a permanent oversight entity in the Office of the D.C. Auditor (ODCA) to ensure that young residents receive their placements more efficiently.
Other tenets of the bill include requirements that DYRS develops an individualized rehabilitation plan prior to a dispositional hearing; provides services to residents within 30 days of a deposition order’s entry; and develops and a discharge and reentry plan when a child receives placement outside of their parent or guardian’s home.
The bill differs from Bowser’s UPLIFT Amendment Act, which, among other things, narrows the circumstances under which a youth who comes in contact with the justice system could avoid a courtroom. During the council’s Nov. 12 legislative meeting, Mendelson emphasized the need for DYRS oversight beyond what he believed the D.C. Council is able to accomplish.
Despite reported pushback from ODCA, Schwalb’s bill could meet that need, Mendelson said.
“He saw the lack of predispositional planning,” Mendelson said about Schwalb on Nov. 12. “It made the situation involving youth difficult and challenging, and successful outcomes less likely. The impetus behind this is to get back to where the agency was before the pandemic with predispositional planning that was in the interest of the child.”
While D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At large) expressed support for the legislation, he asked that Mendelson work with him and others in identifying what they deem more of an appropriate office for independent DYRS oversight. Over the next few minutes, Henderson, and D.C. Councilmembers Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3), Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Anita Bonds (D-At large) expressed similar thoughts about ODCA’s capacity, and the prudence of the legislation.
Ultimately, Henderson and Pinto voted in opposition to the committee print and the legislation. Bonds, who voted in support of the bill, joined her two council colleagues in a vote against the committee report.
While OAG reportedly didn’t collaborate with DYRS in the development of the bill, a council staffer confirmed that the Bowser administration “redlined” some of the language on the bill.”
Neither Schwalb or the DYRS Director Sam Abed were available for comment on Nov. 12.
Meanwhile, Pinto, chair of the council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, questioned her colleagues on the dais about whether it would be more prudent to work directly with Abed to improve predispositional planning.
Schwalb’s bill, as it currently stands, takes away from the oversight the council is supposed to conduct, Pinto argued. “We could make this argument for every oversight needed in the government… It’s part of the council’s role.”
Councilmember Gray Seals the Deal on Solid Waste Management
In his absence, the council unanimously approved legislation that D.C. Councilmember Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), introduced more than a year ago to curb illegal dumping.
While 1990s legislation prohibited the dumping of solid waste, it defined solid waste only as “dirt, sand, sawdust, gravel, clay, loam, stone, rocks, rubble, building rubbish, shavings trade or household waste, refuse, ashes, manure, vegetable matter, paper, dead animals, garbage or debris of any kind.”
As Gray’s bill, titled the Illegal Dumping Enforcement Amendment Act, made its way through the legislative process, the council’s Committee on Public Works & Operations and the Committee on Judiciary & Public Safety expanded the definition of solid waste to include: appliances, furniture, mattresses, shopping carts, and tires.
In response to testimony by OAG, the legislation also included amendments that allow that office to bring civil lawsuits against entities, especially those of the corporate kind, that violate the District’s illegal dumping laws.
As documented in an Oct. 21 committee report, OAG said that, without civil enforcement authority, low-income communities stood to suffer the most from the proliferation of solid waste.
Over the last couple of weeks, Gray’s constituents have raised concerns about this very issue in online forums. While The Informer’s efforts to reach at least one of those concerned residents fell short, it appears Ward 7 is eager to tackle illegal dumping, and other issues of significance, as Wendell Felder gears up for installment as Gray’s successor.
