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October 6, 2025
Nyasha Smith, Secretary
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Secretary Smith,
I am introducing the “Responsible Budgeting for Juvenile Safety Laws Amendment Act of
2025”. Please see enclosed a signed copy of the legislation, which is co-introduced by Chairman
Mendelson, Councilmember Lewis George, Councilmember Nadeau, and Councilmember Allen.
Under current council practice, legislation that modifies criminal procedure or substantive
criminal law for juveniles does not undergo as rigorous a fiscal impact analysis as legislation that
creates programs or services for District youth. This discrepancy creates a significant structural
bias in the District’s legislative process because carceral approaches to juvenile safety are
deemed to have no fiscal impact and can be implemented immediately while restorative
approaches to juvenile safety have significant fiscal impacts that must be funded for legislative
changes to become effective.
Recently, this structural bias has also produced irresponsible and dangerous results. The
District’s Youth Services Center (YSC), which houses District youth charged as adults, detained
pretrial, and committed but awaiting placement, has capacity for 98 youth; however, the facility
has been over capacity every day since April 22, 2025—peaking at a recent high of 131 youth on
September 10, 2025.1 These numbers understate the overcrowding problem at YSC because of
Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services policy requiring that certain populations not be co-
mingled with the general population, such as youth charged as adults, female youth, and—in
some circumstances—co-defendants. When facilities such as YSC are already oversubscribed,
council practice must and should ensure that the District responsibly budgets for any changes to
District criminal laws that are likely to increase the population of youth at YSC.
1 YSC Population Data is available at https://oijjfo.dc.gov/page/dyrs-secure-facilities-population-
data-over-time.
This bill ensures that the fiscal impact statements for laws modifying or establishing criminal
penalties and processes for juveniles reflect the true cost of implementation—just as council
practice already requires for other legislation.
Please feel free to reach out to me or my Deputy Chief of Staff, Conor Shaw, with any questions
or for additional information. He can be reached at cshaw@dccouncil.gov or by phone at (771)
333-9817.
Sincerely,
Zachary Parker
Ward 5 Councilmember
Chair, Committee on Youth Affairs
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Chairman Phil Mendelson Councilmember Zachary Parker 2
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Councilmember Janeese Lewis George Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau 8
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Councilmember Charles Allen 14
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A BILL 18
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 22
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To amend the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975 to require that fiscal impact 27
statements for council legislation reflect anticipated changes to the costs of detaining, 28
committing, or rehabilitating juveniles. 29
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this act may 31
be cited as the “Responsible Budgeting for Juvenile Safety Laws Amendment Act”. 32
Sec. 2. Section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, approved October 33
16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a(c)), is amended by adding a new 34
subsection (d) to read as follows: 35
“(d) A fiscal impact statement prepared in accordance with subsection (a) of this section 36
for any bill amending Titles 22-24, creating or modifying any criminal penalty, or modifying the 37
process for juvenile delinquency proceedings in Title 16 shall include any anticipated increase or 38
decrease in costs, over the financial plan, to the District of detaining, committing, and 39
rehabilitating juveniles. Whenever the population of a secure detention or residential facility for 40
juveniles exceeds ninety percent of the facility’s capacity and legislation under consideration by 41
the Council is projected to result in an increase in the population of juveniles detained or 42
committed, the fiscal impact statement shall include the capital costs of increasing capacity by at 43
least ten percent.” 44
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 45
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 46
impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 47
approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 48
Sec. 4. Effective date. 49
This act shall take effect after approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 50
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional review as 51
provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 52
24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 53
Columbia Register. 54