B 26-0322 Legislature · 26th Council Period (2025-2026)

DC Water Disconnection and Billing Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2025

This bill temporarily amends District laws to clarify DC Water's billing and disconnection procedures for customers. It requires DC Water to provide multilingual services (adding it to the Language Access Act), caps late payment penalties at 10% after 30 days and 1% monthly after 60 days, and mandates monthly reports to the Council and tenant advocates on disconnection notices, actual disconnections, and service restorations. It also updates notice rules to require 30-day written warnings in English, Spanish, or other languages spoken by occupants before disconnection. The bill directly affects DC Water customers (residents and property owners) and requires DC Water to submit detailed monthly data on service disruptions.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status signed all 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jul 2025

Committee Review

Council Passage

Jul 2025

Signed into Law

Oct 2025

Introduced Jul 11, 2025 Signed Oct 1, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossment → Enrollment · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill was finalized and enrolled after passing the Council, with minor formatting and consistency corrections. The core policy changes remain the same: adding DC Water to language access requirements, clarifying late payment penalties, requiring monthly disconnection reporting, and updating notice requirements for water service disconnections. The enrolled version includes a new applicability section and fiscal impact statement that were not in the engrossed version.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain substantively unchanged, though the enrolled version added a new Section 6 clarifying that Section 3 applies retroactively to April 18, 1996, and Section 7 requiring a fiscal impact statement.

TIMELINE

Added Section 6 specifying that Section 3 applies retroactively as of April 18, 1996

Added Section 8 establishing that the act expires 225 days after taking effect

TECHNICAL

Added Section 7 requiring the Council to adopt the Budget Director's fiscal impact statement as required by the General Legislative Procedures Act

Corrected formatting inconsistencies in the bill text, including page number references and section numbering

REQUIREMENT

Minor wording adjustments to disconnection reporting requirements, changing 'How many' to 'The number of' for consistency

Floor votes · Council Jul 28, 2025

How they voted

12–0

Passed

Total votes 12

Jul 28, 2025

D Democratic10

10 Yea

100% Yea

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jul 28, 2025

Council · Passed

Council Vote: pass (12-0)

council

Jul 14, 2025

Introduced

Amendment (Allen)

legislature

Jul 11, 2025

Introduced

B26-0322 Introduced by Councilmember Allen at Office of the Secretary

legislature

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors