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Record of Proceedings

DC Council Chairman Press Conference Previews Oct. 20 Legislative Meeting — Oct. 19, 2026

Council of the District of Columbia — Monday, October 19, 2026

BodyWashington, District Of Columbia

SessionCouncil of the District of Columbia

DateMonday, October 19, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 44:21

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:03

Why don't we get started?

0:05

This is uh good morning.

0:07

This is uh press conference that I have before uh legislative meeting in tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20th, we will have a legislative meeting.

0:16

It's uh I believe we call it an additional legislative meeting that is not regularly scheduled, but we'll be doing this uh next month in December as well, having additional meetings.

0:25

We also have a committee of the whole, which will be before the legislative meeting.

Unassigned speaker

0:31

At

Speaker 1

0:31

the Committee of the Whole, the agenda that we circulated, we are marking up, I believe it's eight bills, although I was informed this morning that the deferred retirement option program will not be on the agenda tomorrow for markup because we're still waiting for a fiscal impact statement from the Chief Financial Officer.

0:50

Uh I don't believe that there are any problems.

0:53

I think that the uh CFO or their Office of Revenue Analysis has been working with an actuary, and the actuary hasn't completed uh work for this.

1:03

We expect that the deferred retirement option program or crop act will not have a uh long-term fiscal cost or maybe some short-term administrative startup costs.

1:15

This is actually a big deal for uh firefighters and police uh because um it just improves their benefits at no cost to the district government.

1:24

That's the way we've structured this.

1:26

A drop act allows for a firefighter or police officer who is eligible for retirement to retire but continue working.

1:36

Um yes, you might think uh that that's uh double dipping, but they would uh continue to get a salary, uh they would get retirement benefits, but they would not be getting any um interest on those retirement benefits.

1:50

Um this is attractive.

1:53

We believe that this is attractive to uh firefighters and police officers.

1:57

Uh the unions have been supportive of this.

2:00

Uh but that will not be tomorrow, so it looks like that will be November 10th.

2:04

The um

Unassigned speaker

2:06

uh

Speaker 1

2:06

looking at the other measures here, I think the one that's getting marked up by um

Unassigned speaker

2:12

by

Speaker 1

2:12

the committee of the whole that deserves some attention is the Georgetown boathouse.

2:17

Uh we're doing two things in that bill.

2:19

One is closing a street that nobody knew existed, 35th Street that runs to the river, even though if you're standing on K Street, you won't see the street because it's uh it's a dedicated but unpaved um right of way.

2:35

Um, but also uh accepting a transfer of jurisdiction.

2:39

We're combining two measures here.

2:41

Uh one is a transfer of jurisdiction, accepting that, and the other is closing of uh 35th Street.

2:46

There's uh companion legislation that's in the committees on facilities and human services that deals with surplus and disposition.

2:55

Basically, we're swapping parcels with the Park Service so that we can finally get this boat house situation fixed.

3:03

And um the boat house at issue with the legislation the committee of the whole has is a boathouse that will be built, will be built by uh Georgetown University.

3:15

So there'll be lots of boat houses down there and a lot more recreational activities.

3:20

There are other measures being marked up in the committee of the whole, but even if you have questions, I'm happy to answer them.

3:27

Uh turning to the legislative agenda.

3:31

Um I'm gonna focus on the emergency bills.

3:34

Uh most of the first reading are what come out of the um committee of the whole.

3:40

Um we have uh legislation that I'm moving mayoral transition emergency.

3:45

That's just to clarify that language that money that we put in the budget for the current fiscal year to support the transition to new mayor is available now and doesn't have to wait until the Board of Elections certifies the November 3rd results.

4:01

Um I don't expect there's any controversy around it.

4:05

I think the actually the biggest concern I have is why we have to do this when we were pretty clear in the budget that these monies uh should be available to the mayor elect, even if the mayor elect hasn't been certified after November 3rd.

4:21

I don't think the results will be closed, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that at government press conference.

