Michael Leff shovels ice from the sidewalk in front of Shelley Sloan’s home as part of Serve DC’s Citizen Snow Team volunteer program. (Photo by Matt Cohen)

While most Washingtonians are slowly digging themselves out from Monday’s Titan snowstorm, some aren’t, and that’s a problem for Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3).

At yesterday’s Council legislative meeting, Cheh introduced new legislation, the Winter Sidewalk Safety Amendment of 2014, to improve D.C.’s law requiring residents to shovel their sidewalks after significant snowfall. Although the current law already requires property owners to remove snow from adjacent public sidewalks within eight daylight hours after snowfall, Cheh said that the enforcement for that isn’t working well. In order to punish someone for not shoveling their side walk, the Department of Public Works would need to remove the snow themselves, calculate the cost of removal, and then have the attorney general bring up a suit in the District Superior Court against that property owner.

Under Cheh’s proposed legislation, the city would issue a $25 fine for residential property owners and a $125 fine for commercial property owners who don’t shovel their sidewalks in time. The bill also includes an exemption for senior citizens and disabled residents who cannot shovel sidewalks themselves. Serve DC—part of the mayor’s Office on Volunteerism—employs a Citizen Snow Team to help shovel the sidewalks of those who are unable to do it.

“Maintaining an accessible, safe, and snow free urban infrastructure is an important aspect of the District’s transportation planning,” Cheh said in a statement. “Especially given the large number of people who use our sidewalks as their primary method of getting around our city.”

Update: This isn’t the first time Cheh has proposed this legislation. In 2012, she introduced a similar bill that sparked debate among city Councilmembers. Ultimately, however, the bill didn’t go anywhere. We’ll see what happens this time around.