DC Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced her proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year on May 27 (along with a revised budget for the current year). The Committee of 100 has been an active participant throughout the process in our interest areas. A general theme of C100’s testimony has been that the mayor’s budget lacks balance. In a time when the City could lose 40,000 jobs and is facing declining local revenue and uncertain federal funding, the budget prioritizes a football stadium and other initiatives downtown while cutting support for DC’s most vulnerable residents.

Over the course of the three weeks of public hearings, C100:

• Testified on the proposed budgets for the Office of Planning and the Office of Zoning;
• Testified on the Eviction Reform Amendment Act of 2025 introduced by Chairman Mendelson, and Titles II, III, V, VIII, and XI of the RENTAL Act introduced on behalf of Mayor Bowser.
• Submitted testimony on the proposed budgets for the DC Housing Authority, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy and the Environment.
• Testified on the proposed budget for the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Public hearings wrapped up on June 19 with a hearing on the proposed Budget Support Act (BSA). C100 testified on the parts of the BSA on the proposed redevelopment of the RFK campus, cuts to environmental programs, and a provision which would have the effect of deterring citizen appeals of zoning decisions. We are encouraged that the Council seems on track to defer decisions on a football stadium until later in the year (which will allow for more careful review of the entire deal with the Washington football team) and to remove the RENTAL Act and the proposed zoning amendment from the BSA.