Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Joint Public Oversight Hearing

Council of the District of Columbia SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC RECOVERY NOTICE OF JOINT PUBLIC OVERSIGHT HEARING 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004 COUNCILMEMBER CHARLES ALLEN, CO-CHAIRPERSON SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC RECOVERY AND COUNCILMEMBER VINCENT C. GRAY, CO-CHAIRPERSON SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC RECOVERY ANNOUNCE A JOINT PUBLIC OVERSIGHT HEARING ON “SMALL BUSINESS RECOVERY, UNEMPLOYMENT/RE-EMPLOYMENT, AND THE RECOVERY OF THE DISTRICT'S LOCAL REVENUE” TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM REMOTE OVERSIGHT HEARING VIA ZOOM STREAMED LIVE ON YOUTUBE AT HTTPS://TINYURL.COM/SPECIALCOVID On Tuesday, October 12, 2021, Councilmembers Charles Allen and Vincent C. Gray, Co- Chairpersons of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery will convene a joint public oversight hearing on “Small Business Recovery, Unemployment/Re-employment, and the Recovery of the District’s Local Revenue.” The hearing will be held virtually at 10:00 a.m. via the Zoom platform, and will be broadcast live on the Committee on Health’s Youtube page at tinyurl.com/SpecialCOVID. The purpose of this hearing will be to focus on three key areas – the first being the recovery of small businesses in the District. The special committee will explore local (or federal) law that will affect how small and local businesses will recover losses from business interruption insurance during the COVID-19 Pandemic, in addition to how the District can require or incentivize commercial landlords to retain small, local businesses tenants. Lastly, as part of this discussion, the committee will explore what supports small, locally-owned businesses, especially those owned by Black residents and other residents of color, need in order to compete with large, national chains and remain in the District. Secondly, this hearing will focus on unemployment/re-employment, notably how the District government can require or incentivize local employers to hire or re-hire District residents who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee will discuss how DOES can improve systems to ensure timely review of unemployment insurance benefits, in addition to how local government can ensure that District residents are prepared for new jobs as they come online. 1  Lastly, the Special Committee will discuss how the District’s local revenue can recover to pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, the Special Committee will examine the recovery of the tourist economy in the aftermath of the public health emergency, which is a major revenue generator for the District of Columbia. The Special Committee will also explore what the future looks like for downtown DC, exploring such issues as vacancy rates, the impact of teleworking, and ensuring that our downtown is an attractive place to live and work. During the hearing, the Special Committee will hear testimony from invited witnesses and the public. Oral testimony from public witnesses will be strictly limited to three minutes to allow everyone an opportunity to testify. Persons wishing to provide oral testimony on October 12th should contact Malcolm Cameron, Legislative Analyst of the Committee on Health by e-mail at mcameron@dccouncil.us or by phone at (202) 341-4425 before 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 8, 2021. When sending an e-mail or leaving a voicemail, please provide Mr. Cameron with the following information: • Your first and last name; • The name of the organization you are representing (if any); • Your title with the organization; • Your e-mail address; and • Your phone number. Mr. Cameron will e-mail a confirmation of your attendance with an agenda, witness list, and attached instructions for accessing the hearing on the evening of October 11th. Additional witnesses may provide written statements to the Special Committee, which will be made part of the official record. Public witnesses at the hearing should limit their oral testimony to 3 minutes. The Special Committee encourages witnesses to submit a copy of any written testimony electronically in advance to mcameron@dccouncil.us. For accommodation requests, including spoken language or sign language interpretation, please inform the Special Committee of the need as soon as possible but no later than five (5) business days before the proceeding. The Council will make every effort to fulfill timely requests, however requests received in less than five (5) business days may not be fulfilled and alternatives may be offered. Persons wishing to provide written testimony should e-mail their written testimony to Malcolm Cameron, Legislative Analyst of the Committee on Health at mcameron@dccouncil.us before 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. Please indicate that you are submitting testimony for this hearing in the subject line of the e-mail. 2