The battle over the noise bill, recently brought back from the dead, comes to a head today at the D.C. Council’s legislative meeting.

Actually, the battle is well underway: At this morning’s council breakfast meeting, councilmembers got pretty huffy over the bill’s prospects. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans described an amendment he plans to introduce that would distinguish between amplified noise in residential areas, where it would be limited to 80 decibels as measured inside a residence, and commercial areas, where there would be no limits. The distinction, he explained, was necessary to protect the interests of unions (Local 25 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees was specifically mentioned) who want to hold protests—including protests outside three large hotels located inside residential zones (the Washington Hilton, the Wardman Park Marriott, and the Omni Shoreham).

Also, rather than empowering police officers to enforce the law as originally proposed, the amendment would require readings to be taken by noise inspectors from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. That, Evans explains, is because the unions “have an enormous distrust of the Metropolitan Police Department.”

Ward 6 Councilmember and bill cosponsor Tommy Wells initially suggested a compromise amendment that would keep the residential/commercial distinction, but lower the threshold to 70 decibels, as measured outside a residence. To placate the unions, Wells proposed allowing amplified speech within 100 feet of a hotel with 50 rooms or more.

So what does 70 decibels sound like? Some said “freight train”; Evans likened it to one of his favorite hangouts: “It’s Cafe Milano on a busy night,” he said.

Wells took a dig at Evans, who had loudspeaker-equipped protesters outside his Georgetown home early on a Sunday morning earlier this year: “As Jack learned, noise is used…as a weapon.”

Then At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania said, essentially, screw this union shit: “What offends me about this is in the effort to pander to one constituency…we’ve basically said to the community, ‘Good luck!’” After Catania’s spiel, At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz also spoke again the union pander, and Ward 3 Councilmember Mary M. Cheh stood up for the provisions in the original bill, which she cosponsored. The hotel exception, she says, is “beyond pandering.”

The meeting broke up when Evans stalked out shortly before 10 a.m.; Cheh, Wells, and others huddled to discuss strategy.

Shortly before the start of the meeting, Wells told LL that he and his allies would offer no amendment unless Evans’ amendment passes.

Michael A. Brown is filing his papers today to officially enter the race for an at-large D.C. Council seat as an independent. He’ll be facing longtime incumbent Carol Schwartz, as well as motivated challengers Adam Clampitt and Dee Hunter, in November for the non-Democratic slot.

Brown, son of legendary Democratic honcho Ron Brown and veteran of failed runs for mayor and Ward 4 councilmember, spent almost two months pondering his run on an exploratory basis. This time, Brown says, he’s really done his homework, leading him to believe he has a winning strategy. “It’s been all scientific,” he says. “When I ran for mayor, it was kind of on gut. Ward 4 council—that was half gut, half scientific.”

His winning issues, Brown says, are a bit of a reprise from his mayoral run, where he made youth issues a centerpiece of his campaign. This time, he says, he’ll be focused on the disposition of closed school buildings—”I am not a proponent of selling every asset we have for condo development. There is no reason those assets shouldn’t be turned into libraries, vocational centers, senior centers”—and a “lack of opportunity” for youth.

In addition, Brown—who has a background in municipal finance—says he’s concerned about the District’s debt load and advocates refinancing bond issues for the baseball stadium and the convention center. “We need to take advantage of the rates now, get the payments down,” he says.

A big question is whether Brown, 42, is willing to give up his lucrative lobbying gig to be a full-time councilmember—a pledge so far given by all his opponents. He recently left the lobbying firm Alcalde & Fay to join Boston-based Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.

“I haven’t made that assessment,” Brown says, citing a need to speak with current councilmembers with side gigs such as Ward 2’s Jack Evans and at-large member David Catania about their experiences. “My first priority will be the people of the District of Columbia.”

