Recording in progress.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I would like to good afternoon.

I would like to call this meeting of the committee on the judiciary and public safety to order.

Happy Friday.

I am Councilmember Brooke Pinto, representing Ward Two and chairwoman of the committee.

Today is Friday, May 22nd, 2026.

The time is eleven oh six a.m.

And we are conducting this meeting in person in room 500 of the Johnny Wilson Building and streaming on the DC Council's website and YouTube and X at CM Brook Pinto.

We have a quorum today with Ward 7 Councilmember Wendell Felder, Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, and at large council member Donnie Crawford.

We have one matter on the agenda today: the approval, hopefully, of the committee's fiscal year 2027 budget report and recommendations.

I'll begin by providing an overview of the committee's recommendations before opening the floor for discussion.

This report was developed after months of extensive hearings, oversight, testimony, meetings, and public engagement across the city.

The report reflects the committee's commitment to safety, justice, and sustainable peace throughout all of our communities in the District of Columbia.

As the district grapples with a shifting federal landscape, building vacancies, shifting uses in our downtown, rising cost of living, we confront the urgent need to diversify our local economy and provide innovative economic opportunities for DC residents while maintaining our fiscal responsibility and importantly, ensuring public safety for every resident and visitor, increasing affordability for housing and child care, and supporting our seniors, our young people, and residents most in need.

Public safety plays an especially important role in bolstering the district's efforts to strengthen our economic opportunity in light of these changing trends.

The committee recognizes that the district faces acute budgetary restraints this year.

Nevertheless, our recommendations demonstrate and maintain the district's commitment to enhance public safety and justice with investments that we are proposing across our public safety ecosystem.

Agencies within the committee's purview experienced dramatic cuts across the board in the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, leaving extraordinary gaps in the tens of millions of dollars and few opportunities for the committee to reallocate sufficient funding to fill these gaps completely.

Second, meet our urgent public safety needs and support for our public safety workforce across the board.

And third, bolster the foundational needs to provide for safe and thriving communities across the district.

I also want to make note that we are moving today the dais print of the report, which makes some minor technical corrections and adds in a technical amendment for one of the committee's new subtitles.

One particular clarification in the circulated report describes the suspension of the private camera security program as only applying to the remainder of FY2026 and FY27, where in fact the proposed suspension is across the financial plan.

While the attachment A consolidated report correctly reflects this, the budget chapter description in the circulated report has now been updated as well.

We also added in a policy recommendation for the committee of the whole to move a BSA subtitle that we drafted and we've been trying to move, however, it is outside the committee's jurisdiction, which fixes a problematic client confidentiality and records access issue in OVSJG grant service agreements.

So let me overview some of the budget recommendations now.

The budget, as proposed by the committee that I'm moving today, works to interrupt cycles of violence and support our underserved residents by supporting over $3.4 million across the financial plan to restore devastating personnel cuts to the Office of the Attorney General to ensure OAG can protect district residents and interests.

Support $51 million over the financial plan for victim services grants at the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants to support victims, survivors, and service providers.

Invests $20.1 million dollars in justice grants at OVSJG to provide support to returning citizens and those at risk of becoming justice involved.

Invests $1 million in FY27 and an additional $1.2 million across the financial plan for the Pathways program to provide better support and follow-through for job training and permanent job placement for individuals at risk of participating in or becoming a victim of gun violence.

Invest $1.8 million across the financial plan in domestic workers and workers' rights grants at OAG to support workers' rights education and legal representation for vulnerable workers, supports $4 million for access to justice across the financial plan enhanced to provide civil legal support and diverse services to disadvantaged and vulnerable residents for domestic violence.

This budget allows us to meet our urgent public safety needs and support our public safety workforce by funding important investments for officers and first responders at the Metropolitan Police Department and FIRE and EMS, which encourage recruitment and retention while identifying operating and capital savings.

Invest $34.6 million across the financial plan for MPD and FIRE and EMS scheduled capital improvements to provide safe, dignified, and modern workplaces for our first responders.

We are also working on a modernization plan both for both for both FIRE and EMS and MPD facilities, ensuring that the district has clear plans and priorities for which facilities need to be updated and when.

Approving 9.4 million in OUC hardware and software IT improvements in order to ensure the district's emergency response and communication center, maintain state-of-the-art and best-in-class mobile data computer upgrades, public safety radio towers, 911 call processing and electrical configurations to ensure accurate, fast and reliable emergency first response, funding the Department of Forensic Sciences at 30 million to include a $1 million investment in critical infrastructure and digital storage space to ensure the agency can process next generation sequencing of forensic DNA evidence, examine latent fingerprints and firearms, and analyze high resolution images captured as evidence at crime scenes.

This funding is crucial for sustaining the agency's continued trajectory with retaining and obtaining accreditation and ensuring rapid processing of crucial crime scene evidence.

This is critical to prosecutions and closing cases to ensure that justice is served.

Adds funding to the Office of Police Complaints at 3.2 million to ensure timely and thorough resolution of police complaints.

Funds $1.2 million for the Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure, including an additional position to ensure operational and institutional stability and durability for the Commission's important work to maintain public confidence in an independent, impartial, fair, and qualified judiciary.

Urges the rest of this is very important in that we could not find funding for this.

This is $127 million dollars across the financial plan for an agency, not in our purview, but I want to mention it here because of how important it is to all of our workforces across the district, including our public safety workforce to restore the workforce investment fund to pay for increases in pay and any changes in salary, both for collective bargaining and non-union pay increases that are expected within the budget year, but are not yet final.

