The Committee on Transportation and Environment, chaired by Councilmember Charles Allen, met on September 16, 2026, to consider and vote on Bill 26-619, the Eric's ID Amendment Act of 2026. The bill allows District residents to voluntarily indicate a non-apparent disability on their driver's license or identification card using a butterfly symbol, and requires training for Metropolitan Police Department officers on interacting with individuals with non-apparent disabilities. The committee voted unanimously to advance the bill to the full Council.
Chairman Allen provided an overview of the bill, noting that approximately 11.5% of district residents (roughly 77,200 people) have a disability, many of which are non-apparent. The bill is voluntary, does not create a registry, does not require medical documentation, and does not impose additional fees. The butterfly symbol will be printed on the front of the credential, with corresponding text on the back. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will implement the program, and the Office of Disability Rights (ODR) will review the training content for MPD officers. The bill diverges from the introduced version by assigning implementation to DMV instead of DDOT, using the term "indicator" instead of "marker" for consistency with DMV terminology, and explicitly requiring MPD training with ODR review.
Councilmember Parker expressed strong support, noting that Maryland’s similar law has seen 30,000 residents opt for the butterfly symbol in its first year. He asked about extending the marker to DC-issued student IDs; Chairman Allen clarified that student IDs fall under the education committee’s jurisdiction, not the transportation committee. Parker also inquired about the change from "marker" to "indicator" and the clause allowing future additional indicators via rulemaking. Chairman Allen explained that the change was for consistency and that the rulemaking provision allows for future additions without new legislation.
Councilmember Lewis George thanked the committee and described the bill’s potential national impact. She asked about the fiscal impact statement, which shows no additional cost. Chairman Allen confirmed that DMV will absorb the nominal costs of adding the symbol and will implement the program by January 1, 2027.
Councilmember Henderson stated she was supportive and glad to see the bill moving forward.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 PM.
Note: A prior public hearing on Bill 26-619 was held in July 2026, where witnesses shared personal experiences. The bill is named after Eric Carpenter Grantham, who was present at the meeting with his mother, Linda Carpenter Grantham.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Charles Allen. I'm the Award 6 Councilmember and Chair of the Council's Committee on Transportation and the Environment. Today is Wednesday, September 16th, 2026, and we are meeting both in room 120 of the John A. Wilson Building as well as over the Zoom virtual platform. The time is now 2 34 p.m. and I'm calling to order this additional meeting of the committee. I'll note that we have a quorum today consisting of Councilmembers Parker joining me in person and Councilmers Henderson and Lewis George both joining us via Zoom. Today the committee will consider and vote on Bill 26-619, the Eric's ID Amendment Act of 2026. On March 2nd, 2026, Bill 26-619 was introduced by Councilmember Zachary Parker, Ingenise Lewis George, and co-introduced by myself, joined by Councilmembers Brook Pinto, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Christina Henderson, Anita Bonds, and Donnie Crawford. The bill is referred to the committee on March 3rd. Many district residents live with a disability that is not visible, often referred to using terms such as hidden, invisible or non-apparent disabilities. Drawing on American Community Survey and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data compiled by the National Association of the Councils on Developmental Disabilities, it is estimated that approximately 11.5% of district residents are roughly 77,200 people have a disability. Many of these conditions, including autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, dementia, and a range of sensory processing and communication conditions produce no outward physical indicators that the average resident or law enforcement official may readily comprehend. However, these disabilities can profoundly shape how a person responds to a sudden and sometimes high stress encounter, such as a traffic stop or another interaction with law enforcement officers. Bill 26-619 provides the district an opportunity to shape how those experiences and encounters takes place for persons with non-apparent disabilities in the future. The committee print of Bill 26-619 maintains most of the introduction's language, allowing applicants for a driver's license, permit, or identification card to indicate their non-apparent disability on their credential. The print requires that the DMV designate the butterfly symbol used by most other states for similar indicators as the nonapparent disability indicator for the district to be printed on the front of the credential with corresponding text on the back. The print defines non-apparent disability as a disability or health condition that is not immediately obvious or visible, including development disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and immunodeficiency conditions. The print requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to coordinate with the Office of Disability Rights to conduct public outreach efforts on the availability of the non-apparent disability marker. The print also prohibits the DMV from disclosing information related to an individual's non apparent disability except in certain circumstances and from charging additional fees to add or remove a non-apparent disability notation from a credential. Finally, the print requires the Metropolitan Police Department training concerning interactions with individuals with non-apparent disabilities. The print diverges from the introduced versions in several key ways. First, the print assigns the responsibility for implementing the bill to the Department of Motor Vehicles rather than the District Department of Transportation, as the DMV is the district's licensing agency. The print also requires MPD to implement training for sworn police officers to guide their interactions with persons with non apparent disabilities, which ODR must review in coordination with MPD's ADA coordinator. The committee emphasizes at the outset what the bill does not do. It does not create a registry of people with disabilities. It does not require medical documentation. It does not require anyone to disclose anything. The bill also does not impose a fee for any transaction related to the marker, extending this to any other special designations related to a disability. And importantly, while I believe it will improve interactions overall, it still does not guarantee any particular outcome in an encounter with law enforcement. It is a voluntary designation intended as a tool to provide a law enforcement officer or first responder with one piece of contextual detail when identification is requested. The value of the butterfly marker depends almost entirely on whether the person reading the credential, namely the law enforcement officer, knows what the symbol means and has been trained to respond accordingly. The committee, in conversations with the Metropolitan Police Department and the Office of Disability Rights, is very hopeful that we can continue to build on the existing training, including one recently developed by both agencies for how police officers should interact with residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities to ensure that Bill 26-619 is successful if passed by the full council, which I know will happen. I want to specifically thank Eric Carpenter Grantham and his mother, Linda Carpenter Grantham, who are here in the hearing room with us for their incredible advocacy on this legislation, for this issue in particular, and to extend my thanks to all of our witnesses who testified publicly on the bill and shared their deeply personal experiences at the hearing we held in July. It is my profound hope that this action that we are taking today gives each of you some comfort that we are one step closer to ensuring that this butterfly symbol, you are treated with dignity, respect, and understanding that you deserve during any encounter with law enforcement. With that, let me turn to my colleagues if there is any discussion or statements. Councilmember Parker. Thank you, Chairperson Allen. I appreciate the work that you and your team did uh marking up this bill. I also uh want to thank and appreciate the work of my colleague, Councilmember Lewis George, who co-introduced this with me along with uh six of our other colleagues. As you mentioned, uh Chairperson Allen, the goal of Eric's ID uh amendment act is simple is to allow residents to indicate all their license, their permit, or other identification cards that they have a non-apparent disability and to provide training to MPD and other officers so that they know how to interact uh with individuals. Um if I could just elaborate and allow someone to imagine that this could make the difference of a life and death decision uh with an interaction with the officer or even a FEMS personnel or someone where an individual may not be able to uh communicate effectively where the other person understands, this marker now, assuming this is enacted and passed by the full council would allow uh alongside training uh there to be better understanding about um the individual that one is encountering. I would also like to thank Eric and Linda Carpenter Grantham, uh Graham uh who are present today. Uh I want to thank you for your ongoing advocacy. And I learned this afternoon uh that in Maryland, and we're coming up on the one year anniversary of the implementation of uh this similar act there, that 30,000 Maryland residents have opted to add the butterfly to their ID. And so this isn't just some feel good uh bill or measure um that we are voting on. This is something that is providing a necessary support uh to residents across the DMV. And I imagine when implemented here in the district, it will do the same. Um I if I could just say one other thing and Chairperson Allen, I do have a couple of questions I would like to ask if that is okay.