Photo by wallyg

It was back to business today for the D.C. Council, and it being the first legislative session of the council’s 20th period, there were a lot of new (and old) bills introduced. Below is a sampling of some of those bills; remember: these are all simply proposals, and they’ll only become law after two hearings and the mayor’s signature.

>> Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) introduced a bill that would set the required size of the Metropolitan Police Department at 4,000 sworn officers. It’s currently under 3,900, but recruitment and training has left it above the 3,800 level below which Chief Cathy Lanier warns that she does not want to go below. Mayor Vince Gray pledged last week to hire more police officers quickly; he’s asking the council to appropriate funds for the hiring of 50 new police officers.

>> Evans and Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) both introduced bills dealing with property taxes. An Evans bill would lower the cap on residential assessment increases from 10 percent to five percent. Bowser’s bill would freeze property tax rates for homeowners who make less then $125,000 per year and have filed for the Homestead Deduction for their home for 21 years.

>> Holy campaign finance and ethics reforms, Batman! A number of bills that would address both issues were introduced today. Bowser wants to limit money order contributions to campaigns to $25 and ban contributions from LLCs. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) wants tiered limits on money order contributions set at five percent of the total contribution limit for a specific race. (For a mayoral race, money order contributions would be limited to $100, for council races it would be $50.) Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) wants to ban city contractors from giving money to councilmembers and limit LLC contributions, while Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) wants money order contribution limits for all races set at $100.

>> Speaking of Orange, he introduced a number of other measures. First off, a bill he introduced would limit most elected officials to two consecutive terms in their specific office. Second, he proposed banning the use of Constituent Services Funds for the purchase of tickets to sporting events and concerts, something Evans has been dinged for. Finally, another bill he introduced would prohibit city contractors who have councilmembers on the payroll from doing any business with the city. Councilmembers Anita Bonds (D-Fort Myer) and David Catania (I-M.C. Dean) would be affected.

>> Catania introduced an email privacy bill that would force police to get a warrant if they want to read any of your emails. (We explained the issue late last year.) Another bill he introduced would mandate that the D.C. CFO publicly release internal audits.

>> Wells wants D.C. to establish a stand-alone toll-free hotline for victims of domestic violence. Currently, any such calls are routed through a 911 operator; Wells said that there were 31,000 domestic violence calls in 2011, but it is estimated that only one of four actual incidents of domestic violence are reported. He also re-introduced a bill that would ease the permit process for pop-up businesses.

>> As D.C. has become not only a better place to drink but also a great place to brew or distill, the council has changed existing laws to allow for tastings, tours and on-site sales. Breweries are covered, but today McDuffie introduced a bill that would allow distilleries—the first of which, New Columbia Distillers, is in his ward—to apply for “Distillery Pub” permits.

>> Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) wants to speed up the undergrounding of power lines (more here), offer those subject to civil forfeiture (when the cops take your property due to allegations of criminal activities) additional avenues to contest it, and require the city to conduct a census of the homeless LGBTQ youth population. She also introduced a bill that would force the mayor to devise comprehensive wellness plans for city agencies, place healthy foods in the city’s 4,000 vending machines and allow for the sale of coffee, tea and healthy snacks on the ground floor of the Wilson Building.

>> Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) didn’t succeed in encouraging his colleagues to ban the placement of commercial flyers on car windshields last year, but he’s going to try again.

>> What are your rights as a renter? Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) wants you to know. Under a bill she presented, landlords would have to hand out a primer on tenant rights to renters before a lease is signed. She also introduced a bill that would give D.C. residents more preference points when applying for D.C. government jobs; the idea is to give more government jobs to city residents.

>> D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson wants the DMV to stop asking residents for Social Security numbers when they request a driver’s license. Additionally, he wants retailers with 75,000-square-feet of space or more and $1 billion in annual global sales to pay a living wage and provide benefits to workers.