The D.C. Council is considering a bill that would provide grant funding to revive and sustain local news outlets amid declining revenues, increased layoffs, and shuttering newsrooms. Councilmembers Janeese Lewis George and Brianne Nadeau introduced the bill Monday during the fall legislative session that’s in full swing.

The Local News Funding Act would set aside $11.5 million — 0.1% of the District’s annual budget — to support a variety of local news producers. The grants would be distributed through a local voucher program that allows D.C. residents to decide who gets the funding.

The act would give “news coupons” to residents through a secure online system — five coupons per registered voter — which they would then allocate to news sources. Outlets must receive 250 coupons to receive a grant, and funds will be distributed on a quarterly basis (voters can change their selected outlets each quarter). So, for example, a publication that receives 10% of the news coupons in a quarter would receive $287,000 in grant money. The bill doesn’t include a funding cap for a single outlet.

A seven-member community journalism board would oversee the voucher program and maintain independence from the government. The grants would be reserved for news organizations, independent journalists, and breaking news sources on social media that don’t use a paywall for local content. To qualify, outlets must register with the community board, disclose their owners, and share whether they are for-profit or non-profit organizations. Local TV stations would not be eligible for the funding, as D.C. already provides grants to TV programs that air on public, educational, and government channels and are funded with cable franchise fees, the bill explains.

“Local news has played a key role in uncovering and keeping the spotlight on issues with D.C.’s crime lab, our 911 call center, the decline in USAO prosecutions, and other serious issues,” Lewis George elaborated on her X (formerly Twitter) account. “Investigative journalism catalyzes change.”

States including California, New Jersey, and New Mexico have dedicated public funds — through fellowship programs and tax incentives — to support local journalism, but if D.C.’s bill passes, it would be the first local jurisdiction in the U.S. to launch a voucher program specifically for local news. The Council drew inspiration from Seattle’s democracy voucher program that aims to get big money out of political campaigns.

Groups like the Democracy Policy Network and Rebuild Local News have been advocating for a voucher-based funding model for local news for years and have worked with lawmakers like Lewis George to get bills introduced:

https://twitter.com/PeteDDavis/status/1316211470317871104

The D.C. bill comes as The Washington Post is offering 700 employees buyouts, including many in the Metro section, to avoid layoffs. Street Sense has cut staff and reduced its print schedule amid financial losses, and Washington City Paper shed its print edition last year. Nationwide, roughly 2,500 local newspapers have shut down over the past two decades. (WAMU/DCist has certainly not been immune to the industry-wide financial downturn.)

Like all D.C. bills, Lewis George and Nadeau’s bill will make its way through committee hearings, public comments, and votes. But Lewis George said online that local governments can no longer sit on the sidelines as the local media struggles to stay afloat.

“Introducing this bill is meant to kick off a debate about whether we need a program like this and how to structure it. But we can’t deny that the old local news model is starting to fall apart, and doing nothing will only continue the decline,” she posted on her website. “Local news is worth fighting for.”