Transportation & the Environment & Committee of the Whole Joint Hearing

Council of the District of Columbia COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & THE ENVIRONMENT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004 COUNCILMEMBER CHARLES ALLEN, CHAIRPERSON COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & THE ENVIRONMENT AND CHAIRMAN PHIL MENDELSON, CHAIRPERSON COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ANNOUNCE A JOINT PUBLIC HEARING ON B25-0279, THE “CLIMATIZING OUR OVERHEATED LIVING SPACES REGULATION AMENDMENT ACT OF 2023” Thursday, October 12, 2023, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Virtual Hearing via Zoom To Watch Live: https://dccouncil.us/council-videos/ http://video.oct.dc.gov/DCC/jw.html https://www.facebook.com/CMcharlesallen/ On Thursday, October 12, 2023, Councilmember Charles Allen, Chairperson of the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, and Chairman Phil Mendelson, Chairperson of the Committee of the Whole will convene a joint public hearing to consider B25-0279, the “Climatizing Our Overheated Living Spaces Regulation Amendment Act of 2023.” The hearing will be conducted virtually via the Zoom platform from 1:00 p.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m. The stated purpose of B25-0279, the “Climatizing our Overheated Living Spaces Regulation Amendment of 2023”, is amend the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations to require owners of rental buildings that provide air conditioning to have the air conditioning units or systems inspected by April 1 of each year and correct any defects by May 1. The bill would also require such building owners to ensure that air conditioning units or systems are operating from April 15 through October 31 of each year. The bill would further require the Department of Energy and Environment to establish a Cooling Energy Offset grant and financing program to increase the energy efficiency and renewable energy generating capacity of the building, to offset the potential increase in energy usage caused by increased air conditioning use. 1 The Committees invite the public to provide oral and written testimony. Public witnesses seeking to provide oral testimony at the Committees’ hearing must thoroughly review the following instructions:  Anyone wishing to provide oral testimony must register using the Council’s Hearing Management System at https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings by the close of business on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.  The Committees will approve witnesses’ registrations based on the total time allotted for public testimony. The Committees will also determine the order of witnesses’ testimony.  Representatives of organizations will be allowed a maximum of five minutes for oral testimony, and individuals (and any subsequent representatives of the same organizations) will be allowed a maximum of three minutes. In order to accommodate additional public witnesses, the Committees may reduce witnesses’ allotted time for testimony but will inform witnesses if it plans to do so.  Witnesses are not permitted to yield their time to, or substitute their testimony for, the testimony of another individual or organization.  Testimony should be submitted through the Council’s Hearing Management System https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings in advance of the hearing. Testimony will be publicly accessible upon Committee review.  Witnesses who anticipate needing language interpretation, including ASL interpretation, are requested to inform the Committee on Transportation and the Environment as soon as possible, but no later than five business days before the hearing by emailing cote@dccouncil.gov. The Committees will make every effort to fulfill timely requests; however, requests received fewer than five business days before the hearing may not be fulfilled and alternatives may be offered. For witnesses who are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements will be made part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted through the Council’s Hearing Management System https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings. The record will close at the end of the business day on Thursday, October 26, 2023. 2