Brown says he has no events planned until later next month, when he will conduct an eight-ward “whistle-stop tour” on Metro.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Tomorrow’s the monthly D.C. Council legislative meeting. This morning, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray held his usual preview press conference. Here’s the rundown:

• Vince Gray Punctuality Watch: The presser kicked off at 9:42 a.m.—12 minutes late. Getting better, Mr. Chairman!
• Things kicked off with a presentation from At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania on his “Healthy DC” universal-health-care plan. The meat of the policy proposal is to provide an affordable health insurance option for a relatively small part of the city populace: the approximately 25,000 uninsured folks who make too much to be eligible for Medicaid or the D.C. Healthcare Alliance program. Will spare the details, but the costs are intended to be no more than 3 percent of annual income for participants, with a District subsidy covering the rest.

  Along with the bridge insurance program comes a requirement that all District residents over 18 years of age be continuously insured. Anyone filing a D.C. tax return will be required to check a box attesting they’re insured. Enforcement is still vague; Catania said liars could be prosecuted for tax fraud—another option, he says, would be to cross-reference all emergency-room visitors with their tax returns.

  How is it being paid for? Under Catania’s proposal, the individuals are expected to bear a little more than half of the cost through monthly premiums. As for the remainder, a new 2 percent premium tax on HMOs raises a chunk, and taxes paid by CareFirst, the local Blue Cross licensee, takes care of most of the rest. Also kicking in, but not directly: A doubling of the District’s excise tax on cigarettes, from $1 to $2.

  The plan is scheduled to kick in on July 1, 2009; Gray said he hopes to hold a hearing on the plan before the end of the budget season.

• Looks like Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry’s plan to rename the Southeast-Southwest Freeway and part of Maine Avenue SW after Martin Luther King isn’t going anywhere fast. Said Gray: “I have a number of concerns about that…as well as a number of my colleagues….I think this is one of those where I think I will have a hearing.”

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Let the amendments begin! The Sick and Safe Leave bill is up on the council dais; sponsor Carol Schwartz has introduced a substitute that keeps things largely intact and doesn’t address the main issues the business community have. Never fear—Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans is on the scene. He’s got seven amendments, drafted with the assistance of Council chair Vincent C. Gray, at-large member David A. Catania, and, undoubtedly, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. This could take a while. —Mike DeBonis

Tomorrow’s the monthly D.C. Council legislative meeting. This morning, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray held his usual preview press conference. Here’s what’s on tap:

• The biggest deal tomorrow is going to be what happens with the final reading on the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, which has attracted the intense scrutiny of the business community. After LL queried Gray on possible amendments, At-Large Councilmember and bill sponsor Carol Schwartz stepped to the mike to announce that she would be submitting a substitute bill, which she had drafted with her staff over the weekend. (LL’s voice mail vouches for that: He arrived this morning to find a message from Schwartz left on Sunday returning a Friday call. “Hope you’re having a good weekend,” she said. “Better than mine!”) Schwartz declined to make the new text available this morning, but she did allude at the press conference that it was intended to allay the concerns of the business community. LL is presently trying to get his hands on a copy of the bill to see if Barbara Lang’s “Big Five” made it in.

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LL spoke to D.C. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barbara Lang this afternoon and asked her about her organization’s proposed amendments to the pending sick-leave bill in front of the D.C. Council this week.

Of the 14 proposed amendments, Lang deems five to be “must-haves.”

Those are:

• Defining “employee” in the same terms as the city’s Family and Medical Leave Act
• An economic hardship exemption, like one in the smoking-ban bill
• An exemption for businesses with 10 employees or less
• Requirement for a yearly economic impact study
• No waivers for the act allowed in collective bargaining agreements—i.e., unions shouldn’t be allowed to bargain away paid sick days for wage increases, etc.

As for the Maryland-and-Virginia first clause, Lang says that’s a matter of keeping the District competitive with its neighbors. “There are 700,00 jobs in the District of Columbia every day; 450,000 are filled by residents of Maryland and Virginia. [The bill] asks dc business to pay for Maryland and Virginia residents when Maryland and Virginia are not doing that [for D.C. residents].”

Lang says she hasn’t discussed the amendments with the bill’s sponsor, At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz but has been focusing her energy on members she feels might actually be swayed. Lang reports she doesn’t yet have commitments from members to introduce all 14 amendments at Tuesday’s meeting.

