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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 18h

Lively protest across from the White House by Empower drivers and riders, ahead of what could be the ride-hailing service’s last week in D.C. The city says Empower hasn’t gotten a license to operate; the company says it doesn’t need to.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21h

UPDATE: After most of the D.C. Council went behind closed doors for 20 minutes to discuss possibly reviving this emergency bill, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto just said she's withdrawing the bill but will bring it back within two weeks for reconsideration.

Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

NEWS: The D.C. Council just rejected an emergency bill that would have extended the summer's expanded youth curfew for another three months. The votes against came from Trayon White, @robertwhitedc.bsky.social, @brianneknadeau.bsky.social, @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social, and @chenderson.bsky.social.

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Reposted by Martin Austermuhle

Alex Koma @alexkoma.bsky.social · 21h

🤔🤔🤔

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21h

I've raised the concern with the council's lawyers that lawmakers are fully meeting behind closed doors, and there's absolutely no insight into what's going on and what decisions are being made. I mostly got a shoulder shrug as a response.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21h

So almost the entire D.C. Council is now meeting being closed doors to negotiate how to proceed on the expanded youth curfew emergency bill. It seems pretty clear they are negotiating legislation behind closed doors, in violation of the spirit of the city’s Open Meetings Act.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21h

Maybe everyone spoke too soon? The D.C. Council just went into recess after some harried on-the-dais lobbying between Mendelson, Pinto, McDuffie, and Parker. Bowser's chief liaison to the council is also down in the chambers. The curfew extension may come back.

Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

NEWS: The D.C. Council just rejected an emergency bill that would have extended the summer's expanded youth curfew for another three months. The votes against came from Trayon White, @robertwhitedc.bsky.social, @brianneknadeau.bsky.social, @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social, and @chenderson.bsky.social.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 21h

D.C. MARRIAGES, SAVED! The D.C. Council just passed an emergency bill to let the city to issue marriage licenses. Because of the federal shutdown, D.C. Superior Court's Marriage Bureau has been unable to process marriage licenses since last week. (The court is federally funded.)

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

The expanded youth curfew covered more juveniles, and also allowed police to set up temporary curfew zones in nightlife areas where kids had to be off the street even earlier than usual.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

The expanded youth curfew was passed into law on an emergency basis during the summer months, when police and city leaders said they were struggling to deal with large groups of juveniles causing problems: 51st.news/dc-extended-...

What to know about D.C.'s extended summer curfew

Everything to know about the city's new summer curfew rules.

51st.news

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

Being an emergency bill, it needed nine votes to pass. But there was enough concern from some lawmakers on whether extended the expanded youth curfew was needed in the fall, and whether having a public hearing on a permanent bill would be better.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 22h

NEWS: The D.C. Council just rejected an emergency bill that would have extended the summer's expanded youth curfew for another three months. The votes against came from Trayon White, @robertwhitedc.bsky.social, @brianneknadeau.bsky.social, @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social, and @chenderson.bsky.social.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

All of this, of course, is around what's a pretty big change to TOPA, and one that wasn't fully debated at all before it was dropped into the RENTAL Act at the last minute. So lawmakers are proposing more last-minute fixes to a last-minute problem of their own creation.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

Some councilmembers even proposed yanking the 2-4 unit TOPA exemption out of the RENTAL Act and considering it as a separate bill. But others just want to move on. So, the council is splitting the difference: a two-week delay to fine-tune the language of the new exemption.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

So the council spent 30 minutes at its pre-legislative breakfast arguing how to proceed. Should lawmakers vote on an unclear and somewhat last-minute amendment to a change made at the last minute to the RENTAL Act last month? Or wait? Or consider another last-minute proposal?

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

So to clarify the language today the council was going to quickly revisit that new TOPA exemption in the RENTAL Act. But during today's breakfast some councilmembers said the new proposed language didn't seem to add much clarity. In fact, it sparked more questions.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

The new exemption passed, even though there were additional unsuccessful attempts to not allow the exemption to apply to businesses that own multiple buildings. The stated idea was to help small property owners and families.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

Basically, the RENTAL Act puts some limits on the applicability of TOPA, the longstanding law that gives tenants first crack at buying their buildings when they are up for sale. At the last-minute the council moved to add a new exemption for buildings with 2-4 units.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

In short, it has to do with the RENTAL Act, which speeds some evictions and curtails some tenant rights as a means to encourage more housing investment. It was passed last month, but there was a pretty significant last-minute change made.

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

There's the famous saying, "Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made." Well, the D.C. Council is involved in making some sausage-making and bearing witness to it has been something. (It has to do with housing and tenant rights to purchase.)

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

Plenty of the questions seem to be testing possible campaign messages for Evans and against Mendelson:

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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting: I've gotten reports (and screenshots) of an online poll asking questions about a possible head-to-head contest between Chairman Phil Mendelson and former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans for D.C. Council Chair. Mendelson has told me he's running for re-election.