This is particularly important for FIRE and EMS, which is working under a two-year-old contract, and we should be honoring their negotiated pay increases to come.

And finally, this budget bolsters foundational needs to provide for safe and thriving communities by funding $9.2 million for the Safe Passage Program and FY27 and adding additional funding across the financial plan to ensure the program does not sunset and help sustain this program in the future to ensure our students can travel to and from school safely with trained trusted adults monitoring these critical times of day and to intervene before conflicts could lead to violence.

Provides $2.6 million to ensure that current and former TANF families can receive an additional $200 per month in child support arrears, which is especially important for families in need.

Allocates $1.1 million across the financial plan for safe commercial corridor grants to provide resources for neighborhood specific safety interventions and promotes public safety along commercial corridors in all eight wards.

Provides $1.8 million across the financial plan for safe and secure DC nonprofit grants to provide resources and respond to safety concerns at district nonprofit institutions at higher risk of violence or attacks, including hate crimes.

Supports extended hours at Department of Parks and Recreation Centers with investment including an investment for the summer of 2026 in the supplemental budget, creates a new zoning and permitting review position at the Department of Buildings to expedite the building process for the creation of more affordable housing and more density in light of the need to build more housing across the district and upcoming changes to the comprehensive plan.

Thank you very much to my ward one colleague, Councilman Brian Nadeau, and the Committee on Public Works and Operations for transferring 260,000 in recurring funds to support domestic workers' grants for a total of 1.07 million dollars in the financial plan and $300,000 in recurring funds to support the Pathways Program for a total of $1.2 million across the financial plan.

Thank you to my Ward 3 colleague, Councilmember Fruman and the Committee on Human Services for transferring 250,000 in one-time funds to support the nonprofit security grants and 1.4 million across the financial plan.

511,000 in recurring funds to support the safe passage program at the Tenley Town Priority Area for a total of 1.5 million dollars across the financial plan.

Thank you very much to my Ward 6 colleague and member of this committee, Councilmember Charles Allen and the Committee on the Transportation Environment for transferring $2 million in one-time funds in FY27 to support access to justice and $750,000 in one-time funds in FY27 to support domestic workers' rights grants.

Thank you very much.

And thank you to my at-large colleague, Councilmember White, and the Committee on Housing for transferring $1 million in one-time funds to support access to justice.

Turning to the Budget Support Act, the committee provided comments on the various subtitles that were referred to the committee, and I just want to highlight a few of them.

First, Title I subtitle B, the limitations on liability against the district.

As proposed by the mayor, this subtitle would circumscribe the district's legal exposure by capping unliquidated damages that any claimant or beneficiary can pursue per incident or occurrence causing injury to $500,000, excepting in cases where the district is determined to have acted or omitted intentionally and wrongfully, in which case the damages would be capped at $1 million.

A claimant for a claimant to procure non-economic damages for the district's act or omission, except in cases of permanent disfigurement or death, the claimant must spend more than $10,000 in medical expenses.

The mayor justifies this subtitle by cost savings.

In FY25, the district's settlements and judgments budget was excessive by close to $20 million dollars.

By immunizing the district from certain claims and liabilities, the district will save, she thinks a total of $22.5 million dollars in savings through FY 2030.

The committee strongly disagrees with this policy, backing the subtitle on both procedural and substantive grounds.

Procedurally, making significant substantive changes to tort law merits robust analysis via the traditional legislative process with the introduction of a bill and a public hearing.

Substantively, the committee disagrees on the policy itself of capping damages.

This is a completely unfair policy that we believe that will not serve victims.

Unfortunately, though, the committee is not able to identify the $22.5 million that would be needed to strike this subtitle, and therefore it's retained in the committee report, but we are urgently urging the full council to identify funds in order to strike this subtitle at the committee of the whole.

Next, Title III, subtitle A.

The subtitle would levy a tax on occupied hotel rooms in the district for 80 cents per room or suite rental per night.

These revenues would be deposited in a new special purpose revenue fund that can only be used to pay for OUC costs necessary to provide 911 and 301 systems.

The Office of Unified Communications informed the committee that it has seen its revenues but in the emergency and non-emergency telephone number system.

Assessments funds stay flat while costs to operate the agency's 911 program increase with inflation.

The agency has had to use its excess revenue in the fund to cover the increase in expenses.

The proposed hotel occupant fee and new SPR will right size the agency's revenue according to the mayor.

Similar to last year, I do have concerns about this subtitle and do not agree with this policy, but we did not have the funds to strike it.

The BSA is estimated to collect $6.7 million and this next year and $27 million across the financial plan.

And therefore, while it's preserved in the print, we urge the council to find the funds to strike it.

Next, district law bestows the deputy mayor for public safety and justice with grant making authority for the purposes of providing grants to support the safe passage safe blocks program, which provides presence and safe passage for students and families as they travel to and from school in designated priority areas.

Grant recipients must submit annual reports detailing activities, training, incident summaries, coordination efforts, and other required data.

This subtitle provides that DMPSJ's selection of priority areas and reporting to the council is contingent upon available appropriations, but they don't provide any available appropriations after next fiscal year, which effectively sunsets the program by tying priority areas selection to available funds.

DMPSJ stated that this subtitle is intended to recognize that it is difficult to determine the priority areas for the following year to the passage of the budget as priority areas are subject to funding.

