The D.C. Council conducted a legislative meeting on Oct. 7 that, at a couple of points, hinted at the pressure that District residents face amid a federal government shutdown.
For one, the council unanimously approved temporary legislation allowing DC Health to conduct marriage ceremonies and issue marriage licenses while D.C. Superior Court is unable to do so. D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At large), who shepherded a similar bill during the 2018 shutdown, told council members that time was of the essence.
“I’ve already even just today had two couples who emailed wondering when this was going to be finalized as they have weddings planned in the next week or so,” Henderson said. “While we don’t have the authority to help them continue on to have their weddings at Smithsonian institutions or federal places, I think this is the least we can do on the court side of things.”
A couple of minutes later, Henderson brought to light the debate that brought budget discussions on the Hill to a standstill.
“It’s about health care, ladies and gentlemen,” Henderson said. “These health care tax credits. We’ve got 4,300 individuals and small businesses that rely on the premium health care tax credits here in the District of Columbia. That’s kind of whack.”
As explained in this edition of The Collins Council Report, the council also approved legislation mandating Events DC’s creation of a strategic plan to promote the District as the sports capital, all while council members also coalesced around an overture to medical cannabis providers operating in a local market unlike any other.
During the nearly three-hour legislative meeting, council members couldn’t help but to also weigh the impact of approving— or not approving– emergency legislation deemed as a preventative measure against presidential and congressional intrusion. In the days leading up to that public conversation, members of the council mulled how to approach the senators who will soon vote on bills intended to adjudicate youth as adults and consolidate presidential control of the District’s judicial system.
All that and more in The Collins Council Report.
Mendelson Comments on Republican-Democratic Collusion against the District
Earlier in the week, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) revealed that he’s been assessing how best to respond to the movement of bills through the Senate that are aimed at the local public safety ecosystem.
“We’re working, figuring out what the best way is to communicate to senators our opposition, and the reasons for our opposition to those bills,” Mendelson said about himself and his council colleagues on Monday.
If passed and signed by President Donald J. Trump, the bills currently before the Senate would classify 14-year-olds as adults when charged for violent crimes, mandate mandatory minimums for youth offenders, repeal provisions forbidding police vehicular pursuits, and abolish the D.C. Judicial Nomination Commission.
Meanwhile, the House still has a few bills concerning the District that members will vote on upon their return from recess. Mendelson said that council members had planned to send a letter to the House in objection to those bills— much like what D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser sent to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform weeks ago.
Last month, during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 54th Annual Legislative Conference, Bowser challenged those who watched her fireside chat with Angela Rye to educate their Democratic congressional representatives about the perils of interfering with locally approved legislation. Her remarks came just days after Democrats in the House overwhelmingly supported Republicans in the passage of bills aimed at D.C.’s judicial infrastructure.
In speaking about Democratic collusion with Republicans on the Hill, Mendelson, like Bowser, said that Democrats who stray away from the party line often don’t have any choice.
“We’re talking about roughly 20 to 30 Democrats that are in what we call front-line districts, meaning that just a couple of percentage points separate them from staying in office and being defeated,” Mendelson said. “Those are the ones who want to vote with the Democratic caucus but they don’t want to have these ads run against them [in their district] and that’s their challenge. Unfortunately, this is not about public safety, and it’s not about the District of Columbia, but the District is a victim in international politics, and this has been true for hundreds of years.”
The congressional assault on local laws comes weeks after U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeannine Pirro encouraged the council to repeal the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (IRAA) and the Second Chance Amendment Act.
For weeks, The Informer has been unsuccessful in its attempt to gather the Bowser administration’s position on the local legislation in question. On Monday, Mendelson spoke about those bills and others, all while attempting to lay to rest concerns about any disunity among the three branches of District government.
“We’ve all been on the same page with regard to those bills,” Mendelson said. “We have seen these bills in different ways, if anything, work against improving public safety in the District, prosecuting juveniles, 14-year-olds as adults. Statistically, there’s a greater likelihood that those juveniles, when they get out of the system, will just go right back into the system, as opposed to statistically, a greater chance that they will not reoffend if they go through the juvenile justice system.”
Council Delays Vote on Emergency Juvenile Curfew Legislation
D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) withdrew legislation that would’ve extended the juvenile emergency curfew for another three months. The council is now scheduled to deliberate on that bill, titled the Juvenile Curfew Congressional Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, on Oct. 21.
This development unfolded after the majority of the council voted to strike down a declaration related to the juvenile curfew extension, and D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) advanced a motion to reconsider the legislation. Of primary concern to some of the council: whether Pinto would ever introduce a permanent bill, or at least allow for public discussion on the matter.
Pinto admittedly didn’t have a definite answer for her colleagues on Tuesday.
“I am confident that it was an effective tool throughout the summer, which is why I want to extend it for the fall,” Pinto said. “But I don’t know what that means. We need to extend it on a permanent basis. I currently don’t have a plan for a permanent bill. I wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a gap in the law, because it has been effective.”
