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COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
OFFICE OF COUNCILMEMBER BROOKE PINTO
THE JOHN A. WILSON BUILDING
1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., SUITE 106
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004
March 24, 2025
Nyasha Howard, Secretary
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Secretary Howard,
Today, along with Councilmembers Matthew Frumin and Christina Henderson , I am introducing
the Department of Corrections Deferred Retirement Option Program Amendment Act of 2025
(DOC DROP Act). Please find enclosed a signed copy of the legislation. This bill is a complement
to a bill I introduced earlier this Council Period , B26-100, the Deferred Retirement Option
Program Amendment Act of 2025, which permits retirement-eligible Fire and Emergency Medical
Services (Fire and EMS) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) members to continue
working for up to 3 years while collecting supplemental payments in a separate retirement account.
This legislation would add retirement-eligible correctional officers to the list of employees eligible
for the deferred retirement option program (DROP) . Over the last several years, maintaining
appropriate staffing levels across the District’s public safety agencies has been a challenge , and
the Department of Corrections (DOC) is no exception. DOC has struggled with short staffing and
significant overtime pressures in recent years. Staffing shortages within fire and police
departments have become a major i ssue across the metropolitan area. In Fiscal Year 2024, DOC
had a 15.5% vacancy rate (129 out of 830 uniformed positions) and in the first quarter of Fiscal
Year 2025 had only reduced this vacancy rate to 12.57% (103 out of 819 uniformed positions).
The DOC DROP Act aims to address staffing issues like these and, in particular, to improve
retention of our most experienced correctional officers. The legislation will establish a DROP to
allow retirement -eligible DOC employees to continue serving for up to three years after their
normal retirement date and accrue their supplemental retirement benefits in a separate retirement
account. At the conclusion of the DROP period, the member will separate from city service and
the money in the acco unt and the earned interest will be distributed to them.
This system will help DOC retain their most experienced members for longer, have more certainty
about when members will retire, and better anticipate future staffing needs. This is crucial:
continued support and investment from the government is needed to ensure the stability of the
Department and its ability to retain experienced employees, in particular correctional officers, and
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to allow them to use their experience and expertise to keep DOC residents safe and train new
correctional officers.
Should you have any questions about this legislation, please contact Anaiah Mitchell, Legislative
Policy Advisor, at amitchell@dccouncil.gov.
Thank you,
Brooke Pinto
Councilmember, Ward 2
Chairwoman, Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety
Council of the District of Columbia
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Councilmember Matthew Frumin Councilmember Brooke Pinto 2
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Councilmember Christina Henderson 6
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A BILL 8
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 12
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To establish a deferred retirement option program to allow retirement -eligible Department of 17
Corrections employees to continue working for up to 3 years while collecting supplemental 18
payments in a separate retirement account. 19
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 21
act may be cited as the “Department of Corrections Deferred Retirement Option Program 22
Amendment Act of 2025”. 23
Sec. 2. Section 2 of B26-100, the “Deferred Retirement Option Program Amendment Act 24
of 2025,” as introduced, is amended as follows: 25
(a) Subparagraph (b) of paragraph (22) is amended by adding a new sub-subparagraph (iii) 26
to read as follows: 27
“(iii) An employee of the Department of Corrections who, at the time of 28
entering the deferred retirement option program, was covered by the collective bargaining 29
agreement between the District of Columbia Government Department of Corrections and the 30
Fraternal Order of Police, Department of Corrections Labor Committee.”. 31
(b) Paragraph (d)(6) of section 12(h-1) is amended to read as follows: 32
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“(6) Participating eligible members entitled to medical leave pursuant to Section 33
623 of the Fire and Police Medical Leave and Limited Duty Amendment Act of 2004, effective 34
September 30, 2004 (D.C. Law 15-194; D.C. Official Code § 5-633); Section 624 of the Fire and 35
Police Medical Leave and Limited Duty Amendment Act of 2004, effective September 30, 2004 36
(D.C. Law 15-194; D.C. Official Code § 5-634); or Section 32 of the District of Columbia Family 37
and Medical Leave Act of 1990, effective October 3, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-181; D.C. Official Code 38
§32-503) shall cease participation in the DROP after a period of 120 days on medical leave.” 39
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 40
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal impact 41
statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, approved 42
October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 43
Sec. 4. Effective date. 44
This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 45
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30- day period of congressional review as 46
provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 47
1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code §1- 206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 48
Columbia Register. 49