Newsroom

Last year, I introduced the Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice, and Equity (VOICE) Amendment Act of 2021 (B24-0372) to bring RCV to our local elections. This legislation would mandate a robust voter education campaign to be carried out by the Board of Elections. The Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety held a hearing on the bill in November 2021, but party politics stalled its advancement. Quite simply, the votes on the DC Council are not there yet, but we can change that if we keep educating, organizing, and building coalitions.

Commissioners voted to approve a resolution supporting The Human Rights Sanctuary Amendment Act of 2022, which was introduced last week by D.C. Council member Brianne Nadeau, who represents Ward 1, and the Enhancing Reproductive Health Protections Amendment of 2022, sponsored by Council member-at-large Christina Henderson in March. The two bills would protect the right to an abortion for people from outside of D.C., as well as protect them from potential lawsuits or penalties because of their seeking an abortion.

Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen led the letter, which was also signed by Ward 1’s Brianne K. Nadeau, Ward 3’s Mary Cheh, Ward 4’s Janeese Lewis George, and At-Large members Elissa Silverman, Robert White and Christina Henderson.

The Cannabis Employment Protections Amendment Act of 2022 was first introduced as Prohibition of Marijuana Testing Act of 2021 in February of last year by Councilmembers Trayon White, Charles Allen, Christina Henderson, Kenyan McDuffie, Brianne Nadeau and Robert White.

Project DASH is DoorDash’s initiative to empower food banks, food pantries and social impact organizations to leverage DoorDash's last-mile logistics to carry out their mission. Project DASH has powered over 2 million deliveries of an estimated 35 million meals.

“We want to encourage families not to wait till the last minute,” said Christina Henderson, an at-large member of the D.C. Council. “Go ahead and schedule that now, so that you can get in for an appointment.” She added, “I think anyone who has young children knows that when you call the doctor’s office and they say ‘Oh, we don’t have any appointments until September!’ You have that frustration that builds up.”

In March, At-large Councilmember Christina Henderson also introduced the Enhancing Reproductive Health Protections Amendment Act of 2022, which clarifies that an individual assisting someone in self-managing their medication-induced abortion would not be penalized. The bill was co-introduced with nine other councilmembers.

Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) said the at-risk funding pool has always been “contentious” and said governments often “over-police” money going to communities in need of more investments. But she hailed the way the council’s funding proposal was crafted. “It can be a game changer,” she said.

Henderson, an at-large independent lawmaker, introduced the “Give SNAP a Raise Amendment of 2021,” which would increase the program’s minimum monthly to recipients by providing city funds to match their federal benefits under the Low-Cost Food Plan set by the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Additionally, the bill would change the maximum benefit to 15% of the maximum allotment for a recipient’s family, as opposed to the current flat rate of $30.

Also, it is not just about DC residents. We have a lot of people from places like Texas who travel to the District for their abortion care procedures. We want to make sure that this can continue to happen. I introduced a bill earlier this year to shore up protections for self-managed terminations of pregnancy, to ensure that those folks or anyone who helps them cannot be criminalized. There are times where people are like, “Do we really need this? We’re in DC—I think we’re okay.” But I don’t think that we should ever make any assumptions about rights, about freedom, especially as it pertains to someone else’s body.

Though Democrats have agreed in the past to prevent the District from spending local funds on abortion, she says now is the time to hold firm and preserve abortion access for women. “We call on Congress not only to codify Roe, but also to give D.C. statehood so that we can protect our residents and their rights even more,” Henderson said.

D.C. has continued to try to strengthen protections for people seeking abortion or those assisting them.