Um Councilmember Parker and Councilmember Nodeau, we are uh waiting on uh Councilmember Allen.

Okay, see okay, great.

All right, cool.

We're good.

Okay, good morning.

I like to call this additional meeting of the Committee on Health to Order.

Today is Wednesday, July eighth, twenty twenty-six.

The time is eleven oh four AM.

I'm at large Councilmember Christina Henderson, Chair of the Committee on Health.

Uh, we've been joined by Councilmember Brianna Doe from Ward One, who is chairing her own hearing upstairs.

Um, Councilmember Zachary Parker from Ward Five, um, and I believe we will also be joined by Councilmember Charles Allen from Ward Six.

We do have a quorum of the committee.

Today we will consider and vote on five bills before the committee.

Oh, excuse me, with Council Chairman uh Phil Mendelson on January thirteenth, twenty twenty-five, as the Funeral Director's Licensing Reform Amendment Act of Twenty Twenty Five.

The bill was initially referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development before being referred to the Committee on Health in February following the transfer of oversight of the Board of Funeral Directors to this committee.

The district's funeral services regulatory act has remained largely unchanged for more than 40 years, even as funeral services profession has evolved significantly.

This legislation modernizes our licensing framework by creating separate licenses for funeral directors and embalmers.

By aligning licensure requirements with actual duties performed by each profession, we can ensure that individuals receive education training and examination requirements that are relevant to the work they will perform.

The committee worked closely with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, the Board of Funeral Directors, and members of the funeral services industry to revine the legislation.

As a result, the committee print does make several improvements.

First, it maintains the apprenticeship framework rather than replacing it with internships.

Second, it broadens recognition of accredited educational programs approved by the U.S.

Department of Education and aligns the National Board examination requirements with the distinct competencies required for funeral directors and embalmers.

Third, it removes an overly restrictive reciprocity requirement for experienced professionals moving to the district.

And finally, it clarifies supervision requirements to protect excuse me to better protect consumers while providing clear expectations for apprentices and licensees.

Oh hang on one second.

Hold on one second.

Is our sound okay?

Because um councilmember Parker is saying he can't hear anything.

Hello.

Try it now.

Can you hear me now?

Ah, okay.

Do it does that mean I need to start over.

You know, I think we got the gist.

No, but I mean, like, did cable get it?

I didn't hear it, madam chair, so happy to if you need to do it again.

All right, good afternoon.

Good morning.

I'd like to call this additional meeting of the committee on health to order.

Today is Wednesday, July 8th, 2026.

The time is 11 07.

I'm at large councilmember Christina Henderson, Chair of the Committee on Health.

We've been joined by Councilmember Charles Allen from Ward 6, Councilmember Zachary Parker from Ward 5, and Councilmember Brianne Doe from Ward 1.

Uh we have a uh we've got quorum.

Uh we've got five bills.

Let's talk about them.

Uh bill 26-47, the funeral services modernization amendment act of 2026 was introduced by Chairman Middleton on January 13th, 2025 as the funeral directors licensing reform amendment act of 2025.

The bill was initially referred to the committee on business and consumer um no business and economic development before being referred to the committee on health on February 3rd, 2026, following the transfer of oversight of the board of funeral directors to this committee.

The district's funeral uh services regulatory act has remained largely unchanged for more than 40 years, even as funeral services profession has evolved significantly.

This legislation modernizes our licensing framework by creating separate licenses for funeral directors and embalmers by aligning licensure requirements with the actual duties performed by each profession.

We can ensure that individuals receive the education, training, and examination requirements that are relevant to the work that they will actually perform.

The committee works very closely with the Department of Licensing Consumer Protection, the Board of Funeral Directors, and the members of the funeral services industry to refine the legislation, and as a result, the committee print does make several changes.

First, it maintains the apprenticeship framework rather than replacing it with internships.

Second, it broadens recognition of accredited educational programs approved by the U.S.

Department of Education and aligns the National Board examination requirements with distinct competencies required for funeral directors and embalmers.

Third, it removes an overly restrictive reciprocity requirement for experienced professionals who are choosing to move to the district.

And finally, it clarifies supervision requirements to better protect consumers while providing clear expectations for apprenticeship and licensees.

The OCFO has confirmed that funds are sufficient to implement this legislation.

I will now open the floor for any discussion.

Great.

Hearing none, I now move the draft report and print for bill 26-47 in block with leave for staff to make any technical or conforming changes.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Great.

Let the record reflect that the ayes have it and the measure passes unanimously.

The next bill is Bill 26-181, the short-term disability insurance benefit protection clarification amendment act of 2026.

This was introduced in March of 2025 by Councilmember Janice Lewis George, and it was co-introduced by Councilmembers Charles Allen, Brianna Doe, Zachary Parker, and Robert White.

