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MURIEL BOWSER
MAYOR
July 9, 2026
Honorable Phil Mendelson
Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania A venue, NW, Suite 504
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chairman Mendelson:
Enclosed for consideration and adoption by the Council of the District of Columbia are the
"Health and Human Service Programs and Benefits Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing
Clarifications Amendment Act of 2026," the "Health and Human Service Programs and Benefits
Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing Clarifications Temporary Amendment Act of 2026," the
"Health and Human Service Programs and Benefits Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing
Clarifications Emergency Amendment Act of 2026," and the "Health and Human Service
Programs and Benefits Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing Clarifications Emergency
Declaration Resolution of 2026."
1 f enacted, the legislation would clarify the authorization to share certain data within the
Department of Human Services (OHS) and between OHS and other District agencies providing
health or human services to facilitate the determination of eligibility for federal and District
health and human service programs and benefits, to enhance the coordination of such programs
and benefits, and for other purposes. Most immediately, it would allow DHS to share client
information between the OHS Family Services Administration and the OHS Economic Security
Administration, pursuant to the requirements and procedures of the Data-Sharing and
Information Coordination Amendment Act of 2010, to efficiently facilitate time limit exemption
determinations for the District's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.
The District was unable to renew its SNAP Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABA WD)
Waiver due to changes in federal law. This legislation will lessen the burden on SNAP ABAWD
customers who must now comply with new screening requirements.
I urge the Council to take prompt and favorable action on the enclosed legislation.
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at the request of the Mayor
A PROPOSED RESOLUTION
12 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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16 To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Homeless Services
17 Reform Act of2005 to clarify the authorization to share certain data within the Department
18 of Human Services and between the Department of Human Services and other District
19 agencies providing health or human services to facilitate the determination of eligibility for
20 federal and District health and human service programs and benefits, to enhance the
21 coordination of such programs and benefits, and for other purposes.
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23 RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
24 resolution may be cited as the "Health and Human Service Programs and Benefits Eligibility and
25 Delivery Data-Sharing Clarifications Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2026".
26 Sec. 2. (a) There exists an immediate need for the District of Columbia ("District") to enact
27 legislation to amend the Homeless Services Reform Act of 2005 ("HSRA").
28 (b) The District's long-standing waiver of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
29 Program's ("SNAP's") time limits for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents ("ABAWD")
30 expired at the end of calendar year 2025. The District was unable to renew its ABA WD Waiver
31 due to changes in federal law. As a result, beginning June 2026, whenever an ABA WD applies
32 for or renews their SNAP eligibility, they must be screened to establish either that they are in
33 compliance with, or are exempt from, the ABA WD work requirements. After screening, non-
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compliant non-exempt ABAWDs may only receive SNAP for up to three months in a set thirty-34
six-month time period. 35
(c) The District Department of Human Services (“DHS”) Economic Security 36
Administration (“ESA”) is attempting to lessen the burden on SNAP ABAWD customers by using 37
data-matches to proactively identify time limit exemptions for which ABAWDs may 38
qualify. Information maintained by the DHS Family Services Administration (“FSA”) in 39
connection with programs it administers that are governed by the HSRA could be used by ESA to 40
determine that certain ABAWDs receiving services from both DHS administrations qualify for 41
exemptions from the SNAP ABAWD time limits. 42
(d) ESA began screening ABAWDs this month. This legislation is required on an 43
emergency basis to clarify that, pursuant to the requirements and procedures of the Data-Sharing 44
and Information Coordination Amendment Act of 2010, ESA may leverage FSA data to facilitate 45
ABAWD time limit exemption determinations for FSA homeless services customers who also 46
receive SNAP. If ESA is not able to determine that an ABAWD customer is exempt, the customer 47
will begin to accrue countable months towards the three-month time limit after their 48
screening. Looking to the future, this same FSA data could also facilitate exempting customers 49
from new Medicaid Community Engagement requirements set to go into effect in 2027. 50
Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute 51
emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Health and Human Service Programs and 52
Benefits Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing Clarifications Emergency Amendment Act of 53
2026be adopted after a single reading. 54
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 55