Good morning, everyone.

I would like to call to order this public hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.

I'm Councilmember Brooke Pinto, representing Ward 2 and chairwoman of the committee.

The time is now 9 34 a.m.

on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, and we are conducting this hearing in person in room 500 of the John A.

Wilson building and streaming virtually on the DC Council's website and YouTube and X at CM Brook Pinto.

The Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety has performance and budget oversight responsibility for matters of including the district courts, criminal law, procedure and justice, public safety, policing, violence prevention and intervention, civilian police oversight, access to justice, victim services and justice grants, fire and emergency medical services, the districts 911 and 301 services, forensic science, fatality review and medical examinations, homeland security and emergency response, adult corrections, family law, probate in the states, and child support.

Today the committee begins our budget hearings reviewing the mayor's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and financial plan.

All district residents deserve to be safe in their communities, have access to affordable and stable housing and education, and maintain stable employment.

And our budget must reflect these pressing needs.

As the district grapples with a shifting federal landscape and rising cost of living, we confront the urgent need to diversify our local economy and provide innovative economic opportunities for our residents and maintaining fiscal responsibility, ensuring public safety for all of our residents and visitors, increasing affordability for housing and child care, and supporting our residents most in need.

These investments must be at the forefront to ensure that our residents can prosper.

The role of this committee is to work towards these goals within our jurisdiction, and it's incumbent on our entire council to work collectively.

I look forward to working with all of my colleagues throughout this budget season and to all in the community who are a part of this process, and thank you for all of you for testifying today.

Today we're discussing three agencies' budgets.

First, the Office of Attorney General, which we refer to as OAG.

Second, the Office of Deputy Safety and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, or ONES, and third, the Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice, DMPSJ.

First, we will hear testimony from public witnesses on each of these agencies who are here in person, and then we will hear from the public witnesses for each of the agencies virtually, and then we will hear from the government witnesses for each of these agencies.

So it's a little different than our usual ordering, but we want to make sure to respect everyone's time, everyone's time, and those who are joined us in person today will be up first.

OAG is an independent agency charged with conducting the district's legal business.

OAG represents the district in most civil litigation, prosecutes certain adult crimes in nearly all juvenile criminal matters, and represents the district in a variety of administrative hearings and other proceedings.

In addition, OAG is responsible for providing legal advice to the mayor, to the council, and many of our district agencies.

The mayor's proposed FY 2027 budget allocates about 151 million for OAG, which reflects a 3.8% reduction from the current fiscal year.

This includes an 11 million dollar cut to staffing, which would require the agency to eliminate close to 58 positions that are already filled.

10% of essential support staff, which will significantly impact OAG's ability to protect and defend DC.

In addition, the proposed budget includes 3% cuts in vacancy savings, which is a $3 million cut, which would force the agency to delay backfilling vacant positions, placing additional pressure on attorneys and support staff that are already carrying large caseloads.

This proposed budget also concerningly makes a $1 million cut to domestic workers and workers' rights grants that we started several years ago to support organizations that educate workers about their rights.

Together, these cuts place the district and our residents in a more vulnerable position.

We depend on the hardworking attorneys at OAG to stand up for workers, defend survivors of domestic violence, fight for residents' rights to safe and clean housing, prosecute crime, facilitate restorative justice mediations, and much more.

And so I look forward to discussing our public witnesses today, what they're seeing with this budget, and speaking with Attorney General Schwab about the important work he and his team do every day and the impact that these cuts would have on their mission.

Next, we will hear about the Office of Safety and Neighborhood.

Ones was launched in 2017 to create a public health-based community-oriented model of violence prevention and public safety.

Ones is created based on the premise that the overwhelming majority of serious violent crime is committed by a relatively small group of people, and that by identifying and engaging these people, we can drastically reduce violent crime in the district.

Ones works towards that objectives, towards that objective through two programs, including the Pathways program, which identifies individuals at high risk of committing or being victims of violent crime, and gets them into a program that offers intensive job and life training for them.

And second, the violence intervention initiative, which uses a community-focused approach to reduce violent crime through violence interrupters, community members who are able to identify interpersonal conflicts that might lead to violence and work to facilitate ceasefires and mediations.

This proposed budget allocates about 20 million dollars for ones, which reflects an over 17% decrease.

Ones is also facing a significant decrease in full-time positions with 46 proposed cuts.

As a point of um relativism, the there were 88 positions that we funded in last year's budget, and 46 of those are proposed to be cut.

I'm very concerned about the effects of these cuts on people's jobs, on their ability to help keep our city safe, specifically the agency management and neighborhood safety engagement divisions.

And I want to ask ones today about how we will continue to fulfill our mission to keep all district residents safe and prevent violence without these important jobs and divisions.

Finally, we'll turn to the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, or DMPSJ, which is responsible for providing direction and support to coordination and coordination of the district's public safety agencies to develop and lead interagency public safety initiatives, improve the quality of life of our neighborhoods, and they provide oversight of all of the public safety cluster agencies, including MPD, Office of Safety, Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, Fire and Emergency Management Services, and the Office of Unified Communications.

The mayor's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget allocates about 12.5 million dollars for DMPSJ, which reflects a 20% decrease from last year.

DMPSJ has gone through significant growth and operational challenges and shifts in the past few budgets.

Last year, the office got additional grant making authority to issue safe and secure nonprofit grants, a program we started to ensure that our nonprofits and religious organizations can get the grants and security that they need.

In FY 2024, we shifted Safe Passage to DMPSJ out of the Deputy Mayor for Education's office, and the council also added the Safe Commercial Corridors grant program, which I created through my secure DC bill.

In FY25, the mayor's budget proposed shifting another program, the ONES Leadership Academy, also into DMPSJ.

And so I want to discuss with the deputy mayor today how all of those programs are going and how this budget ensures that they can continue.

Seeing if anyone else is joining us online.

Okay, so with that, we are going to turn to our first agency on the agenda today, which is the Office of the Attorney General.

Again, we're going to hear from our public witnesses who are here in person first on all three agencies, and then we will move to our public virtual witnesses.

So I'm going to ask you all to come up in the order that I call you if the first person can sit on my right and this first left chair, and we'll move on from there.

So Alana Eichner, Alex Samuels, Cherowan Troop T Patel.

Okay.

Okay.

Michael Messina.

Okay.

Great.

We will begin with Alana Eichner, DC Chapter Co-Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Thank you, Councilmember Pinto.

And as you probably guessed, I'm here to testify about a really important and a very successful program at the Office of the Attorney General, the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Program.