The bill was originally referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development and in March of 2026, it uh was uh re-referred to the Committee on Health and the Committee of the Whole following the transfer of the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking to the Committee on Health.

The bill would permanently codify provisions that have been effect, in effect uh through successive emergencies and temporary legislation since 2021 by amending the Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016 to prohibit insurers from offsetting or reducing short-term disability insurance benefits to eligible individuals based on estimated or actual paid leave benefits they may receive under the UPL program, regardless of the jurisdiction of where the policy was issued.

It also amends the insurance trade and economic development amendment act of twenty two thousand to ensure that this prohibition is enforceable under the district's insurance laws, regardless of the policy's jurisdiction for issuance.

At the hearing, Disby testified in support of this legislation, stating that they are already enforcing it due to the temporary and emergency versions of the bill and that they would continue to enforce the permanent version.

They did acknowledge potential enforcement challenges, but noted that in the last five years, Disby has only received five complaints on short-term disability.

The committee did not receive a REA for this legislation because it was being referred sequentially to health, followed by COW, and we anticipate that when Cal marks up this bill at the July 14th meeting, there will be a REA that is attached to it.

The OCFO has also confirmed that funds are sufficient to implement this legislation, which would be surprising if they said something to the uh alternative, considering we've been doing this for five years already.

With that, I open the floor for any discussion since several of you are co-introducers.

All right, great.

Uh hearing none, I move the draft report in print for bill 26-181 in block with leave for staff to make any technical conforming changes.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

Let the record reflect that this measure passes unanimously.

Bill 26-427, the Cybersecurity Accountability Act of 2026 was originally introduced by Council uh Chairman Phil Mendelson on October 8th, 2025.

The bill was originally referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development and then referred to the Committee on Health following the transfer of Disby to the committee in March of 2026.

The bill updates the district's cybersecurity notification protocols by establishing additional requirements for insurers to report cybersecurity related events to Disby.

The bill, as introduced, um, establishes standards for data security licenses for Disby, including standards for investigating and notifying Disby of cybersecurity events and for security measures to protect all non-public information being transmitted over an external network or a stored laptop or other portable device.

The legislation includes a fine up to $25,000 for failure to comply with the requirements of this legislation.

The committee print made several changes to the introduced, including clarifying that the Disby's commissioner has authority over licensees, establishing notification mandates for licensees operating in multiple jurisdictions, and expanding risk assessments to include personally identifiable information.

Disby did uh testify in support of this legislation, noting it would create greater oversight and regulation of licensees when cybersecurity events occur.

The OCFO has also confirmed that funds are sufficient to implement this legislation.

And with that, I open up the floor for any comment.

All right, hearing none, I now move the draft report in print for bill 26-427 in block with leave for staff to make any technical conforming changes.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Great.

Let the record reflect that the ayes have it, and the measure passes unanimously.

The next bill, bill 26-444, the Food Policy Council Procurement Amendment Act of 2026, was introduced on October 22nd, 2025 by Councilmember Zachary Parker, myself, Councilmember Freeman, Lewis George, and uh Pinto.

It was referred to the Committee on Health.

The district spends more than $62 million each year on food across a variety of m agencies to serve meals at schools, recreation centers, correctional facilities, and senior centers, among others.

Despite this significant investment, food procurement in the district is done in silos with agencies not communicating about past performance of vendors or coordinating to ensure that they get the best price or quality for their products.

There's also insufficient oversight over these food contracts to ensure that they're meeting all of the districts' environmental nutrition and small business requirements and goals.

This bill establishes the authority of the Office of Food Policy Council to oversee food procurement in the district.

Specifically, the bill gives OFP the authority to advise food procuring agencies on improving their contracts, collaborate with the Office of Contract and Procurement to ensure that food service solicitations reach a wide audience of available high quality prospective vendors, consolidate food purchasing data across the agencies and develop and maintain food procurement standards and templates to be used in all procurements.

The bill also changes the annual reporting requirement for the food policy council to instead require the report once every three years, aligning with other jurisdictions.

The Office of Food Policy currently is located within the Office of Planning, but it is moving to DC Health on October 1 of this year.

The OFP has already started working with food procurement through the federal USDA grant, um, which allowed for them to bring on one FTE who has led a community of practice of all food procuring agencies in the district, as well as evaluating for food procurement practices.

Thanks to Councilmember Parker's transfer of funds to the Committee on Health during the budget process to add one FTE to OFP in the FY27 budget.

This position will be able to continue once these federal funds sunset.

The committee print does make several changes to the bill as introduced.

First, it changes the scope of food procuring agencies to include any district agency or contractor that regularly procures food or beverages.

This would include, but not be limited to schools, recreation centers, correctional facilities, uh senior centers, and St.