4:27

So I'll phrase it this way, which is unless the results are close, it seems to me there's no doubt who will be elected and uh as of November 4th, and that the that person should be able to proceed with transition without having to wait.

4:43

The other measure, which Councilmember Tran White noticed, is parking and traffic ticket penalty reduction.

4:51

Um as I understand the bill and I'll have to look at it closer today.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

Uh it has a significant fiscal impact and uh therefore will not be in order tomorrow.

Speaker 1

5:03

However, it speaks to an issue that uh the council has grappled with somewhat, and I intend that uh next council period that we put more focus on it, and that is with the automated traffic enforcement that we are seeing tickets issued in much greater volume.

5:28

In a sense, that's a good thing because it's reflecting that um driving to bad drivers out there.

5:35

However, um it means that fines are racked up very quickly and the fines are quite hefty, and uh my own personal opinion is that the fines should be cut in half, and um that we also have to deal with the uh notice issue because with photo enforcement a driver doesn't get notice of uh the infraction for weeks, and therefore there could be repeat violations at the same site,

Speaker 2

6:05

which

Speaker 1

6:06

is why we're seeing that there are an increasing number of drivers who owe thousands of dollars in tickets, and that's just not sustainable uh for most anybody in this city to be owing thousands of dollars.

6:19

So um I think that this legislation tomorrow is an effort to get at as a good effort to get at a problem, but it has a fiscal impact that will not be addressed in the 90 days of an emergency or even in the 225 days of a temporary, so it will be out of order.

6:37

I'm happy to answer more questions about that.

6:40

Uh we had two hearings uh last week or maybe in the last two weeks.

6:44

One was on broken elevators in schools, which got some attention.

6:48

Uh I intend to have a follow-up hearing at the end of November there.

6:53

Um I think that uh the uh situation with uh these non-working elevators in schools not only is a problem in our schools, but also um is a window on mismanagement by the Department of General Services.

7:08

Um I intend to continue focusing on this.

7:18

The um other hearing we had last Friday was on uh revenue proposals.

7:23

As I said at the hearing, it's not my intention that we're gonna just adopt a tax increase right now, but I thought it was important that we have a full airing of different proposals, which we are unable to do when we have a budget.

7:40

Um I feel like I'm repeating what I said last week, but when we have a budget, uh there are advocates who come in and say, well, we want you to uh increase the number of housing vouchers and raise taxes to do it, or we want you to um uh double the amount of money for the child care subsidy, and we want you to increase taxes to do it.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Fiscal Sustainability███████████████████████████████31%

Procedural███████████████████████23%

Traffic Safety██████████████████18%

Tax Policy█████████████13%

Public Safety███████7%

Noise Enforcement█████5%

Budget███3%

Summary of Proceedings

DC Council Chairman Press Conference Previews Oct. 20 Legislative Meeting — Oct. 19, 2026

On Oct. 19, 2026, Council Chairman Mendelson held a morning press conference ahead of the additional legislative meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, and answered reporters' questions on tax policy, traffic fines, stadium proposals, and other issues. He said the Committee of the Whole would meet at 11 a.m. before the legislative meeting and would markup about eight bills, with one item postponed.

Legislative Preview

The Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) markup was pulled from the Oct. 20 agenda because the Chief Financial Officer's fiscal impact statement is still pending, with an actuary completing work; Chairman Mendelson expects it to be considered Nov. 10. DROP would let eligible firefighters and police officers retire and continue working, collecting salary and retirement benefits but no interest on the retirement account; he described it as improving benefits at no cost to the District and said the unions have supported it.
The Georgetown boathouse bill combines closing 35th Street, an unpaved dedicated right-of-way running toward the river from K Street, with accepting a transfer of jurisdiction. Companion surplus and disposition legislation would swap parcels with the National Park Service; the boathouse would be built by Georgetown University.
A mayoral transition emergency bill would clarify that funds appropriated for the transition are available before the Board of Elections certifies the Nov. 3 election results. Chairman Mendelson said he expects no controversy and that, unless the results are close, the apparent winner should be able to proceed as of Nov. 4.
Councilmember Tran White's parking and traffic ticket penalty reduction emergency will not be in order Oct. 20 because it has a significant fiscal impact. The Chairman said he supports addressing the issue and personally believes fines should be cut in half; he also cited photo enforcement notices arriving weeks later, leading to repeated violations and drivers owing thousands of dollars.

