ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A RESOLUTION
25-707
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
November 12, 2024
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend, on an emergency
basis, the Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection Act to clarify the
definition of the term subscriber organization; to amend the Lead-Hazard Prevention and
Elimination Act of 2008 to clarify the definition of the term lead-based paint; and to
amend the Sustainable Solid Waste Management Amendment Act of 2014 to clarify the
definition of the term producer.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Department of Energy and Environment Definitions Clarification
Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2024”.
Sec. 2. (a) Section 101(27A) of the Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection
Act of 1999, effective May 9, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-107; D.C. Official Code § 34-1501(27A)),
currently defines the term subscriber organization as “any for-profit or nonprofit entity permitted
by District of Columbia law that owns or operates one or more community renewable energy
facilities for the benefit of the subscribers.” A primary function of subscriber organizations is to
assign energy credits to subscribers who participate in community renewable energy facilities
(“CREFs”). Subscription management is an administratively burdensome activity, and solar
developers generally prefer to assign the responsibility for subscription management to another
entity.
(b) In practice, the Department of Energy and Environment (“DOEE”) has been
functioning as a subscriber organization for low- to moderate-income District residents who are
subscribers to CREFs through DOEE’s Solar for All program.
(c) Uncertainty regarding whether the definition of “subscriber organization” covers a
government entity could adversely impact DOEE’s authority to continue performing these
administrative functions and may inhibit other government entities, including the federal
government, from performing these functions for future CREFs.
(d) The Residential Housing Environmental Safety Amendment Act of 2020, effective
March 16, 2021 (D.C. Law 23-188; 68 DCR 1227), amended section 2(20) of the Lead-Hazard
Prevention and Elimination Act of 2008, effective March 31, 2009 (D.C. Law 17-381; D.C.
Official Code § 8-231.01(20)), to lower the amount of lead needed in paint or other surface
coatings to qualify as a lead-based paint from one milligram per square centimeter (1.0mg/cm2)
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 ENROLLED ORIGINAL
to 0.7 milligrams per square centimeter (0.7mg/cm2). However, the parenthetical within the
amended definition erroneously uses the microgram symbol (“µ”) instead of the correct
abbreviation for milligram (“mg”).
(e) The definition of producer in section 128(11)(A) of the Sustainable Solid Waste
Management Amendment Act of 2014, effective March 16, 2021 (D.C. Law 23-211; D.C.
Official Code § 8-771.01(11)(A)), contains a drafting error. The definition uses the phrase “A
person who manufacturers [sic] a . . .” when it should instead read “A person who manufactures
a . . .”.
(f) Emergency legislation is necessary to prevent the misapplication or misinterpretation
of several key definitions in the District of Columbia Official Code that DOEE relies on when
fulfilling its statutory duties or administrating agency programs.
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Department of Energy and Environment
Definitions Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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