They also note that the subtitle is a recognition that the determination of priority areas based upon data and conversations with safe passage provider organizations and school leaders.

However, without any dedicated funding across the financial plan, the future of the program remains unclear.

The committee recommends striking this subtitle.

The original subtitle that establishes safe passage program does not delineate a funding amount.

The mayor's proposed subtitle removes the reporting requirement because the proposed budget has no funding.

The program is able to operate with a funding reduction in the outyears, so so long as there is some funding, they should be able to provide this reporting.

Because the committee did restore some funding for FY28, the reporting is still required and the proposed subtitle can be struck.

Next, the senior officer eligibility expansion amendment act.

This subtitle would have allowed MPD to rehire as senior officers, officers who had previously had a determination of serious misconduct against them with certain stipulations.

We do not think this is the right policy, and the committee recommends striking this subtitle.

It must continue to be the goal of this council to increase the number of sworn officers, but this cannot be at the expense of the quality and integrity of our officers and our department.

Next, the Metropolitan Department Training Academy College Credit Opportunity Amendment Act.

This mayoral subtitle would allow MPD recruits to enter the training academy with no prior college credits, but instead urged earn their 60 college credits through the training academy and a local accredited college.

The committee keeps this subtitle, which has no fiscal impact.

Giving the staffing and recruitment challenges that MPD has been facing over the past several years, the committee views this as an influential change that will increase the number of total recruits that MPD will have in each class.

Last year, when the council passed a similar provision, allowing recruits to enter with 45 credits and earning the remaining 15 credits while in training academy, MPD reported that only one recruit has filled that criteria, but almost all others were still unable to qualify with that change alone.

Given the significant competition that MPD faces recruiting those interested in law enforcement, given the many other jurisdictions in the area, including federal police forces and those in Maryland and Virginia, tweaking this requirement will help MPD be more competitive relative to those as other law enforcement.

As I've stated in the past, Arlington County is the only other local police department that requires 60 college credit hours, but this department offers a starting salary of $90,000 and a 37 and a half hour work week, whereas MPD starting salaries are 75,000 and overtime is typically required.

This legislation is one step in the right direction so the department can draw from a wider pool of applicants while still keeping the rigor of the training academy, which I believe to be the best in the country.

This mayoral subtitle recommends two new subtitles for fiscal year 27 budget support act.

The first subtitle amends existing law to provide enhanced funding amounts to nonprofit security grants and the safe commercial corridor grants while expanding the safe commercial corridor grants to be authorized to be used for youth safety activities.

This enhances the nonprofit security grants by an additional 200,000 in FY26, the current fiscal year we're in, so that they can be used this summer, $500,000 in FY27, $380,000 in FY28, and 387,000 in FY29.

For the Safe Commercial Corridor grants, it provides 410,000 in FY26, again to be used this summer, and 700,000 in FY27 while expanding the permitted uses of these grants to include youth safety activities.

And I want to especially thank my colleague, my Ward 7 colleague, Councilmember Wendell Felder, for your partnership on this important program.

The second subtitle amends recovery related statutes, specifically the Attorney General's litigation support fund and restitution fund to clarify inconsistent statutory language, and most importantly, ensure that the recoveries OAG wins are most consistent or more consistently, expeditiously and efficiently returned to the district and our residents.

The litigation support fund receives revenues from recoveries from lawsuits brought by the Office of Attorney General on behalf of the district and serves primarily as a funding source for OAG to pursue affirmative litigation from the public advocacy division.

The restitution fund holds recoveries mainly derived from settlements and judgments for which district residents are the primary claimants, and the fund serves as a primary mechanism for distributing recoveries to effective claimants.

This subtitle will reconcile statutory inconsistencies by allowing OAG to deposit recoveries in both the LSF and other special purpose revenue statutes in district law that require certain recoveries from OAG to be deposited in their funds.

Authorizing OAG to deposit recoveries to the general fund or to the executive agency SPR funds when agencies have contributed substantially to proving a case or when they have had funds misappropriated.

Authorize OAG to deposit in the restitution funds all restitution obtained for district residents in civil rights and antitrust cases, simply simplify processes and operations and merging vulnerable adults and elderly person exploitation restitution funds with the restitution fund to facilitate recovery disbursements and make it such that if a claimant is going to be distributed less than $100, they don't need to undergo a cumbersome screening by the OCFO or OAG.

Raises the excessive funds amount for restitution funds from $500,000 to a million.

Augmenting allowable excess funds means more funds can be returned to district residents who are entitled to restitution in cases where defendants have been unable to pay.

Clarifies when and who counts as a named person to whom restitution is owed in the judicial process with any access directable to the district as unclaimed restitution to avoid delays and contestation.

While these changes might seem technical, they all will have an impact and a positive impact by facilitating more recoveries to the district and more recoveries to our residents.

And I want to thank the Office of Attorney General and the mayor's office for working so closely with us on these subtitles to make sure they are workable for everyone.

While we are proud of the funds that we were able to identify and invest, I want to note there are many remaining big gaps that exist in these committees, this committee's priorities, and we urge the council to fill.

A few of them are the proposed budget for OAG, cut 58 paralegal and legal assistant positions, 56 of which are currently filled.

The committee was able to identify 3.4 million total in FY29 and 30 to help restore positions, but additional funding is needed to fill the gap.

Access to justice has a remaining 23.7 million dollar gap in FY27 after the committee added 3.5 million in 27 and 500,000 in FY28.

