Legislation

This legislation would require the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to provide alternative forms of therapy, including art, music, and narrative therapy, among others, to youth in their care. The agency currently offers a broad array of therapy options for youth and families. However, most do not explicitly facilitate opportunities for youth to non-verbally and physically externalize their experiences in a therapeutic setting.

This legislation would require that each District of Columbia public high school student file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) prior to graduation. Students and families would have the option to opt-out of this requirement by completing a waiver form administered by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

This legislation would establish a Retirement Savings Board which would manage a universally available and voluntary Retirement Savings Program for employees of private businesses who are not offered a retirement plan through their workplace and for certain self-employed individuals. Employees would have 3% of their earnings automatically deducted from their wages to contribute to the program unless the employee makes an election not to contribute or to contribute a different amount. These accounts would also be portable if a participating employee changes jobs because the accounts would be managed by the District, not the employer.

As introduced, this legislation would: • Require Institutions of higher education in the District to retain a confidential resource advisor (CRA) to provide emergency and ongoing support to reporting parties at institutions of higher education; • Require amnesty protections for reporting parties of sexual misconduct for violations of an institution’s student conduct policy if the violation occurred immediately before, during, or immediately after the incident of sexual misconduct, unless the violation put an immediate and severe risk the health and safety of others; • Require institutions to facilitate mandatory annual sexual misconduct trainings for all students with information about consent, the impact of drugs and alcohol on an individual’s ability to consent, procedures following sexual misconduct, contact information for the CRA, bystander intervention strategies, the rights of reporting parties, and the institution’s responsibilities regarding no-contact orders, orders of protection, or restraining orders; • Require institutions of higher education personnel who are involved in an institution of higher education's investigative and disciplinary process regarding sexual misconduct to receive annual training in handling sexual misconduct complaints and in the operations of the institution's disciplinary process; • Require that CRAs, Title IX coordinators, and an institution of higher education’s public safety personnel be educated in trauma-informed responses, and investigators to receive annual training on conducting investigations using trauma-informed responses; • Establish minimum criteria for institutions’ sexual misconduct policies; • Allow institutions to grant students who report experiencing sexual misconduct to specific institution personnel a waiver from minimum GPA, credit hour load, or other academic requirements or disciplinary record standards if the reporting student consents for a CRA, Title IX coordinator, public safety personnel, or local law enforcement to confirm to the institution the report of sexual misconduct, and • Require institutions of higher education to prepare and submit to the Higher Education Licensure Commission a report containing data about sexual misconduct on campus, to submit to the Commission and, starting in 2026, publish on its website the results of the online survey for campus safety that will be biennially administered.

This legislation will require that any child enrolled in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or the Immigrant Children’s Program during the ages of zero to five years old will not face a redetermination or risk losing coverage under the program until the end of the month in which they turn six years old.

This legislation would suspend the license and registration of all vehicles owned by or registered in the name of any person charged with: Negligent homicide where death is due to operation of a vehicle; Leaving the scene of an accident in which the motor vehicle driven by the person is involved and in which there is personal injury; or Driving while intoxicated or while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug or any combination.

This legislation would treat moving violations detected by an automated traffic enforcement (ATE) system similar to moving violations detected by law enforcement by assessing points against driving records. Furthermore, the bill requires the following: Requires DDOT to diversify the ATE systems they plan to procure to ensure a certain number can capture footage of the front of the vehicle by 2025; Requires DDOT to publish on its website copies of ATE assessment worksheets that the agency uses to evaluate the traffic safety environment of an intersection or stretch of road; Requires the Director of the DMV to biannually send a report containing the motor vehicle record of drivers who acquire five moving violation infractions in the District to the drivers’ respective automobile insurance company. This provision is intended to encourage compliance of traffic laws using private market tools, especially for drivers with out-of-state tags; and Requires the towing or immobilization of a parked vehicle with five or more unpaid moving violations and to require the towing or immobilization of a parked vehicle displaying counterfeit, stolen, or otherwise fraudulent temporary identification tags.

This legislation would establish a Middle School Youth Career Exploration Pilot administered by the Department of Employment Services (DOES) that would launch a summer pilot program for middle school youth. The pilot would provide occupational skills, academic enrichment, life skills, career exploration, work readiness, or youth development trainings for middle school youth ages 9-13.

This legislation will add pre-birth complications, childbirth, and postpartum recovery to the list of health conditions which render students eligible for home or hospital instruction under the Students’ Right to Home or Hospital Instruction Act of 2020.

As introduced Bill 25-279 would require owners of rental habitations who provide air conditioning to tenants to have individual air conditioning units or central air conditioning systems inspected by April 1 of each year and correct any defects by May 1 of each year. The units must run through October 31 of each year. Among other things it would also require the Department of Energy and Environment to work with the Sustainable Energy Utility and the Green Finance Authority to establish a Cooling Energy Offset grant and financing program for such owners.

As introduced Bill 25-226 would authorize employees and agents of public schools who have been certified under an Office of the State Superintendent of Education administration training program to administer undesignated albuterol to a student who is suffering from an asthma attack and undesignated glucagon to a student who is suffering from hypoglycemia due to diabetes.

As introduced Bill 25-182 would grant small condominium buildings with eight or fewer units eligibility for residential solid waste management services from the District. It would also require the Chief Financial Officer to undertake a study of the solid waste tax credit deduction issued to owners of condominium living units or homeowners who pay for commercial solid waste collection services.