Elizabeth's Hospital.

It would not include agencies that purchase food or beverages solely for vending machines or for uh one-off catering services for events.

Second, the committee print specifies that nonprofit vendors should be included in the OCP outreach for food procurement uh solicitations.

This change was suggested by DC Central Kitchen, which is a nonprofit that provides meals in schools and other settings within the district.

OCP often only notifies uh certified business enterprises about solicitations, and since nonprofit organizations are not eligible to become CBEs, they often do not receive this information.

Third, the committee print adds a provision that covered agencies must share data on food procurements with OFP.

This provision was suggested by a number of public witnesses that will streamline the process of OFP getting the data necessary to effectively implement this bill.

The OCFO did confirm that uh funds are sufficient.

And with that, I open up the floor for anyone who wants to make any comments.

Yes, Councilmember Parker.

Uh I think you can have a pretty extensive overview of the bill.

I think this is really important given the many millions of dollars the district spends on food procurement.

Uh, my hope is that through the centralized um authority, uh, we will be able to advance uh our food procurement strategies and align them with the district's environmental, social health, and economic goals.

I do have just one question uh given the transfer of the food policy council that was unfortunately cut in the proposed budget, but fortunately was restored through the council's efforts and your leadership through the committee.

Uh but as the food policy council transfers from the Office of Planning to the Health Department, it is my understanding that there isn't quite a team there yet.

And so uh I know you mentioned the one FT, but what might the future of the Food Policy Council look like uh in the near future as that transition takes place and how might that align with the efforts of this bill.

Um thank you for that council uh that question, Councilmember Parker.

So currently, the Office of Food uh policy um has an interim director.

Uh they also have um two FTEs, including this federal person.

So it is technically a team of three currently speaking.

All of those positions, um maybe not all the people, but all of the positions we do anticipate to move to DC Health in October, and in our conversations with DC Health, they will begin the um the recruitment for this position, or they will begin the recruitment for a permanent director as well as this new FTE that we're adding at the conclusion of the federal grant.

Does that make sense?

So food policy office uh is moving to DC Health with three FTEs, which is its current number now.

Well, I just went in by saying um I'm the vice chair of the council of government's farm policy committee.

Uh in fact, we met today, and there are many people across the region that are really excited about this bill, but also the efforts that the this committee, the health committee is leading with the food policy council.

So thank you for your leadership there.

Thank you.

Um and overall, I'm very pleased that um with the support of colleagues, we were able to restore the food policy um office and the food policy council so that it can continue the good work that it has been doing for the past decade.

All right.

Any other comments?

All right.

Hearing none, I now move the draft report in print for bill 26-444 in block with leave for staff to make any technical or performing changes.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

All right.

Last bill.

Bill 26-547.

The um posthumous care modernization amendment act of 2026.

Uh, this was introduced by then Councilmember Kenyon McDuffie on December 15th, 2025 as the Green Death Care Option Amendment Act of 2025.

Uh, the bill was initially referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development.

It was re-referred to the Committee on Health in March of 26 following the transfer of the Board of Funeral Directors to this committee.

This legislation off uh modernizes funeral services by authorizing alkaline hydrolysis, sometimes referred to as water cremation or aquamation as an additional lawful method of disposition.

Alkaline hydrolysis is a well-established process that uses water, alkaline chemicals, heat and pressure to accelerate the natural deconposition process.

This process offers environmental benefits by reducing energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of embalming chemicals when compared with traditional flame cremation.

At the end of the process, families receive remains in much of the same way they would following a traditional cremation.

Uh, more than 20 states, including our neighbors in Maryland, have already authorized this practice.

Importantly, this legislation is about giving families more choice.

Decisions surrounding end-of-life care are deeply personal and are shaped by religious beliefs, cultural traditions, environmental values, and financial considerations.

By authorizing alkaline hydrolysis, the district expands a range of dignified disposition options available to residents while supporting innovation within the funeral services industry.

The committee print does make several technical improvements to the bill.

It first it does rename it from Green Death to the uh posthumous care modernization amendment act.

Uh, it also removes the provisions that expands the composition of the board of funeral directors.

Um that provision was instead included in that earlier bill we voted on the funeral services modernization amendment act of 2026.

The OCFO has confirmed that funds are sufficient for this bill.

I will open up the floor for any discussion on water cremation.

All right.

Hearing none, I move the draft report in print for a bill 26-547 in block with leave for staff to make any technical or conforming changes.

Uh all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

Let the record reflect that the measure passes unanimously.

This does conclude our meeting.

All five of these bills will be before the committee of the whole uh on Tuesday.

Um we're gonna take a break and um the next meeting of the committee on health uh will start at 11 30 for the maternal health round table.

With no further business before the committee at this time, um, it's 1123 in this hearing or this additional meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.