The proposed 27 FY27 budget for one's family and survivor support has been zero was zeroed out, eliminating all five FTEs.

We did invest funding to restore one of these case manager positions and support other services in this section, but urge the full council to fill the rest.

The lead up lead out program at DOC has a remaining funding gap of 996,000 to be restored.

The committee invested 300,000 for this program but asked for the full council to reinvest those funds.

The lead up lead out program is designed as a re-entry focused initiative.

The program bridges the gap between custody and community by promoting behavioral change and connecting participants to supportive services such as housing, employment, and education.

The sentencing committee has a significant has made significant investments in 26 to stabilize the agency's short-term grid system.

However, these investments have resulted in an unanticipated increase in the agency's Octo IT assessment, which we still need.

The committee provides two one-time enhancements for the Safe Commercial Corridors program, but we still need $1.5 million to restore it to FY26 levels.

The committee identified funds to restore the safe and secure DC nonprofit grant, but it still needs $250,000 to be restored to FY26 levels.

The CIC has a critical operational gap of $150,000 to both restore a cut to an FTE and return the agency to FY26 levels.

We also urge the committee of the whole to add a BSA subtitle that we've been trying to move, but that is not within our committee's jurisdiction, which would protect client confidentiality of domestic violence survivors and ensure that the victim services grantees maintain access to crucial federal funding when signing these grant agreements with OBSJG.

The committee is also worried about a continuing gap in victim services funding with OBSJG that we urge the council to fulfill.

I look forward to working with all of our council colleagues and the members of this committee and the full council to support these and more investments.

With that, I would like to see if there's any discussion on the committee's budget support act and recommendations or dais print of the budget report.

Go ahead.

Councilmember Allen.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

This is my 12th budget as a council member.

And I think what was proposed to the council is perhaps the most weighted on the shoulders of those who already have the lease that I've seen during those 12 years.

We're seeing drastic cuts in decisions around cuts to programs and services that are intended to help our most vulnerable residents.

A lot's made about how our economy is shifting and we will have to adapt to recent decisions by the federal government and the impact that's had on our workforce and our size.

Within this committee, the proposed cuts are really pronounced and harmful.

If you are low income and seeking redress in the DC courts, you may have to go with a loan and pursue your case without the help of a lawyer.

Chances are you will not be as successful as someone who does have a lawyer.

The Access to Justice Initiative, which provides critical dollars to legal service providers to help DC residents in eviction, domestic violence, or benefits cases, just to name a few, was cut by eighty-six percent from 31.6 million down to 4.4 million dollars.

If you've been harmed by the district government, if you're seeking redress or remedies to make you whole, there's now a cap on how much you can receive for the harm that has been done to you.

That doesn't seem fair, nor does it seem right.

If you're a victim of a crime or domestic violence survivor, it's now less likely there's gonna be a service provider there to offer you assistance and the resources you need during a really difficult time.

Victim services are proposed to be cut by 5.5 million dollars.

If you're a firefighter or an EMT serving your city and community, you're not gonna be getting a raise, even though you were probably told multiple times in the past few years, you're next in line to receive one.

If you're a religious institution where members of your community want to be able to safely congregate, there's less money for you to hire security and ensure your member safety.

And if you're a paralegal or legal assistant in the Office of the Attorney General, working in the civil litigation division, the Office of Solicitor General, the Public Advocacy Division, or the Public Safety Division, your job is slated to be eliminated come October 1st.

Is it because you did something wrong?

I don't think so.

Someone over in the executive needed to make the numbers work and decided your job wasn't worth it for whatever reason, despite the invaluable assistance that you provide to the OAG and the District of Columbia.

Madam Chair, I could easily lift off list off more examples of the drastic cuts that you have had to confront this committee, but I want to highlight these in particular to demonstrate the massive hole that you've had to face and the impossibility for the committee actions alone to fill them.

I do want to thank you for accepting the transfers from my committee, the Committee on Transportation and the Environment to restore two million dollars to the Access to Justice Initiative and $750,000 to OAG's workplace rights outreach grants.

I've already talked a little bit about the value of the ATJ program, but the recipients of OAG's workforce rights outreach grants also do great work by educating DC workers and making sure that they know their rights and the resources available to them.

I also want to thank you for helping restore investments in our Pathways program with the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

Pathways was facing cuts that would have forced the cohort size to go from 30 to 15, and the duration of the program from 10 weeks to just three weeks.

That is a proposal that would make our city less safe.

It would eviscerate a program with a track record of success.

And so I'm glad to see your investments are going to reverse that.

I do want to be honest though, I'm a little dissatisfied with the limited progress that I think the committee made on reversing some of the cuts I mentioned at the outset.

I cannot and will not blame you for not being able to fix every single cut in this committee.

Many were insurmountable.

Some of those cuts are just hurdles that we are gonna have to fix once we meet as the full council.

But I can't help but notice that some agencies in this committee did receive increases in the proposed budgets.

Overall, we're being told we need to tighten our belts, and I'm not sure the proposed increases have been scrubbed enough in light of other massive cuts this committee is facing.

Other committees, including my own, were facing drastic cuts, yet I was still able to find more savings and transfer many of those to this committee.

I wish that we could have done more, I'm disappointed we haven't.

You may or may not feel the same way, but I do believe that we both agree a lot of work's ahead of us to restore this once we get to the full council.

I did want to highlight a concern that I had in your proposed recommendations and ask you about this.

Your proposal is to pause the private security camera rebate program within OBSJG for the remainder of this fiscal year and into the next.