Assuming the measure passes, amended heavily or not, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty would still have to sign it in to law, and Lang says Hizzoner’s still opposed to it. Is a veto a possibility? Says mayoral spokesperson Carrie Brooks: “I don’t think that determination has been made yet.”

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council will take its second and final vote on the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, a piece of legislation that would greatly expand mandatory sick leave for all employees in the District. The legislation passed 11-2 on first reading on Feb. 5, but it stands to be heavily amended next week.

The D.C. Chamber of Commerce will be leading the charge. Chamber President Barbara B. Lang sent a letter Wednesday to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray and colleagues that said her organization was “very concerned about the unforeseen and unintended consequences of this bill as well as its potentially devastating impact on small businesses.” To that end, Lang attached 14 proposed amendments to the bill.

To give you an idea of their thrust, here’s a summary of the first one: “Amendment #1 makes the District’s implementation of the bill contingent on the enactment of comparable legislation in both Maryland and Virginia.” You read that right: D.C. can go ahead and pass this, but it won’t actually be enforced until Annapolis and Richmond get behind it, too. There’s nothing the District loves more than waiting on those guys to ratify our own public policy.

Other amendments:

• Mandatory yearly economic impact studies on the bill’s effects
• A two-year sunset provision
• Exemption for businesses with fewer than 10 employees
• “Economic hardship” exemption
• Exemption for waitstaff who work for minimum wage plus tips

Also wanting changes is the metro Consortium of Universities, who sent a letter yesterday proposing several amendments—including one that would exempt graduate students (undergrads are already exempt).

The bill’s sponsor, At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, will have her hands full come Tuesday. No word yet on which members will be carrying the C of C’s water as far as introducing any amendments, but Schwartz, who’s done a fine job of getting this thing this far, will have some interesting calculations to make.

Don’t take the 11-2 first reading vote as proof of strong Council backing—the bill was very nearly tabled before the up-or-down vote. Yesterday, LL spied groups of sick-leave advocates making their way around the Wilson Building. Unfortunately for them, they don’t give thousands and thousands to local political campaigns—local businesses do. Expect that to factor somewhat into Schwartz’s thinking, what with a re-election campaign coming up.

C of C letter after the jump.

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As I indicated yesterday, support is shaky at best for At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz’s Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, though it will come to a vote today.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans moved to table the bill after Council Chair Vincent C. Gray spoke in favor of taking time to take a closer look at the bill. Evans and At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania both cited the declining economy for the need for further study. The motion to table failed 7-6, which seems to bode well for for the bill passing today.

On the other hand, this is a first-reading vote, so if it passes, there’s still another whole month where further amendments will likely be developed.

UPDATE, 2:05 P.M.: Bill passes. See you in a month.

Every month (sometimes more often) the D.C. Council meets on a Tuesday for its legislative meeting, where the full body sits in the chamber all day and actually passes bills and things like that. There’s usually some fairly interesting stuff, but there’s usually even more not-so-interesting stuff. Of late, Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s started doing a press conference the day before to get reporters acquainted with the concil’s business. LL goes to these things so you don’t have to, and he will now be rounding them up in convenient bullet form:

