Summary#

B26-0824, the Health and Human Service Programs and Benefits Eligibility and Delivery Data-Sharing Clarifications Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2026, would amend two existing D.C. laws: the Homeless Services Reform Act of 2005 and Title I of the Data-Sharing and Information Coordination Amendment Act of 2010. Its stated goal is to clarify data sharing to help determine eligibility for federal and District health and human service programs. The bill is an emergency measure that would take effect after mayoral approval or a Council override and last no longer than 90 days.

• DHS records covered by two provisions of the Homeless Services Reform Act would be subject to the authorized uses and mandatory disclosures in the 2010 data-sharing law, while remaining subject to confidentiality requirements in District and federal law.
• The 2010 law’s definition of “agency” would expressly include a subdivision of an agency, department, unit, authority, or instrumentality.
• The bill would remove a reference to section 103 from the lead-in to section 102(a) of the 2010 law. The precise effect of that change is unclear without the parent law’s text.
• The bill does not itself change benefit eligibility rules or create a new benefit.

What it means for you#

• People seeking health or human services: DHS and other District agencies would have clarified authority to use or disclose covered records for eligibility purposes, subject to the laws referenced above. The bill does not say that every person’s records must be shared or that anyone automatically qualifies for a program.
• DHS and other District agencies: The changes clarify which agency subdivisions are included under the 2010 law and link certain homeless-services records to its authorized uses and mandatory disclosures.
• People whose records may be involved: The bill does not set out new notice, consent, appeal, or record-correction procedures.
• General public: The bill does not directly change taxes, fees, penalties, or the level of benefits.

Money#

No publicly available information on the fiscal impact is included in the supplied material; it says the Council adopts the Chief Financial Officer’s fiscal impact statement, but that statement was not supplied.

• The bill provides no spending amount or cost estimate.
• It does not specify staffing or system costs for DHS or other agencies.

What is unclear#

• The parent laws are not supplied, so the existing rules and the full effect of these amendments cannot be verified against current law.
• The text of section 103 and the rest of section 102(a) is not supplied; the effect of deleting the reference to section 103 cannot be determined from this bill alone.
• The bill does not itself detail which records may be shared, who may access them, or how access, retention, and security are handled. Those rules may appear in the amended laws, which were not supplied.
• The supplied status fields conflict, so the bill’s current enactment status is unclear.

Case for#

• A possible argument for the bill is that agencies need to use and disclose some records to determine eligibility, and the amendments clarify how the existing data-sharing law applies to records covered by the homeless-services law.
• Explicitly including agency subdivisions could reduce uncertainty about which parts of government fall within the data-sharing law.
• The bill keeps the stated confidentiality requirements of District and federal law in place.

Case against#

• One concern is that making agency subdivisions part of the definition could broaden which government units are covered by the data-sharing law.
• The bill does not itself spell out practical safeguards, such as access limits or notice to people whose records are shared; it is unclear what protections the parent laws provide.
• Removing the section 103 reference may change a condition on data-system authority, but the supplied text does not allow readers to assess how significant that change is.
• The bill supplies no cost estimate, even though agencies may need staff or systems to carry out its changes.