Summary#
The Public Inconvenience Fee Sunset Amendment Act of 2026 would amend the District’s Water and Sewer Authority Establishment and Department of Public Works Reorganization Act of 1996. Its stated goal is to make any public inconvenience fee passed on to consumers visible on their bills and to end, by October 1, 2030, specified increases used to recover those fees. The bill is introduced and is not law.
- The existing Water and Sewer Authority must separately itemize any public inconvenience fee it passes on to a consumer.
- Starting October 1, 2030, the Authority must stop charging consumers an increased amount to recover any portion of the public inconvenience fees identified in a cited District regulation.
- The bill creates no new agency, benefit, tax, or fine. It does not say the fees themselves must end.
What it means for you#
- Water and sewer customers: If the Authority passes a public inconvenience fee on to you, it must show that fee as a separate item on your bill.
- Customers paying related increased amounts: From October 1, 2030, the Authority must stop charging an increased amount to recover the specified fees. The bill does not require a refund of earlier charges.
- Customers generally: The bill does not establish what fees are currently charged, whether they are currently passed on, or how much they are. The Water and Sewer Authority is an existing agency, not a new body created by this bill.
Money#
No publicly available information.
- The bill refers to a fiscal impact statement in a committee report, but that report and statement are not included in the supplied material.
- The bill gives no estimate of the cost of changing bills or the amount of revenue affected by ending the specified cost recovery.
What is unclear#
- The District regulation cited in the bill is not supplied, so the fees covered by the October 2030 deadline cannot be identified here.
- The bill does not define “public inconvenience fee.” The parent Act and cited regulation were not supplied, so current law and the exact scope of the fee cannot be verified.
- The bill does not say when the separate-itemization requirement would start beyond the Act’s general effective-date process: approval by the Mayor (or a Council override) and 30 days of congressional review.
- It does not say how the Authority would handle the costs after it stops charging consumers the specified increased amounts.
Case for#
- Separate itemization could make it easier for customers to see when a public inconvenience fee is included in their bill.
- A fixed end date for the specified cost recovery would limit how long the Authority can charge increased amounts to recover those fees.
Case against#
- The bill does not explain how the Authority would cover the costs after it must stop charging the specified increased amounts. The financial effect is unknown.
- Because the cited regulation and current law are not provided here, it is unclear exactly which fees and charges the deadline would affect.