• The tally this morning: Four reporters (myself, the Examiner’s Michael Neibauer and Jonetta Rose Barras, and the Post’s Nikita Stewart), eight of 13 councilmembers (Gray, Ward 1’s Jim Graham, Ward 3’s Mary Cheh, Ward 6’s Tommy Wells, Ward 7’s Yvette Alexander, and At-Large members David A. Catania, Carol Schwartz, and Phil Mendelson), and approximately three dozen staffers and randoms. In other words, about a 10-to-1 nonpress-to-press ratio.
• Gray announced that he’s hired a new communications director to replace Denise Reed, a longtime Wilson Building fixture who left Gray’s office in December for a job with the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. Her replacement is familiar face: Doxie McCoy, who’s served as the press aide to congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton since October 2001. She starts next week.
• Graham announced emergency legislation to force the mayor to issue rules implementing mandatory inclusionary zoning. (Here’s the whole complicated background on “IZ”—long story short, the rulemaking’s been delayed to give the development community a chance to weigh in.) Graham had introduced a nonemergency bill last month that would have given the mayor 30 days after enactment to issue the regs. This bill gives him until April 1.
• While we’re talking emergency legislation, there’s 10 emergency bills on the agenda coming out of the mayor’s office, all of which are contract approvals (the Council has to approve any contract greater than $1 million). Barras questioned Gray on why this stuff’s being done by emergency legislation. Blame, naturally, went to the mayor’s office and a blown contracting and procurement system. Good question, Jonetta!
• Mendelson announced a pair of bills coming out of his committee. One will require the sale of “fire-safe” cigarettes in the District by July 1. (Fire-safe cigs use a different type of paper that cause them to extinguish themselves if not actively puffed.) The other is the Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Act of 2007, which creates a fund dedicated to fighting, yes, auto theft, funded mainly by a $5 hike in the yearly car registration fee. The money’s overseen by a mayoral-appointed board and can be spent on more cops, bait cars, public-awareness campaigns, and things like that.
• Schwartz got up to talk about her “Paid Sick and Safe Days Act of 2007,” which is now the “Accrued Sick and Safe Days Act of 2007.” The new name reflects the fact that the bill stands to be heavily amended, mostly to make it more palatable to folks who do the hiring. “We have really worked hard to win a buy-in from the business community,” Schwartz said. Despite the changes, the votes haven’t been counted yet (members of the Service Employees union rallied at the Wilson Building this afternoon, citing “wavering as Tuesday’s vote nears” in a press release) and there’s rumors of mayoral veto being bandied about.
• Gray gave some early, rough numbers on the budget surplus from FY07: Total surplus is about $248 million. About $50 million of that has been earmarked for spending, and another approximately $100 million was allocated in a December supplemental appropriations bill. Of the remainder, Gray indicated he’d hoped to put that money away for a rainy day, and given the economic outlook right now, looks like things could get rainy indeed. Revenue projections won’t be in from the CFO’s office for another few weeks—but LL did get this fun tidbit from Gray: “Dr. [Natwar M.] Gandhi has informed us it will not be like we’ve seen in the recent past.”
• The Fenty steamroll on school closings is all but complete. Last month, Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry and Ward 5’s Harry Thomas Jr. introduced their “School Closing Fairness and Accountability Emergency Act of 2008,” which would have given the Council a chance to vote on the proposed school shutterings. On Friday, both Barry and Thomas stood behind Fenty as he announced the final closings list (as Marc Fisher pointed out in his column over the weekend). And today, Gray quiety announced that Barry and Thomas had withdrawn their bill.

Now for the battle of the Republican v. the Lapsed Republican.

The briefing: Last week, Mike DeBonis, your friendly Loose Lips columnist, wrote a piece about how Republican At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz had opted out of a trip to New Hampshire to further the cause of D.C. voting rights. Mayor Adrian Fenty and several councilmembers went up there to lobby for a resolution scolding the state’s two Republican senators for voting against a D.C. voting rights bill last year.

Schwartz’s reason for opting out was that the move was too partisan, too shrill.

Fellow At-Large Councilmember David Catania, who used to be a Republican, organized the trip and snapped at Schwartz in the column: “Has Mrs. Schwartz gone to visit [Kentucky Sen. Mitch] McConnell? How many times has she gone to visit the Republican leadership? I know it’s uncomfortable for her…but she has to choose. Does she want to be a citizen of this city or a partisan?”

So how does all this make Schwartz feel?

Click here for her letter to the editor.

This week, Loose Lips ran his Secret Santa column, resurrecting a tradition in which LL gives back to all those who have given him so much. Problem is, LL had to skip of lot of deserving folks in the Wilson Building and elsewhere, which has made for several unhappy politicos. All this week, LL’s been going around, saying he’d make a “supplemental appropriation.”

