The D.C. Council on Tuesday put stricter limits on the use of WhatsApp and other messaging services for official government business, passing an emergency bill that requires users to retain all messages and turn off any auto-delete function.

Lawmakers also passed a bill that extends the life of so-called “streateries” — restaurants that occupy sidewalks or other public space, a pandemic-era practice for outdoor dining — and another measure that allows D.C. Public Schools teachers and staff to run for seats on the elected State Board of Education; they are currently banned from doing so, while charter school teachers and staff are allowed to.

The bill on WhatsApp follows recent reporting by Axios on the use of the app by officials within Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration. DCist/WAMU reported on the practice as far back as 2019, which open-government advocates worried would keep government communications outside of official channels and thus more difficult or impossible to obtain through Freedom of Information requests.

That’s even more concerning with messaging services that automatically delete messages after a set amount of time, leaving no record of them. Late last year, The Washington Post reported that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had used a chat app called Wickr that deleted messages within 24 hours.

Across the country, Freedom of Information laws have traditionally lagged behind technological advances, and D.C. is no exception. In 2012 the D.C. Council was sued by open-government advocates over lawmakers’ use of personal email accounts to conduct official business; councilmembers are now required to copy all emails to their official accounts. The next year, DCist/WAMU reported that text messages sent by city officials were eluding open-records requests; now those officials are expected to make text messages available if requested.

“The current law was written 15 years ago, before there was an auto-delete function for these text messages, so we’re getting more specific,” said D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on Tuesday, adding that the use of apps that delete messages “[flies] in the face of the District’s commitment to government transparency.”

Still, some open-government advocates say that the council is late to the game, and that the government should already have been enforcing rules requiring that messages using apps like WhatsApp be retained.

“The new legislation sends a message, though enforcement remains the practical hurdle,” wrote the D.C. Open Government Coalition in a blog post on Tuesday. “Indeed, the Open Government Coalition has argued for years the law is clear that officials’ business messages are government records no matter how sent and decisive executive action was needed to assure preservation, not new law. But the privacy was a feature, not a bug; encryption and also auto-erasure (now optional) were likely attractions for top officials who prize discreet communication channels.”

Streateries And Booze-To-Go

Lawmakers also unanimously gave initial approval to a bill introduced by Bowser in early 2021 that offers bars and restaurants new options and flexibility to conduct business, a number of which were adopted early in the pandemic to allow restaurants to stay afloat amidst the economic downturn.

That most obvious change was the legalization of “streateries,” allowing bars and restaurants to occupy sidewalks, curbside parking spaces, or other public spaces to expand their outdoor dining areas. The bill allows those to live on until Dec. 31, 2023. Also allowed to continue for the same time period will be bars and restaurants offering alcohol to go.

The bill also creates a new license for alcohol delivery services, allows large-scale developments like The Wharf to sell drinks for people to openly carry and consume on the premises, and offers a grocery operator that first opens a shop in wards 7 or 8 to sell liquor — which isn’t broadly permitted for most grocery stores in the rest of the city.

A second and final vote is expected in April.

DCPS Teachers Allowed To Run For State Board Of Education

The council also unanimously passed emergency legislation that will allow D.C. Public Schools teachers and staff to run for the State Board of Education.

Under current law, D.C. government employees are banned for running for the board. That has not applied to charter school teachers and staff; since they are not legally considered government employees, they have been allowed to run and serve.

“That creates a lack of parity… and that’s fundamentally unfair,” said Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who wrote the bill with Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4). “This change would make our State Board of Education more representative and correct a historical imbalance,” she said.