Earlier this year, the council approved an emergency juvenile curfew in response to late-night youth gatherings and melees that have broken out in the District’s commercial jurisdictions. The emergency legislation, as introduced by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), applied to youth under the age of 18 and allowed for: the mayoral extension of juvenile curfew hours and the Metropolitan Police Department’s designation of curfew hour zones.
Last month, as Pinto delayed a vote on the emergency legislation, questions surfaced about how youth would fare under a curfew extension, especially since the grassroots organizers who’ve supported youth in the streets have since experienced funding gaps. However, at least one council member — Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) — expressed support for the extension.
Parker, who’s currently shepherding a legislative package geared toward youth wellbeing, stopped short of proposing a permanent version of the bill, only telling his colleagues that he saw a curfew extension as a preventative measure.
“I see it as … another unique time period for the District, where we cannot afford for large groups of young people to gather and potentially encounter federal officers that might lead to more harm,” Parker said. “It seemed like a very specific tool for a specific period of time that’s proven effective, and I just think it’s important for us to remember how we got to this point as we move forward.”
Other council members, including Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large), sought clarity about the curfew’s effectiveness. McDuffie, who recently met with high school coaches out of concern about fights at sporting events, questioned if, instead of curbing violence, the emergency curfew compelled youth to take delinquent activities elsewhere.
“Some of the things that coaches have raised is whether you are meeting up at football games to vent…frustrations in places that otherwise would have been in areas that are now prohibited because of the curfew,” McDuffie said. “And I know that the times aren’t always aligned because football games aren’t at night or late at night, but I do raise it as an issue to understand whether that was simply displacing some of these incidents that had occurred in curfew areas and are now occurring in other places.”
During the federal surge, Bowser acknowledged the decline in violent crime, albeit with soured community-policing relations. In the surge’s aftermath, the council has been focused on boosting police recruitment. As the conversation about public safety continued on Tuesday, D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), as he’s done in years past, called for the creation of a long-term, holistic plan that tackles the root causes of violence.
“That has gotten ignored, because if we had a real plan, a comprehensive plan on how to increase public safety, we’d have to keep sticking with this more than we did,” Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White said. “Every once in a while, there’s something new, as this particular thing is, and I just don’t know the intended goal of this legislation in the long run.”
Business of the Day Continues, as the Council Focuses on Current and Future Economic Development
The D.C. Council approved the Official Sports Capital of the United States Designation Act and the Medical Cannabis Conditional Licensure Extension Emergency Amendment Act, both of which tackle different aspects of economic development.
The former, which directs Events DC toward the development of a strategic plan that “promotes, supports, and enhances” the District’s role as the nation’s sports capital, passed unanimously on its second reading. The council approved this bill as the Bowser administration continues to push its “Growth Agenda,” as a pivot toward sports, entertainment and technology as drivers of economic growth.
Though McDuffie didn’t speak to federal government furloughs, and the more recent shutdown, that inspired Bowser’s vision, he told The Informer that the District has the ingredients necessary to become a sports capital.
“I really think what this bill does is give the District of Columbia the ability to really do an assessment that evaluates where the opportunities are,” McDuffie said, “and perhaps where the opportunity costs are, so that we don’t avoid not capturing some of the revenues that we could that are complementary to our existing hospitality, tourism, restaurant industries in the District of Columbia.”
Over the last couple of years, the council has voted on legislation related to Monumental Sports and Entertainment’s future in Capital Arena, and the Washington Commanders’ return to RFK campus. With the 2030 completion of the new football stadium, the District will be one of the few U.S. cities, if not the only, that has all of its sports teams within city limits.
McDuffie said D.C. sports has the potential to boost the local economy, and the people along with it.
“You look at the investments that’s been made with Capital One Arena, they’ve already started their renovations,” McDuffie said. “That’s a significant opportunity. If you look at the $3.7 billion that’s going to be invested just on the stadium alone with RFK, it’s another significant opportunity to drop thousands of jobs, build thousands of housing units, including some affordable units, and also to build on the existing hospitality, tourism, sports, and entertainment infrastructure that we have today.”
Chair of the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, McDuffie similarly posited the Medical Cannabis Conditional Licensure Extension Emergency Amendment Act as a crucial element in local revenue generation.
The legislation, approved on its first reading, extends the expiration date from two years to four years for conditional licenses awarded to medical cannabis cultivation centers, retailers, internet retailers, manufacturers, couriers and testing laboratories. Conditional licenses allow applicants time to submit appropriate documentation and secure a proposed location for operations.
In the past year, the Alcoholic Beverage & Cannabis Administration (ABCA) has padlocked 75 illegally operating cannabis shops. On Tuesday, Bowser submitted a letter to the council as a nod to legally licensed businesses, telling the legislative body that those with conditional licenses need additional time to find a permanent location.
McDuffie shared that sentiment, noting that there are conditions unique to the District that have made it harder for canna-preneurs to legally and permanently set up shop.
“We…have to be mindful of the real estate environment that we’re in, where costs in the District of Columbia tend to be higher than they are in our neighboring suburbs,” McDuffie told The Informer. “If you factor in the competition that exists in those suburbs, it requires, as ABCA had requested, that we extend the period of conditional licensing that currently exists. It’s going to give people an opportunity to be able to really attract more capital, address some of the challenges with securing locations.”