Photo by Eric Gilliland

At his weekly press conference earlier today, Mayor Vince Gray signed into law a bill that strengthen’s the city’s “First Source” law requiring government-assisted projects to fill at least 51 percent of any jobs created with District residents.

The bill was pushed through the D.C. Council earlier this month by Michael A. Brown (I-At Large), who joined Gray at the signing ceremony along with Council Chairman Kwame Brown.

Much of the legislation deals with strengthening the hand of the District’s Department of Employment Services in enforcing the First Source rules. Under the bill, DOES will have greater authority to develop hiring and reporting practices for ventures that receive government aid. The stricter guidelines will apply first to those projects receiving at least $5 million in District funds, and all government-assisted projects will continue to be subject to the 51 percent requirement.

DOES Director Lisa Mallory said that the requirements her agency will develop will include greater oversight of payroll records and overall performance by the affected recipients of District aid.

The speakers were questioned how the new rules would impact hiring practices for the District government and if there would be a heightened effort by the city to hire from within its own geographic boundaries. Only 25 percent of D.C. firefighters, for example, actually live inside the District.

Kwame Brown went on the defensive, saying at least in his office, none of his staffers, nor any of the Wilson Building employees he’s hired in his capacity as council chairman, are from the suburbs.

“Everyone I hired lives in D.C.,” Brown said.

In a statement released shortly before the signing, Gray called it “another means by which we are taking on the District’s unemployment problem.” The city’s unemployment rate is 10.6 percent, according to the most recent data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.