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A RESOLUTION
26-339
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
February 3, 2026
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Strengthening
Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility (“STEER”) Amendment Act of 2024 to
modify its applicability clause to correctly reflect its funding status with respect to the
District’s Intelligent Speed Assistance Program.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as “STEER Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2026”.
Sec. 2. (a) On February 6, 2024, the Council passed on second reading the Strengthening
Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility Amendment Act of 2024, effective April 20,
2024 (D.C. Law 25-161; 71 DCR 2248) (“STEER Act”).
(b) The STEER Act, among other things, established an Intelligent Speed Assistance
Program (“ISAP”) in the District. The ISAP, to be administered by the Department of Motor
Vehicles (“DMV”), will install and monitor a driver’s compliance with intelligent speed
assistance systems if the driver was convicted of certain driving offenses. The STEER Act also
modernized the District’s existing Ignition Interlock Device Program.
(c) More specifically, the STEER Act amended sections 37 and 38 of the Motor Vehicle
Safety Responsibility Act, approved May 25, 1954 (68 Stat. 130; D.C. Official Code §§ 50-
1301.37 and 50-1301.38) (“sections 37 and 38”), to modify the conditions under which the DMV
may suspend or reinstate a driver’s license or vehicle registration, respectively. Sections 37 and
38, as amended by the STEER Act, work together to establish predicate offenses that require
enrollment in the newly established ISAP as a condition of reinstatement.
(d) The ISAP was funded during the Fiscal Year 2024 budget process, and the DMV
began working on regulations to implement the program. The updates to the Ignition Interlock
Device Program were funded during the Fiscal Year 2026 budget process, though funding for
implementation is not actually available to the DMV until Fiscal Year 2027.
(e) When updating the STEER Act’s applicability clause to reflect its funding status, the
Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act of 2025, effective December 6, 2025 (D.C. Law 26-55; 72
DCR 9825), left sections 37 and 38 subject to appropriations, since funding for the modernized
Ignition Interlock Device Program was pending. However, since the DMV relies on sections 37
and 38 to enroll drivers into ISAP, and those key provisions are currently considered to be
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unfunded, the DMV has paused the launch of the ISAP until those provisions are funded or
substantially similar provisions go into effect.
(f) To allow ISAP implementation to move forward, this emergency legislation modifies
the applicability clause for the STEER Act to reflect that certain provisions are, in fact, fully
funded with respect to the implementation of the ISAP (or other purposes), but are still subject to
appropriations with respect to the District’s current Ignition Interlock Device Program.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the STEER
Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2026 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.