B 26-0633 Legislature · 26th Council Period (2025-2026)

Open Meetings Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2026

This bill temporarily amends the District of Columbia's Open Meetings Act to clarify how public meetings are defined and when they must be open to the public. It allows public bodies to hold closed meetings to receive briefings on potential terrorist threats or public health dangers, exempts meetings between the Council and the Mayor if no official action is taken, and states that a meeting is open if the public can reasonably view or hear it, even if not live-streamed. The legislation also updates the applicability date for expanded financial reporting requirements for certain boards and commissions to October 17, 2026, and clarifies which groups are subject to the open meetings rules.

Bill status signed all 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2026

Committee Review

Council Passage

May 2026

Signed into Law

Aug 2026

Introduced Mar 30, 2026 Signed Aug 14, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossment → Enrollment · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was finalized as the 'Open Meetings Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2026' with minor technical adjustments to section headers and punctuation. The core policy changes remain intact, clarifying that meetings are open to the public if they can be viewed or heard live or recorded shortly after, creating an exemption for security briefings on terrorist or health threats, and exempting Council-Mayor meetings from the act if no official action is taken.

Scope change

The bill's scope was slightly expanded in the title to include an amendment to D.C. Municipal Regulations regarding financial reporting dates, and the effective date was set to March 29, 2026.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting and punctuation changes were made throughout the text, such as adjusting semicolons and periods in lists and updating section headers from 'Sec. 3' to 'Sec. 4' in the enrolled version.

DEFINITION

The definition of a 'meeting' was refined to explicitly include electronic communications and clarify that the term does not apply to chance social gatherings or press conferences.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement was added stating that meetings are deemed open to the public if the body takes steps to allow the public to view or hear the meeting live, or record it as soon as reasonably practicable if live viewing is not technologically feasible.

EXEMPTIONS

A specific exemption was created for meetings held to discuss methods to protect against terrorist activity or public health dangers, provided that disclosing the meeting details would endanger the public.

Meetings between the Council and the Mayor are now exempt from the Open Meetings Act, provided that no official action is decided at the meeting.

TIMELINE

The effective date for the act was set to March 29, 2026, and the applicability date for expanded financial reporting requirements was set to October 17, 2026.

Floor votes · Council May 5, 2026

How they voted

11–2

Passed

Total votes 13

May 5, 2026

D Democratic11

9 Yea 2 Nay

81% 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

May 5, 2026

Council · Passed

Council Vote: pass (11-2)

council

Mar 30, 2026

Introduced

B26-0633 Introduced by Chairman Mendelson at Office of the Secretary

legislature

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors