PR 26-0584 — Open Meetings Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2026

____________________________ENROLLED ChairmanORIGINAL PhilARESOLUTION Mendelson26-379 4 6 APROPOSED RESOLUTION _____ 9 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ______March 31, 2026 To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Open Meetings Act of 2010 to clarify the definition of “meeting”;meeting, to provide for a public body’s ability to be briefed about potential terrorist or public health threats so long as no official action is taken, to exempt from the act meetings between the Council and the Mayor provided that no official action is taken at such meetings, and to provide that a meeting shall be deemed open to the public if the public body takes steps reasonably calculated to allow the public to view or hear the meeting while the meeting is taking place, or, if doing so is not technologically feasible, as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable.

to provide for a public body’s ability to be briefed about potential terrorist or public health threats so long as no official action is taken;

to exempt from the act meetings between the Council and the Mayor provided that no official action is taken at such meetings;

and to provide that a meeting shall be deemed open to the public if the public body takes steps reasonably calculated to allow the public to view or hear the meeting while the meeting is taking place, or, if doing so is not technologically feasible, as soon thereafter as reasonably practicable.

(a) D.C.The Open MeetingsAct, effective March 31, 2011 (D.C.

Law 18-350,18-350; the Open MeetingsAmendmentAct of 2010 (the “Open MeetingsAct”), became effective on March 31, 2011.

(b)D.C. The Open Meetings Act requires that any gathering of a quorum of a public body where members consider, conduct or advise on public business offer the opportunity for the public to observe the meeting.

Official Code § 2-571 et seq.), became effective on March 31, 2011.

(b) The Open Meetings Act requires that any gathering of a quorum of a public body where members consider, conduct, or advise on public business offers the opportunity for the public to observe the meeting.

The Open MeetingsAct also exempts several governmental entities from these requirements based on the definition of the term “public body.” Exempted entities include the District of Columbia courts, the Mayor’s cabinet, and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANC),(“ANC”), but not the Council.

(c) InAprilIn April 2025, the Council passed the Open Meetings Clarification Emergency AmendmentAct of 2025, effectiveApril 7, 2025 (D.C.Act 26-41;

The accompanying temporary act, the Open Meetings Clarification TemporaryAmendmentActTemporary AmendmentAct of 2025, effectiveAugust 16, 2025 (D.C.

72 DCR 9563)7532), took effect inAugust 2025, and will expire on March 29, 2026.

(d) Since early 2025, the District government has had to deal with a variety of consequential, large-scale business and economic development propositions, most notably, the effort to retain Monumental Sports and Entertainment in the District and the negotiation of a deal with the NFL’s Washington Commanders to build a new state-of-the-art stadium and mixed-use ENROLLED ORIGINAL development on the RFK campus.

(e) The District also continues to face unprecedented federal involvement and interference in local affairs, beginning last year with Congress’passageCongress’s passage of a continuing resolution that required federal spending to be consistent with FY 2024 levels and Congress’Congress’s choice to treat the District as a federal agency as opposed to allowing the District to spend local funds at approved levels as had been the case for many years prior, which created the prospect of having to cut approximately $1.1 billion from the FY 2025 budget (in the middle of the fiscal year)year), and continuing with increased federal law enforcement presence leading to purported federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department in summer 2025.

While such coordination is a relatively simple for the Executive and the Office of the Attorney General, since these entities are not “public bodies” under the Open MeetingsAct, current law creates significant barriers for 13 members of the Council to prepare to function as a single unit in times of crisis.

In fact, in certain circumstances, particularly circumstances related to threats to the health, safetysafety, and welfare of the public or members of the public body, provisional and pre-decisional information should not be disclosed prematurely.

(i) This emergency legislation remains particularly necessary in the current political climate to allow the Council to be briefed as a body in a timely mannermanner, and to develop appropriate responses to rapidly unfolding issues, and to ensure that other public bodies in the District are able to receive, discuss and analyze relevant information securely, while also ensuring that the process for taking any official action with respect to that information is conducted publicly.

ENROLLED ORIGINAL Sec.

The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Open Meetings Clarification Emergency AmendmentAct of 2026 be adopted after a single reading.

This resolution shall take effect immediately 43