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A RESOLUTION
26-399
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
May 5, 2026
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Language
Access Act of 2004 to include the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority as a
covered entity with major public contact; to amend the District of Columbia Public
Works Act of 1954 to require that the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
submit information regarding disconnections to the Council, the Office of the People’s
Counsel, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Office of the Tenant Advocate on a
monthly basis; to amend the Water and Sewer Authority Establishment and Department
of Public Works Reorganization Act of 1996 to clarify the imposition of charges and
penalties for late payment of water service charges and bills; and to amend section 431 of
Title 21 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations to modify the notice
requirements to building occupants prior to a water service disconnection.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “DC Water and Sewer Authority Billing and Disconnection
Clarification Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2026”.
Sec. 2. (a) In 1954, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Public Works Act of 1954,
approved May 18, 1954 (68 Stat. 101; D.C. Official Code passim) (“PWA”). Sections 102 (D.C.
Official Code § 34-2413.10, repealed) and 210 (D.C. Official Code § 34-2110) of the PWA
authorized charging 10% for late payment of water and sewer charges, respectively, remaining
unpaid after 30 days.
(b) In 1990, the Council enacted the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Operations
Amendment Act of 1990, effective April 17, 1990 (D.C. Law 8-136; 37 DCR 2620), which,
among other things, amended those sections of the PWA to add a late penalty of 1% per month
compounded monthly for any water and sewer charges remaining unpaid after 60 days.
(c) In 1996, the Council passed the Water and Sewer Authority Establishment and
Department of Public Works Reorganization Act of 1996, effective April 18, 1996 (D.C. Law
11-111; D.C. Official Code § 34-2201.01 et seq.), which repealed the statutory provision for late
payment of water charges in section 102 of the PWA, but did not repeal the statutory provision
for late payment of sewer charges in section 210 of the PWA.
(d) Still, section 216(d) of the PWA (D.C. Official Code § 34-2202.16(d)) granted the
District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (“DC Water”) broad authority to “impose
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additional charges and penalties for late payment of bills.” Relying on that legal authority, on
August 4, 2003, DC Water approved amendments to 21 DCMR § 112 that established a late
penalty fee of 10% for charges remaining unpaid after 30 days and a late fee of 1% compounded
monthly for charges remaining unpaid after 60 days. There was a legal dispute as to whether the
D.C. Official Code conferred DC Water with the requisite legal authority to initiate this change
to the DCMR.
(e) If the authority delegated to DC Water under section 216(d) is interpreted as not
conferring DC Water with the requisite legal authority, DC Water would only be authorized to
issue late fees and penalties in connection with sewer service arrearages. This effectively
prohibits DC Water from charging any late fees that encourage the timely payment of water
charges and other related services such as payment-in-lieu of taxes and right-of-way fees.
Additionally, while section 210 sets a limit on the late fees that can be imposed for unpaid
sanitary sewer service charges, section 216(d) includes no such limit on the imposition of late
fees related to unpaid water service charges.
(f) Separately, in March 2025, DC Water launched a more robust campaign to collect
outstanding balances from ratepayers, issuing its first of many notices of disconnection to
housing providers of multifamily apartment buildings. The notices advised tenants residing at
the properties that the water service would be terminated unless housing providers addressed
their outstanding water bills. DC Water ended Fiscal Year 2025 with $33.3 million in unpaid
water bills.
(g) DC Water’s campaign to collect outstanding debts revealed significant challenges
associated with water shutoffs at multifamily residential buildings. First, in some of these
cases, tenants have been paying their rent consistently and did not know that their building was
in arrears until they saw a notice of disconnection or experienced a disconnection. In a sense,
these tenants are being punished for their building owner or manager’s failure to pay the water
bill. Additionally, because DC Water is rarely in contact with individual tenants, it may not
know if a unit for which they are threatening disconnection is the home of a senior, child, or a
person with a disability—populations that are especially vulnerable during water service
shutoffs. And without more information about individual occupants in these buildings, it has
been difficult for District agencies (e.g., the Office of the Tenant Advocate) or legal aid
providers to contact families who have experienced or are facing a disconnection to provide
them with assistance or guidance.
(h) Requiring that DC Water provide monthly updates to the Council, the Office of the
Attorney General (“OAG”), the Office of the People’s Counsel (“OPC”), and the Office of the
Tenant Advocate (“OTA”) regarding its disconnection activities will better enable OAG, OPC,
and OTA to assist residents experiencing disconnection and will allow the Council to make
more informed decisions regarding potential changes to the disconnection process.
(i) In response to these issues, on July 14, 2025, the Council passed the DC Water and
Sewer Authority Billing and Disconnection Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2025,
effective August 1, 2025 (D.C. Act 26-127; 72 DCR 8607) (“emergency act”). The emergency
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act clarified the Council’s intent that DC Water has had the authority to assess late payment
fees on water service arrearages since April 18, 1996, and that those fees are subject to the
same limitations as fees for sewer service arrearages. The emergency act also required that DC
Water submit monthly reports to the Council, OAG, and OTA regarding its disconnection
activities. The Council also passed the DC Water and Sewer Authority Billing and
Disconnection Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2025, effective October 1, 2025
(D.C. Law 26-50; 72 DCR 8941) (“temporary legislation”), which was identical to the
emergency act.
(j) The emergency act expired on October 30, 2025. The temporary legislation is set to
expire on May 14, 2026. A new round of emergency and temporary legislation is therefore
necessary to maintain these provisions until they have been incorporated into a permanent
measure.
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 DC
Water and Sewer Authority Billing and Disconnection Clarification Emergency Amendment
Act of 2026 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.