Notable talkers throughout the process have been the Commanders deal, the tipped wage initiative, and violence intervention programs.
WASHINGTON — The DC Council is holding its final vote on the 2026 budget today. Over the weeks, they have debated everything from the Commanders deal to enforcing the tipped wage increases.
Weeks ago, the council decided to separate out the Commanders deal from the budget conversation.
They are holding public hearings on that legislation on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a first vote scheduled for Friday.
During the last vote, the council did agree to fund $500 million to begin construction at the RFK Stadium site.
The rest of the $1.1 billion deal will be hammered out this week after Council Chair Phil Mendelson announced that he had reached a better deal with the Commanders.
One of the other major conversations has centered around Initiative 82 — the increases for tipped wage workers.
Mayor Muriel Bowser has been pushing to repeal the initiative, saying it has forced restaurants to close.
In the prior vote, the council rejected a compromise proposal to keep some of the increases without fully implementing the plan outlined in Initiative 82, but there could be another compromise on the horizon.
A new I-82 amendment introduced by councilmember Charles Allen and Christina Henderson on Monday proposes to keep the current base wage for tipped workers at $10 until 2026 and increase the proposed minimum wage percentage rate from 56% to 75% by July 1, 2034. After reaching 60% of the minimum wage on July 1, 2028, it would increase by 5% biannually until hitting 75% of the minimum wage in 2034.
“This approach ensures that tipped employees’ wages rise annually and keep pace with inflation, while also preventing restaurants’ operational costs from rising at an unsustainable rate due to legislative mandates,” the amendment says.
Violence intervention programs have also gone through multiple iterations, with chair of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, Councilmember Brooke Pinto initially proposing to get rid of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.
The ONSE office is in charge of many of the violence interruption programs, with the Attorney General’s office in charge of the others.
The new budget plan directs the ONSE office to absorb all violence interruption programs and removes them from the AG’s office.
The council also said it is planning to fund all six sites.
Other programs that have been on the chopping block include healthcare and resources for families facing homelessness.
The council said it wasn’t able to avoid the Mayor’s proposal to move 25,000 Medicaid enrollees off the program and into an alternative because of the cost.
The council was mostly able to restore the private room guarantee for families facing homelessness, but congregate housing is coming back into the picture.
The council also found more funding for the emergency rental assistance program, but it’s still slashed in half.
Councilmembers also voted to fund the ranked choice voting component of Initiative 83 but not the open primaries.
The final vote and discussion begins at noon, with the potential for more changes.