That does give me a lot of heartburn.

I vividly recall back when I chaired the committee that OVSJG consistently ran out of money for this program and we had to constantly find more.

The report does state as of four days ago, OVSJG has only issued 161 rebates and 10 vouchers for the fiscal year, which started back in October.

The fact that OVSJG isn't getting dollars out the door is concerning, and you even state that in your report that it's not been that it has not implemented the changes to the program that were part of Secure DC.

Can you help explain why the administration is not implementing the law the council passed?

The changes to note are to help our small businesses be able to be eligible for this private security grant.

I know it's something you and I care about a lot about.

It was part of Secure DC, and I'm a bit shocked that they have not implemented that.

Yeah.

Well, thank you, Councilman Allen, and thank you for all of your work on this program, a program that I completely agree with the benefit of in theory that we should be empowering our residents and small businesses to purchase these cameras and then connect the camera if they so choose with MPD so we can help solve cases.

Um I cannot I cannot speak on their behalf as to why they haven't implemented this.

We have continued to urge them for the last several years to do so.

Um, but as we just look at the underutilization of the program, that only 10 rebates have been issued.

Um, our theory to your point of being creative and trying to find as much money as we can in order to fill these huge gaps for human services needs, was that for a program that only issued 10 rebates last year, the cost of cameras uh is not very prohibitive uh and can still be connected to MPD systems.

There's still an FTE there to be able to do that work for connection.

Um, but that in a competing priority year, that it would be more useful to invest those funds in direct services for residents because the program was so underutilized.

Okay.

Just to clarify, it was 161 rebates.

Um I'm sorry, you're right, 10 vouchers is the number ahead of me.

Um I think though, we very intentionally a couple of years ago through Secure DC, expanded this program because we were hearing from businesses that they were ineligible, they needed to be eligible.

So the fact that they have not issued rebates or vouchers for a program that they're not implementing is not necessarily convincing to me.

I do agree with you, we need to find every place we can for savings.

So if there's money allocated that we don't think they're gonna get out the door, I understand that's an opportunity to redirect that.

What gives me heartburn is that they're not implementing the law, and we know we have businesses that need this type of help and have expressly said this is a cost when the cost of all of our businesses is significant.

Um, so I zeroing it out is what it gives me a lot of pause.

And I'd like to work with you as we move forward to ensure there's something one, that they implement the law that we passed, but two, that we save some funding to be eligible for our local businesses.

Um, I do believe based on the feedback I've heard from so many businesses, they would take this up.

It's just that they're blocking their ability to even apply.

So as we move through this, we'd like to be able to work with you uh at the full council to do that.

Um I do want to conclude by speaking to two BSA subtitles.

You know where I stand and where I come from on the proposed changes to the educational requirements for MPD recruits.

Um, I do not believe that we should be watering them down.

Uh, while I'm gonna vote yes and support your overall report and recommendations, I do want to ensure that I'm on the record.

I think this is an issue that we need to spend more serious time debating, especially since it does not have a fiscal impact uh in this budget.

Um I do want to thank you for striking the proposed subtitle on the senior police officers hiring.

It is baffling to me that at a time like this we want to hire officers found to engage in serious misconduct.

I seriously think this would have uh reduced the quality of our force and frankly exposed a lot of liability to the district and for our residents.

So I'm glad that you agree and that that is struck.

So thank you very much.

I do want to thank you and your staff for the hard work that went into this report and recommendations.

Again, I wish we could have done more, but please count on my support for restoring ATJ, our victim services, our OAG paralegals and legal assistance.

And you also have my support for finding funds necessary to pay for our firefighters and our EMTs, as well as striking the proposed VSA subtitle that would cap the district's liability as we move to the full council.

So thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Counselor Allen.

And one thing I'll just say, I'm absolutely happy to work with you moving forward for the private security camera program.

One thing we may want to consider is housing it in a different agency.

Just because there has been so much pushback from OVSJG about implementing the program.

Um, that while I'm in agreement with you, agency should implement the law as written, uh, that may be something worth exploring just to try to get the funds where they need to go.

Yeah, happy to work with you on that.

I don't think the executive gets to have an excuse though that we passed a law, pretty sure remember the mayor signing it and just choosing not to implement it.

Because I feel like I hear the mayor tout the law plenty of times.

We don't get to pick and choose which piece of the law we're gonna implement and not.

So I want to see fidelity to that.

But happy to work with you.

Fair enough.

Thank you.

Counselor Felder.

Uh thank you, madam chair.

Uh, first and foremost, I want to commend you and members of your team uh for putting this report together.

Uh unlike some of my colleagues up here, this is my second time uh going through the budget process, and I will say uh that this has been a very difficult uh time to navigate.

So I appreciate you making um lemonade out the limits that you were given.

Um I will say uh appreciate your efforts to help close the gap when it comes to access to justice uh as well as victim services.

We know that uh we want to make sure our most vulnerable residents get the support that they need, especially uh when they are harmed by various crimes.

Also appreciate your efforts to try to restore the staffing levels at the OEG's office uh as well as your continue support and investments in our safe passes program.

Um, you know, I will be remiss if I didn't commend you on the conversations that we had, specifically as it relates to the importance of uh our pathways program.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to meet with two individuals, Mr.

Reynold, I won't say his last name, or uh and Mr.

Glover, and they sat down with me after they concluded the program and they really shared how impactful the program really is to their lives and how they're motivated to change their trajectory, to the point that, you know, he said one of the young men said to me that he's about 35.

He's been incarcerated his entire life.

He's only been the longest he's been out of prison has only been for two years, right?

And if it were not for the pathways program, that he wouldn't know what he would do.

And I really sympathize with that young man because the reality is we're the same age.

We both come from the city.

There's no difference between him or I.

He could be the council member.

I could be him.

The only difference is people invested in me.

And as a council member, I have the right to continue to invest in him.

And hearing stories like that really reminds me why we do this work.

So you could have further gutted the program, but you decided to, no, we're gonna continue to invest, we're going to improve and we're gonna make it better.

Uh so I appreciate you, and I really wanted to highlight uh the fact that you continue to restore funding.

Uh similar to violence interrupters, you know, those are our frontline workers.

We can't rely solely on MPD.

Uh, so I appreciate your willingness to continue to fund uh this program.

Uh shifting over to the BSA, I'm glad that you strike uh the senior police officer eligibility expansion uh amendment act.

I think it's so important that we have good actors.

Uh oftentimes you hear about some of our young folks and the things that they're not doing right.

We don't want to uh create an environment where we have officers who were kicked off of the department for some reason or another and put them back in our community.

I think it goes against uh the culture of MPD and the trust that the agency has been able to um establish in recent years.

Uh, furthermore, I will say I remember um coming onto the council and knowing that I was going to be on this committee.

And I sat down with you and I shared a number of my ideas, and I will say I do that a lot, but very seldom do people listen.

And you you listen, councilwoman, and because of that, I was proud to see the within the subtitle, the Metropolitan Police Department Training, Academy College Credit Opportunity Uh Amendment Act.

I think about my conversations with neighbors all the time who are security officers or individuals who are from the city who happen to be officers.

And the ones who are officers, I ask them, do you think 60 college credits are required?

The response is no.

You have to be able to deal with individuals.

You have to meet folks where they are.

You have to realize that with great power comes great responsibility, meaning that, you know, you were there to keep people safe.

Don't abuse that.

And, you know, if you were to make a comparison between fire and EMS, which there's no 60 college credit required, um, to me, as long as officers are getting the proper training and really understand the community, because when you're a public servant, it's all about relationships and understanding the community.

Uh, some people would argue that maybe 60 college credits are not needed.

Furthermore, when you talk to individuals, a lot of individuals who keep our building safe, they have 10 years worth of experience or more.

But they don't they for some weak reason or another, whether they couldn't afford it, or uh they just didn't know that uh a pathway existed, like that prevents them from being officers.

With this subtitle, this could change that.

It also serves as a pathway, a new career pathway to help individuals who might want to be in law enforcement, take their uh careers to the next level.

I'll tell you this.

So uh my brother is an officer.

At first, he was a security, he worked at a store, he was a security guard.

And uh one day we were talking and I asked him, I said, why don't you just become a police officer?

And he said, Well, you know, I don't want to go back to school, 60 college credits, that may be rigorous.

And I was like, Well, it's not as rigorous as you think.

I did it, you can do it.

So, because of that, he got a 60 college credits, became an officer, but there's so many individuals who are from the city who understand the community, and they think that uh it requires so much when the reality is it doesn't.

So I appreciate you and your leadership for this.

And then lastly, um back to listening uh uh to our ideas.

We talked about the importance of keeping our young folks safe and how the city alone, specifically DPR cannot be the only agency responsible for keeping our young folks safe.

We had a lot of conversations about late night hype.

I think that is one tool, but that is not the only tool.

So I appreciate your subtitle that talks about uh youth safety activation grants, which ties into some of the work that we're doing uh within our subcommittee.

So I appreciate you and and your your meticulousness and your due diligence and when we look at our public safety ecosystem, you understand and then realize that uh that it's not a one-size-fit-all um uh approach, and how we as a city, both community, private sector stakeholders and our public safety agencies within the ecosystem have to be inclusive, collaborative, and innovative, and how we keep our families safe.

Uh so I just want to commend you and your team and uh thank you for your leadership.

Thank you so much, Councilman Rafelder, and thank you for um for all of those great ideas and being a really collaborative partner with with this budget and with all of these policy recommendations so that this committee can move forward um priorities that I hope it's proud of.

Um really appreciate your partnership there.

Um, Councilmore Crawford.

Good morning all.

Uh thank you, Chairperson Penso, to you and the committee on the judiciary and public safety for your hard work in preparing this report and these recommendations on the fiscal year 2027 budget.

I recognize the care and urgency with which the committee approached this budget, particularly at a time when the district is facing difficult fiscal choices, and the many critical public safety programs that saw reductions in the mayor's proposed budget.

I want to begin by lifting up several areas where the committee worked to preserve or restore important programs.

First, I want to thank you for supporting extended hours at DPR centers with 200,000 for the summer of 2026.

Over the last several months, my office has heard repeatedly from residents, parents, advocates, and young people about the urgent need for safe third spaces for youth in the evenings, especially during the summer months.

Young people need safe, structured, and positive places to go where they can be connected to trusted adults, programming, and community.

I also want to recognize the committee's work to preserve the Safe Commercial Quarters grant program across the financial plan and to provide dedicated funding for the safe and secure DC nonprofit grants program.

My office again has heard of the importance of making these investments to support neighborhood specific and faith-based safety interventions.

The committee also made important recommendations for victims, survivors, workers, and emergency response infrastructure.

That includes the $51 million across the financial plan for victim services grants at OBSJG and $9.4 million for OUC hardware and software improvements to strengthen emergency response.

I also commend the full restoration of the proposed one million cut to the OAG's worker rights grant program and domestic workers' employment right grants program.

We also spoke about the concerns that I had on Title III, subtitle D, the Senior Police Officer Eligibility Expansion Amendment Act, and I commend you for taking my concerns and the concerns raised by my colleagues on this committee seriously and recommending striking this subtitle.

While these recommendations move several priorities forward, I also want to flag a few areas where I hope the council can continue working to provide additional funding through the committee as a whole.

First, the ones pathways program is a key concern.

I know the committee made progress by investing 1 million in fiscal year 2027 and an additional 1.2 million across the plan, but additional funding is still needed.

My team and I have had the privilege of meeting with members of the Pathways program and hearing their stories directly.

What is clear from those conversations is that after withstanding cuts in previous years, what is essential to helping participants grow, stabilize, and move toward lasting employment is sustained collaboration and consistent support.

I would like the council to identify additional funding through the Committee of the Whole, so Pathways does not have to reduce its cohort size in half or scale back the duration and support services that make the program meaningful.

I also remain deeply concerned about the reduction to access to justice.

And it seems we're here every year, as I'm sure you know.

The committee was not able to fully restore the program, but it is supporting 4 million across the plan, including transfers from the Committee on Housing and the Committee on Transportation and the Environment.

Civil legal services are essential for residents facing domestic violence, housing instability, debt, family law challenges, and other urgent legal needs, and I strongly support the committee's call for the council to continue identifying additional funds to fully restore access to justice through the Committee of the Whole.

I'm also concerned about the proposed cuts to the Office of the Attorney General.

The committee, as you mentioned, identified $3.4 million across the plan in FY29 and FY 30 to help restore positions, but OAG still needs $7 million in FY27 to restore all 58 FTEs.

These staff are essential to the agency's ability to carry out its work on behalf of district residents.

Funding for the VI office would decrease from approximately 11.3 million in FY26 to 7.1 million in FY27, which would include a staffing reduction from 30 FTEs to 13 FTEs.

These reductions raise serious concerns about the impact on grant recipients and the district's ability to maintain effective violence interruption efforts under a reduced resource framework.

The committee was unable to restore funding, so I hope that we can work to increase funding for this work in the Committee of the Whole.

And finally, I want to flag the continued overtime pressures at both MPD and DOC.

We spoke about this, and I understand that this budget cycle, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, required agencies to more accurately budget for overtime up front rather than relying on reprogramming or supplemental budgets later.

At the same time, MPD received a $56 million enhancement to right size overtime, bringing total local overtime funding to $81 million in FY27.

DOC's proposed budget also includes a 12.9 million increase for overtime, bringing DOC overtime funding to 26 million.

These numbers reflect real staffing pressures, but they also raise serious questions about recruitment, retention, staff well-being, and how we can reduce long-term reliance on overtime.

Again, thank you, Chairperson Pinto, for your leadership and for advancing recommendations that reflect the complexity of public safety in our city.

I look forward to continuing this work with you and our colleagues as the budget moves forward.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Crawford.

And like Councilmember Allen and Council Member Felder and Councilmore Bonds, I really appreciate your engagement on these important issues and being an active member of the Judiciary Committee and appreciate you raising your priorities and concerns throughout this process so that this budget can reflect many of those.

I do just want to respond to the overtime piece because I think that there may be some misunderstanding in the public about what's happening with these budgets.

So for MPD and DOC, and for all of our agencies, the CFO has required this year that the mayor and agencies submit more accurate reflections of what their overtime spends are.

For MPD, for instance, there are is about $81 million allocated for overtime, but in FY25, they were at $95 million.

So while it is closer to accurate, it is still not what they're actually spending on overtime.

We are also not able to.

The council is not allowed to cut overtime spending this year because of those new rules.

And so while I deeply believe that the best way to cut overtime is to make sure that we can fund full-time positions and build up the workforces, both at DOC and MPD.

That is the best way to cut overtime.

That's why this budget invests in hiring bonuses and incentives, and moves forward the recommendation for the college credit requirement so that we can try to get more officers in the door.

We're also working, as you know, with the committee of the whole to pass our drop bill, which would allow officers to stay on the force but still earn the retirement benefits when they become retirement eligible.

And we think that will also help with the size of the force and help reduce our overtime needs.

But it's not as though the committees received an enhancement.

It was just a more accurate reflection of their overtime as required by the CFO.

Yes, I understand that.

Thank you.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Well, thank you all very much.

And lastly, I do just want to mention because there's been a lot of effort this year, especially by the city and by our community to make sure that we are investing more in our young people and making sure that they have the resources that they need to succeed and to thrive and to be safe.

And I wanted to highlight just a few of the investments that this committee is making to support our young people that I hope all of our committee members can be proud of.

This budget does everything from invest in our hospital-based violence interruption programs out of children's hospital, funds grants through access to justice, including services that support our young people, like the Children's Law Center, restores funding for the family services section at the one's office.

This is the section that provides the wraparound support for families who are grieving or who may have lost a child or a loved one.

This is a very important part of our Office of Neighborhood safety and engagement mission.

It's not just around the initial violence interruption, it's the entire wraparound supports.

