A fractious D.C. Council on Tuesday postponed a vote on limiting Airbnb rentals and overturned a voter initiative that would have raised the minimum wage for tipped workers.
The whirlwind legislative session opened with heated debate over revisions to a bill to regulate Airbnb-style home rentals in the city. A final vote on the legislation was tabled until Nov. 13 after a financial analysis raised questions about the bill’s viability.
The council then voted 8-5 to repeal Initiative 77, which would have raised tipped workers’ minimum wage to eventually equal the citywide minimum wage. The last time lawmakers nixed a voter initiative was in 2001, when they killed term limits.
Council members Mary M. Cheh, Ward 3 Democrat; Charles Allen, Ward 6 Democrat; Brianne K. Nadeau, Ward 1 Democrat; Robert C. White Jr., at-large Democrat; and Elissa Silverman, at-large independent, voted against repealing Initiative 77.
Saying “it’s not about sour grapes,” Ms. Silverman told The Washington Times that she will introduce new legislation to protect tipped workers from wage theft and sexual harassment. Advocates for Initiative 77 workers said a higher tipped minimum wage would solve these issues.
However, the mood on the dais was sour. Council members criticized Chairman Phil Mendelson’s last-minute amendment to the Short-Term Rental Regulation Act of 2018. His amendment calls for linking surplus quarterly revenue to fund the bill in perpetuity.
Council member David Grosso, at-large independent, requested a delay in the final vote, saying he “was confused by why we were going to move forward with such a big fiscal impact statement.”
A unanimous council earlier this month gave preliminary approval to the legislation, which would limit how long homeowners can rent properties via Airbnb.
D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt said in a Monday fiscal impact statement that the Airbnb bill would cost the District $104.1 million over the next four years because of zoning regulations that would “eliminate nearly all current short-term rentals.”
The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has not enforced zoning rules prohibiting home-sharing in residential areas. If the council creates a licensing procedure that limits Airbnb members to sharing their primary or secondary homes to 90 days, then existing zoning rules could eliminate short-term rentals for many D.C. homeowners, according to the chief financial officer.
About 7,800 D.C. housing units are listed on Airbnb, according to data tracking website Inside Airbnb.
“We need to push the Zoning Commission. We need to push the DCRA,” Ms. Nadeau told the chairman. “But this is not the way to solve this today.”
Mr. Mendelson snapped back, saying he would be “happy to explain it” to her at a later time, which visibly angered Ms. Nadeau. The chairman later apologized on the dais for his tone.
Mr. Mendelson said the bill would take effect Oct. 1, 2019, which would give the council time to appeal to the Zoning Commission to ease its rules, preserve many Airbnb rentals and reduce the chief financial officer’s estimated cost.
“All due respect, that’s a lot of ’ifs’ that makes me uncomfortable,” Mr. Allen said. He added that he plans to introduce a military exemption to the legislation before the November vote.
Charlotte Perry founded LUXbnb, which manages 50 D.C. studios and homes that owners rent full time on Airbnb. She said half of her clients can’t rent their homes on the normal market because they don’t travel for work or are on military deployment all year.
“I’m quite glad that they’re taking more time to investigate the impact of this on the residents of the city,” Ms. Perry said.
• Julia Airey can be reached at jairey@washingtontimes.com.
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