Press Q&A and Discussion

On last Friday's revenue hearing, Chairman Mendelson said the two proposals that rose to the top were a wealth proceeds tax and a business activity tax. He said the business activity tax is intended to broaden the tax base, not add a burden on existing business taxpayers, and that a land value tax lacked research support. He noted testimony that the District has the most or second most progressive tax burden among states.
Asked about tax flight, he said it is a matter of degree: slight income tax increases would cause little flight, major increases would cause more; repeated annual increases create instability, so any changes should be followed by a couple of years without further tax increases.
He said he did not come out of the revenue hearing saying the city needs to raise taxes. When asked about a potential $600 million deficit, he said no specific revenue proposal was a must-do to close the gap.
On expenditures, he recalled that the 2019 tax expenditure commission never functioned because the mayor did not make appointments. He said identifying waste is difficult because programs opponents dislike are often called waste, and cutting programs objectively would not produce the $200 million to $300 million advocates seek. He also said the tax revision commission is not coming back.
The Oct. 29 hearing will examine agency overspending, OCFO practices, and budget implementation, including council initiatives not carried out by the executive. He said FY25 overspending was about $300 million compared with the initial adopted budget; he estimated FY26 overspending so far is about one-third of that, roughly $100 million.
Responding to a question about a standalone finance and revenue committee, he argued committee structure matters less than committee leadership, noting the recent revenue hearing was the first in memory and that reductions to the CFO budget occurred without a standalone committee.
He recalled that Councilmember White's earlier bill to allow community service instead of some automated traffic enforcement fines had a fiscal impact statement of $11 million over four years and was never funded. He said unfunded emergency legislation can be out of order and misleading.
On the Audi Field roof proposal, he said the upcoming Friday hearing is informational; he wants to understand costs, need, and cannibalization of other city investments such as Nationals Ballpark, Commanders events, and the downtown arena. He said the mayor is opposed, but the incoming mayor's position is not clear. He noted reported plans for capacity to increase from 22,000 to 30,000 seats.
On the Poplar Point land swap to build a spa, he said he has not announced a position and will see how the hearing goes.
On last night's shooting of a National Guardsman, he said he had not been briefed; he called the situation unfortunate and wants more details.
On the nightlife noise bill, he said he is concerned it uses subjective standards, unlike the earlier buskers legislation with objective standards, and noted the restaurant association has concerns; the bill will get a full airing Oct. 20.
On school elevators, he said broken elevators are also a window into mismanagement by the Department of General Services; a follow-up hearing is planned for the end of November.
He also discussed traditional revenue options, noting Mayor Bowser proposed sales tax increases in the last two budgets that the council adopted, increasing the rate from 6% to 7% in the financial plan. He said the increase was intended for a regional transit authority commitment not yet made; while sales tax is regressive, low-income residents pay little or no income tax, and the sales tax also captures spending by non-residents and tourists.

Key Outcomes

No formal votes or decisions were made at the press conference.
DROP markup will move to Nov. 10.
The parking and ticket penalty reduction emergency is expected to be ruled out of order Oct. 20 because it lacks funding.
Follow-up hearings were announced: school elevators at the end of November, agency overspending and OCFO practices on Oct. 29, and Audi Field roof on the upcoming Friday.
The next legislative meeting after Oct. 20 is Nov. 10, with additional meetings planned later in the fall, including December.

