Councilmember Elissa Silverman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

D.C. private sector workers are now eligible for a lot more paid family and medical leave — up to 12 weeks as of Oct. 1 — to welcome a new child into their family or take care of themselves or a family member with a serious health condition.
 
The expansion is a result of action taken last year by Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At-Large), chair of the Council’s Labor Committee and the author of the Universal Paid Leave law, requiring D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer to reevaluate the paid leave program’s finances. As a result, the payroll tax for businesses was cut by more than half and workers can now receive 12 weeks of leave. 

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An estimated 15,000 undocumented residents, returning citizens, and workers in the informal economy who were not eligible for federal jobless benefits or stimulus checks during the pandemic will now receive relief payments of about $1,000 each later this fall.

The payments are a result of a provision added to the city budget in May by Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At-Large), chair of the Council’s Labor Committee. The budget amendment provided for $20 million for the payments – if the District’s Chief Financial Officer confirms on Sept. 30 that there is enough tax money available. That confirmation came Friday. The Council unanimously supported Silverman’s measure.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large)  introduced a package of road safety bills Wednesday that would reduce dangerous, high-speed driving in the District by taking routinely reckless drivers off the road and requiring speed limiters on District government non-emergency vehicles.

The first bill, the Reckless Driver Accountability Act of 2022, authorizes the District to boot or impound any car that has five moving violation tickets, or three tickets for speeding by more than 25 miles per hour over the speeding limit or running a red light, even if the tickets are paid. Owners can avoid the impoundment or retrieve their car from the impound lot by taking a restorative-justice-based driver education class. The bill is based on an initiative in New York City that, according to early research, has reduced dangerous driving incidents among participants by up to 40 percent.