We're investing in a TANF pass-through to increase what goes to our families, expanding the cadet program, restoring funding for safe passage so our children can get to and from school safely, making sure that we transfer money to the Department of Parks and Rec to open up our rec centers on nights and weekends this summer so our kids can have access to those spaces and creating a new authority and expansion of our safe commercial corridors grants so that this money can also be used for youth safety-related activities.

And so I want you all to have that information too as we continue to move forward what we can in this committee, but also our council-wide priorities of ensuring that we're investing in our young people.

And I'm excited about the many ways this committee report and investments do that.

Okay.

With that, we are going to take our vote.

I now move the print of the committee's fiscal year 2027 budget support act and local budget act of FY27 recommendations as amended and the committee's budget report with leave for staff to incorporate any technical conforming and editorial changes to reflect the amendment and discussion made in consultation with the general counsel.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

The ayes have it unanimously.

Is there any discussion on the committee's budget support act?

Otherwise, we can incorporate the discussion from earlier.

Okay.

Okay.

I now move both the committee's recommendation recommendations for the BSA and the committee's budget report.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

Thank you.

The ayes have that unanimously.

Thank you, everyone.

And before we adjourn, I want to recognize all of the members of the committee today and all of your teams.

Thank you all for your partnership throughout this process and throughout the year.

As I say often, I think public safety is foundational to everything else we want to accomplish as a city.

And so I really appreciate everybody being such a leaned-in partner on this important work.

And thank you for your assistance and support in developing these budget recommendations.

I want to thank my committee staff and team who have worked diligently to review the agency budgets and craft this thoughtful proposal, including Aloy Labrata, Genevieve Hulick, Akima Benjamin, Anaya Mitchell, Isaiah Boyd, Ella Hanson, Esther Bundens, Brian Romanowski, Maddie White, Samantha Manning, Hannah Ames, and Dea Metta.

I also want to extend particular thanks and gratitude to Ann Phelps, Errol Spence, Sutherland, Joe Wolf, Andy Eisenlore, and Jen Boudoff in the Council Budget Office for all of your invaluable expertise and guidance.

We are also grateful to Zach Walter in the General Counsel's office.

It is unusually impressive that you all can make a budget process so fun and enjoyable to work together on.

So really appreciate all that you do to make that a reality and all of your diligent work.

That's right.

I said it.

I stand by it.

And does.

And I really want to thank also our team at OCFO and the Office of Revenue Analysis, especially Andra Curry and Deborah Freeze for all of your invaluable assistance and analysis, as well as CFO Bun Lee, Mayor Bowser, and everybody in all of our agencies.

I do want to recognize we have been joined by my at-large colleague and member of this committee, Councilmember Anita Bonds.

Do you have a statement you'd like to make for the record?

Madam James.

Could I make a motion to reconsider our votes so that we can make sure that Counselor Bonds can be recorded as voting on the committee report in Brent?

Absolutely.

Can someone second that motion?

Second.

Great.

Alright, well, I listen, I appreciate that so much.

I've been listening in the office.

I had one little unreadiness, and so it expanded, and then I said, let me see if I can get there quickly, quickly, and I am able to make it here.

This report because that's what it is.

It is our year-long pushing and pulling and thinking what we can do to improve public safety in particular in the District of Columbia.

And to our chairwoman, I just really wanted to provide some accolades.

I know you received a lot of yes, yes, this is the direction we have to move in to the best of our ability with the with the coins that we have with our resources.

But more importantly, we are constantly moving the agenda forward for the residents of the District of Columbia.

We're operating in very tough times.

And I mean, that's really what happens in the community.

And I just wanted to be here to lend my 100% support.

You did mention a couple of things of extreme significance for me, and that is certainly the domestic violence, you know, resources that we have.

We have to continue to do that.

For some reason, that particular arena of crimes continues to grow.

And I suppose as long as uh we're in discussions about democracy, it will continue and continue.

Our issues as it relates to how do we help our young people adjust to this new society, are of equal um concern on my behalf.

And so I just wanted to thank you very much.

I will not be as eloquent as some of my colleagues have been about a laundry list of of items that are contained in this budget that are very important.

But I just wanted to let you know that I am with you one hundred percent on where you are trying to move the dial.

And um, we will we will go forth from here.

Thank you very much.

Well, thank you so much, Councilmember Bonds.

And I'm so glad um that you are here as you have been a really invaluable member of this committee and colleague, and while we have uh seven months left with you on the council.

If I can say I I think at least this term, this will be your last judiciary committee budget, and so I really appreciate um all that I have learned from you through this process and your deep commitment to public safety.

Because as you noted, there's a lot of different opinions in the room on this, but we try to stay guided by the light that our responsibilities to provide for the safety and well being of all of our residents, and I appreciate your your partnership so much.

Um, so with that, we're gonna revote on the budget.

Um, I now move the print of the committee's fiscal year twenty twenty-seven budget support act and local budget act of FY27 recommendations as amended, and the committee's budget report with leave for staff to incorporate any technical conforming and editorial changes to reflect the amendment and discussion made in consultation with the general council.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Great, the ayes have it.

I will now move both the committee's recommendations for the BSA and the committee's budget report.

All in favor, please signify by saying aye.

I great.

The ayes have it unanimously from all of our judiciary members.

Thank you again for everybody who's been part of this process.

Really appreciate all of the very late nights and early mornings and everything that goes with this.

Um, and thank you to the public for being part of this process too.

I really appreciate you all reaching out, hearing from you, um, and having your input shape what we're proposing today.

With that, the time is twelve.

And we are adjourned.

Yeah, I'm not a little bit more.

Love it on the