Meeting Transcript

Why don't we get started? This is uh good morning. This is uh press conference that I have before uh legislative meeting in tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20th, we will have a legislative meeting. It's uh I believe we call it an additional legislative meeting that is not regularly scheduled, but we'll be doing this uh next month in December as well, having additional meetings. We also have a committee of the whole, which will be before the legislative meeting. At the Committee of the Whole, the agenda that we circulated, we are marking up, I believe it's eight bills, although I was informed this morning that the deferred retirement option program will not be on the agenda tomorrow for markup because we're still waiting for a fiscal impact statement from the Chief Financial Officer. Uh I don't believe that there are any problems. I think that the uh CFO or their Office of Revenue Analysis has been working with an actuary, and the actuary hasn't completed uh work for this. We expect that the deferred retirement option program or crop act will not have a uh long-term fiscal cost or maybe some short-term administrative startup costs. This is actually a big deal for uh firefighters and police uh because um it just improves their benefits at no cost to the district government. That's the way we've structured this. A drop act allows for a firefighter or police officer who is eligible for retirement to retire but continue working. Um yes, you might think uh that that's uh double dipping, but they would uh continue to get a salary, uh they would get retirement benefits, but they would not be getting any um interest on those retirement benefits. Um this is attractive. We believe that this is attractive to uh firefighters and police officers. Uh the unions have been supportive of this. Uh but that will not be tomorrow, so it looks like that will be November 10th. The um uh looking at the other measures here, I think the one that's getting marked up by um by the committee of the whole that deserves some attention is the Georgetown boathouse. Uh we're doing two things in that bill. One is closing a street that nobody knew existed, 35th Street that runs to the river, even though if you're standing on K Street, you won't see the street because it's uh it's a dedicated but unpaved um right of way. Um, but also uh accepting a transfer of jurisdiction. We're combining two measures here. Uh one is a transfer of jurisdiction, accepting that, and the other is closing of uh 35th Street. There's uh companion legislation that's in the committees on facilities and human services that deals with surplus and disposition. Basically, we're swapping parcels with the Park Service so that we can finally get this boat house situation fixed. And um the boat house at issue with the legislation the committee of the whole has is a boathouse that will be built, will be built by uh Georgetown University. So there'll be lots of boat houses down there and a lot more recreational activities. There are other measures being marked up in the committee of the whole, but even if you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. Uh turning to the legislative agenda. Um I'm gonna focus on the emergency bills. Uh most of the first reading are what come out of the um committee of the whole. Um we have uh legislation that I'm moving mayoral transition emergency. That's just to clarify that language that money that we put in the budget for the current fiscal year to support the transition to new mayor is available now and doesn't have to wait until the Board of Elections certifies the November 3rd results. Um I don't expect there's any controversy around it. I think the actually the biggest concern I have is why we have to do this when we were pretty clear in the budget that these monies uh should be available to the mayor elect, even if the mayor elect hasn't been certified after November 3rd. I don't think the results will be closed, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that at government press conference. So I'll phrase it this way, which is unless the results are close, it seems to me there's no doubt who will be elected and uh as of November 4th, and that the that person should be able to proceed with transition without having to wait. The other measure, which Councilmember Tran White noticed, is parking and traffic ticket penalty reduction. Um as I understand the bill and I'll have to look at it closer today. Uh it has a significant fiscal impact and uh therefore will not be in order tomorrow. However, it speaks to an issue that uh the council has grappled with somewhat, and I intend that uh next council period that we put more focus on it, and that is with the automated traffic enforcement that we are seeing tickets issued in much greater volume. In a sense, that's a good thing because it's reflecting that um driving to bad drivers out there. However, um it means that fines are racked up very quickly and the fines are quite hefty, and uh my own personal opinion is that the fines should be cut in half, and um that we also have to deal with the uh notice issue because with photo enforcement a driver doesn't get notice of uh the infraction for weeks, and therefore there could be repeat violations at the same site, which is why we're seeing that there are an increasing number of drivers who owe thousands of dollars in tickets, and that's just not sustainable uh for most anybody in this city to be owing thousands of dollars.

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