The D.C. Council is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on an emergency bill proponents say would address what many officials call a public safety crisis in the city; violent crime is up 33% and homicides 17% higher than the same time last year.

“It is no secret to the public that we are in a state of emergency right now,” said Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), the bill’s sponsor, on Monday afternoon. “Like in any emergency, we have to act like it and act urgently to address the problem we’re seeing.”

The narrowly tailored bill was introduced last week, building on a broader proposal Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled in mid-May to address what she called gaps in the law allowing certain violent crimes to occur more frequently. Pinto’s bill would create a new offense for firing a gun in public, make it easier for prosecutors to extradite people for misdemeanor offenses, allow police and prosecutors to use GPS data from ankle monitors to prove people’s guilt in court, and expand an existing subsidy for residents and businesses who buy security cameras.

But most significantly, the bill would make it easier for judges to hold people in jail pending trial for violent offenses if they have a history of committing violent crimes. While the overall rate of recidivism among people awaiting trials is relatively low, around 6% for the current fiscal year, city officials say that in the first three months of this year at least 100 people charged with violent crimes reoffended before their trial date.

“When we think about what we can do on an emergency basis today that will help drive violence down this summer, I do think empowering our courts to consider crimes of violence in their pre-trial detention decisions will make a difference,” said Pinto on Monday.

An initial version of both Bowser and Pinto’s bills would have broadly increased pre-trial detention for juveniles, a provision that sparked opposition from criminal justice reform advocates, some lawmakers, and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb during a public hearing in late June. They worried the wording was too broad and could do more harm than good for juveniles.

Pinto tells DCist/WAMU that it was those concerns that prompted her to tighten the provision’s language to focus only on the most violent offenses, including homicide, assault, sexual abuse, and carjacking. That was enough to sway Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5). “I believe we reached a middle ground as it relates to juveniles to address concerns that we might be casting too wide a net,” he said.

Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) tells DCist/WAMU she’s also happy with the changes to the provision regarding juveniles, but says she still has concerns on the broader issue of holding more adults in jail before the stand trial.

“She remains very concerned about the section related to adult pretrial detention,” wrote Lewis George’s office in an email. “This language goes farther than what was in the mayor’s bill and, to the extent that it was discussed at the hearing, this section was strongly criticized. [Councilmember] Lewis George believes this is a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ policy that has the potential to cause generational damage to District families.”

On Tuesday morning, Lewis George circulated an amendment to remove the adult pre-trial detention expansion from Pinto’s bill, writing to her colleagues that the current standard works well. “Current law already allows courts to consider the fact that a defendant has been charged with a serious crime. Pretrial detention is and will remain appropriate for defendants who present flight risks or a danger to the community, by clear and convincing evidence,” she wrote.

Similar concerns have been raised by groups like the ACLU of D.C., which said Monday that “a hasty approach to public safety policy hasn’t worked to keep the District safe. It’s fed mass incarceration and aided the disruption of communities.”

Still, the constant stream of violent incidents in recent weeks has seemingly shifted perceptions within the council, where councilmembers now seem to recognize the political risks of departing for their usual two-month summer recess without taking some legislative action on public safety. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson predicted the bill would pass easily, and by Tuesday morning it had picked up at least nine votes — exactly what’s needed to pass an emergency measure.

“People in D.C. are scared. Things are getting worse, not better. We need to act thoughtfully,” said Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large).

Despite the likelihood that the bill will pass, it didn’t come without some political sniping between Bowser and Mendelson. Speaking Monday, Mendelson said that the bill was “positive” and that he would be supporting it, but he also said it wouldn’t address what he thinks is a bigger driver of the spike in violent crime.

“I believe the most immediate beneficial effect in reducing crime is increasing the case closure rate, and that’s not something that’s up to the council. We on the council, we don’t wear badges, we’re not able to arrest people, we’re not able to investigate when there is a crime. Last year, of the homicides that occurred in 2022, 35% were closed via arrest the same year,” he said. “I think there needs to be more focus in the executive branch in what resources MPD needs in order to increase its closure rate.”

Addressing the same issue last week, Mendelson more bluntly told a Fox 5 reporter that “you can get away with murder in this city.” Speaking on Monday, Bowser delivered a withering response to that claim. “I’m not going to pay too much attention to asinine statements. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was after a late dinner or something. But we’re rowing the same direction. We’re singing from the same songbook,” she said, referring to Pinto and Parker, who stood behind her. “He needs to do the same.”

In his own statement, Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said he would vote for Pinto’s bill, though he would propose amendments he said would target gun offenders.

“Much of the bill focuses on what happens after harm has already been done, but the District must also have a clear plan to prevent and deter gun violence — taking action on both accountability and preventive efforts,” his office said in an email. “Councilmember Allen is planning to offer amendments tomorrow to ensure the District government is focused on the limited number of people who are most likely to engage in gun violence. For the most part, we know who these high-risk individuals are, and our entire government should use every tool we have to prevent them from picking up a gun, but if they make an unacceptable decision to engage in violence, ensure accountability that is swift and certain.”

White also said he would have his own amendment to “help us better understand where the guns flooding into the District are coming from and help reduce the number of illegal firearms being used to harm people.”

The council will also vote on two other public safety bills sponsored by Pinto. One would loosen current restrictions on police initiating car chases, and another would require the Office of Unified Communication — which answers 911 calls and dispatches police and first responders  — make public data on dispatching errors and dropped calls.

“We’re going to be safer,” said Bowser on what would come of the council passing Pinto’s bills.