Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

ENROLLED ORIGINAL

                                        A RESOLUTION

                                             25-604

                   IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                           July 9, 2024

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Minimum Wage

       Act Revision Act of 1992 to reflect the date on which the first increase to the tipped

       minimum wage took effect after the effective date of Initiative Measure No. 82 – the

       District of Columbia Tip Credit Elimination Act of 2022; to amend the Secure DC

       Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 to reflect that certain provisions are funded in Fiscal

       Year 2024; and to and to amend the District of Columbia Government Comprehensive

       Merit Personnel Act of 1978 to place the burden of demonstrating that a matter is

       expressly outside the scope of collective bargaining on management and to authorize

       employees of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department to bargain over tours

       of duty.

        RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

resolution may be cited as the “Labor and Safety Omnibus Emergency Declaration Resolution of

2024”.

         Sec. 2. (a) Initiative Measure No. 82 – the District of Columbia Tip Credit Elimination

Act of 2022, (“Act”) prescribes dates for progressively increasing the tipped minimum wage

until it is equal to the District minimum wage. Because of both delays in certifying the initiative

to appear on the ballot and the mandatory congressional review period, the Act did not become

District law until February 2023. However, the Act’s effective date of February 2023 contradicts

the language in the Act, which mandated that the first increase to the tipped minimum wage

would occur on January 1, 2023.

         (b) To avoid confusion about when employers were required to provide increases to the

tipped minimum wage, the Council enacted emergency and temporary legislation in January

2023 to change the date of the first increase to the tipped minimum wage from January 1, 2023,

to May 1, 2023. The temporary legislation, the Tipped Wage Increase Implementation

Clarification Second Temporary Amendment Act of 2023, effective February 6, 2024 (D.C. Law

25-120; 71 DCR 1668), expires on September 18, 2024.

         (c) Without intervention, the date of the first increase to the tipped minimum wage will

retroactively revert to January 1, 2023, creating further confusion among stakeholders,

particularly District employees interested in pursuing claims for wage theft. Without a new round

of emergency and temporary measures, employees will struggle to determine the effective date

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                                                                      ENROLLED ORIGINAL

of the first wage increase in 2023, leading to confusion within the tipped workforce. Therefore,

the Council must pass another round of emergency and temporary legislation to ensure

continuity in the law until the change can be permanently codified.

        Sec. 3. The emergency measure also includes an additional section that addresses a short

gap in the law by amending the subject-to-appropriation provision of the Secure DC Omnibus

Amendment Act of 2024, effective June 8, 2024 (D.C. Law 25-175; 71 DCR 2732) (“Secure

DC”), specifically regarding the District’s pre-trial procedure. The changes to pre-trial

procedures are already in effect through temporary legislation that expires in August. The

permanent version of the Secure DC includes these same changes, subject to appropriations, and

which have been funded in the supplemental budget, but the subject-to-appropriations language

will not be changed until the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act becomes effective. Section 3

of the emergency act will ensure that the existing law remains in place between the expiration of

the temporary legislation in August and the effective date of the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

Support Act in October. It will also make effective the additional changes to pre-trial detention

included in Secure DC, which were funded in the supplemental budget and would otherwise not

take effect until October 2024.

        Sec. 4. Finally, the emergency measure amends the District of Columbia Government

Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C.

Official Code § 1-617.08), to provide that when the Public Employee Relations Board is called

upon to determine the scope of bargaining pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 1-617.02(b)(5),

management shall have the burden of proving that the matter is expressly proscribed. Further it

would provide that the tour of duty for employees of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services

Department shall be negotiable through collective bargaining. These changes are necessary to

pass on an emergency basis because multiple collective bargaining units are in the process of

renegotiating compensation agreements, and the delays that result from claims made to the

Public Employee Relations Board significantly hamper the negotiation process.

        Sec. 5. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in the sections above

constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Labor and Safety Omnibus

Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.

       Sec. 6. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

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