That’s a job I’m pawning off on you, readers. Here’s a selection of folks LL didn’t have room in his stocking to bestow with gifts, but are probably deserving all the same. Let ‘em have it in the comments:

• Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham
• Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans
• Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh
• Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser
• Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells
• Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander
• At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown
• At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz
• Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Neil Albert
• Fire Chief Dennis Rubin
• Fenty Communications Director Carrie Brooks
• Soon-to-be-former Attorney General Linda Singer
• Legendary tax thief Harriette Walters
• And anyone else is fair game, too…

Just revealed on the D.C. Politics Hour With Kojo and Jonetta: Carol Schwartz has resigned from the D.C. Republican State Committee. The at-large councilmember has belonged to the GOP for her entire political career, though she’s always gotten plenty of support from Democratic voters.

This seems to be not quite as clean a break as fellow at-large member David Catania made with the Republicans. Catania became an independent soon after George W. Bush expressed support for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

UPDATE: Schwartz Chief of Staff John Abbot calls in to clarify that Schwartz is only rotating off the committee’s slate. Schwartz, he assures, is still very much a Republican.

Earlier today, Adam Clampitt filed documents with the city declaring his candidacy for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council. An independent, he’s eyeing the guaranteed non-Democratic slot now held by Republican Carol Schwartz.

The fact that Clampitt is the first candidate to file, more than 10 months ahead of the election, is interesting enough, but still more intriguing: Clampitt’s campaign chair is Judith Terra, the socialite and arts patron who took a heavy interest in the successful campaigns of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser. A 2005 fundraiser at her Crestwood mansion, White Oak, brought more than $35,000 to the Fenty campaign. It’s a pick that brings Clampitt a dose of instant credibility.

Terra is traveling and was unavailable for comment today, but Clampitt says she has been a friend of his family’s for many years. When he and Terra worked together on Bowser’s campaign earlier this year, he says, “That’s how we really connected.”

“She’s looking for good, young leadership to take the city forward,” says Clampitt, who says that Terra’s role is to be “very symbolic of the campaign” and to “rally the troops.”

Other members of his team: co-chair Jauhar Abraham, who’s founder and CEO of Peaceoholics; campaign manager Lane Hudson, who’s involved in the Ward 1 Democrats and gay issues; and treasurer Judy Zamore, who filled the same role for Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in 2006. (”I thought that was symbolic,” Clampitt says, “because Sherrod Brown was someone who beat a very entrenched Republican.”)

Worthy of note: Terra used to be GOP-friendly herself. Her late husband, Daniel Terra, was a legendary fundraiser for Ronald Reagan, which won him a slot as “cultural ambassador at large” in the 1980s. Terra told the previous LL that Reagan “was just a very, very nice man…and he had the strength that comes with a strong set of convictions.”

Schwartz said in an interview earlier this month that she plans to run for re-election but has yet to start campaigning. Her top aide, John Abbot, had no comment today. Currently “exploring” and also likely to file in the race is Ward 1 attorney and advisory neighborhood commissioner Dee Hunter.

Last week, the city settled with Frank Harris Jr., the St. Elizabeths patient who had gouged his eyes out in March 2003.

Harris’ family had sued the city over the incident; the Fenty administration responded by billing Harris for a $2.2 million “offset” to cover medical costs he’d incurred over the years.

While the lawsuit has been settled, the Frank Harris Jr. Offset Justice Amendment Act lives. Introduced by At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, the bill aims to prevent the mayor from ever again sending a bill to a legally insane person like Harris.

Only two councilmembers failed to cosponsor Mendelson’s legislation. One was At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz, who says her early opposition to the bill was part of her job as the council’s foremost taxpayer watchdog. “I felt we should have some leverage in a settlement,” she says. “What I hoped for happened.”

The other was Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser. In one of her first encounters with LL, Bowser expressed her dismay at being portrayed as a lapdog of the Fenty administration, as the previous LL had done. Such a perception would stem from the fact that Fenty threw his weight behind the effort to elect Bowser as his successor, helping her raise more than $200,000 to ward off a handful of other candidates in last spring’s special election, including a similarly well-financed Michael Brown.

Bowser explains that she did not wish to take an early position on the bill, and she may still vote for the bill as it works its way through the council.

Says Bowser, “If that makes me a lapdog, what does that make Carol?”