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Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large), chair of the council’s health committee and a member of the abatement commission, had pushed the council to keep the order in place for at least another month so the group would have more space to deliberate. “It’s unfortunate because I believe there’s more we could have gotten done on the opioid side that we didn’t have time for,” Henderson said. “Everybody was giving warning that it wasn’t enough time.”

“The Washington Post editorial board used to be a driver of the local conversation,” says At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson, noting that the board frequently ignores important local topics including major legislation about safer streets that was just passed by the D.C. Council, amendments to the tipped wage bill, and student truancy. “It’s a bit disheartening,” she adds.

D.C. officials are working to renew Medicaid registrations for the more than 283,000 residents that rely on the federal program for health insurance, but service providers worry that a lack of communication between District agencies is hindering the process. At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson, the health committee chair, is also raising questions about the city’s online system for managing these registrations.

Throughout the Medicaid redetermination process, D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) has asked questions about the effectiveness of District Direct. Navigating the online application process, she said, is leaving Medicaid recipients in a state of limbo that threatens their coverage. During a joint oversight roundtable that the Council Committee on Health and the Committee on Housing conducted in December, Henderson, chair of the Committee on Health, questioned DHS and DHCF officials about the causes of application processing delays and how they are rectifying them. She later told The Informer that getting both agencies in the same room, to an extent, rectified discrepancies about processing gaps. Henderson said she continues to hear from constituents whose benefits had been terminated while DHCF processes their Medicaid renewal paperwork. WIth what she estimated as 20,000 applications still pending, Henderson told The Informer that she worries if DHCF and DHS will be able to facilitate Medicaid redetermination without federal interference.

A 2017 law mandating a full-time nurse in every school was never funded nor implemented. But a 1987 law remains on the books requiring 20 hours of care from a nurse in each District school. “Whether it was 20 hours a week or whether it was 40 hours a week, the District of Columbia has never reached 100 percent of every school having full time nurse, RN or LPN coverage,” said Councilmember Christina Henderson (At-Large – D), Chair of the DC Council Committee on Health.

Numerous members have stopped short of promising residents a sea change should the legislation pass, believing it should not be seen as a substitute for a comprehensive violence reduction plan. As Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) noted, “a lot of things in this bill are, how do you deal with accountability and consequences after a crime has already been committed?” And accountability, she noted, also still depends on prosecutors and judges under federal control. Still, she added, “while there’s not a single event or moment that led to where we are, nor is there going to be one bill that leads us out — we’re at this point willing to try any and all things to try to reverse course here.”

Numerous members have stopped short of promising residents a sea change should the legislation pass, believing it should not be seen as a substitute for a comprehensive violence reduction plan. As Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) noted, “a lot of things in this bill are, how do you deal with accountability and consequences after a crime has already been committed?” And accountability, she noted, also still depends on prosecutors and judges under federal control. Still, she added, “while there’s not a single event or moment that led to where we are, nor is there going to be one bill that leads us out — we’re at this point willing to try any and all things to try to reverse course here.”

At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson says, “DC Crime Facts has infused nuance and constructive conversation about the public safety landscape, which overall has helped to provide the public with a better understanding of the process and challenges.”

When a female high school student becomes pregnant, her chances of graduating on time declines by 40 percentage points, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As part of an effort to address this phenomenon, Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) introduced the Extended Students’ Right to Home or Hospital Instruction last summer. On Tuesday, the council unanimously approved a committee print of the legislation...“This legislation would dismantle the biases we have regarding health conditions and help students who find themselves in a situation where they need assistance,” Henderson said. “I look forward to getting this bill passed and ensuring all students whose health needs require accomodation[s] get those needs met.”

On Jan. 17, the council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, which includes Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), Christina Henderson (I-At Large), Anita Bonds (D-At Large), Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), unanimously approved the Secure DC Omnibus Bill’s passage to the Committee of the Whole.

“While I will vote in favor of this measure today, I continue to have some reservations about parts of this bill,” Henderson said during the committee meeting. Henderson specifically raised concerns regarding the bill’s provision to reinstate the Metropolitan Police Department’s ability to declare drug-free zones. “As chair of the Committee on Health, I am concerned how drug-free zones may criminalize individuals who are suffering from substance abuse disorder,” she said. “Let me be clear, yes we need to disrupt the sale of illegal drugs and shut our open-air drug markets, but we can do that while supporting those who are suffering from addiction and ensuring they don’t end up in jail, which is not going to lead to further treatment. I’m not yet sure that we struck that balance here, so I want to continue working with you over that,” she continued.

In the midst of a crime crisis, the DC Council unanimously confirmed Pamela Smith as the new chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Councilmember Christina Henderson gives her support for Chief Smith in her statement. “Chief Smith is able to solidify cross-agency relationships and improve community policing to meet the needs of all affected residents,” Henderson said. . “I trust that she will because lives are very much at stake. "