DC Council Introduces Bill That Would Break Up DCRA

• January 23rd 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

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DC's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) has tried over the past year to streamline its permitting and approval processes, but now the bloat and bureaucracy of the agency seems to have come to a head.

On Tuesday, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson proposed a bill that would split the agency into two separate departments. The Department of Buildings Act of 2018 would reconfigure DCRA, dividing building-related processes from business-related ones and creating a Department of Buildings (DOB). The DOB would oversee construction permits, residential housing safety and maintenance, building and zoning codes and the like.

DCRA would be redesignated as the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, overseeing business licenses, consumer protection, and other business-related regulatory functions. Eight councilmembers thus far have signed onto the bill, making its passage highly likely.

“After a year of oversight hearings, it has become abundantly clear that DCRA is an agency in need of major change," Chairman Mendelson said in a statement. "DCRA needs to do a better job – for both residents and businesses. I believe breaking up and reorganizing the agency is the best way."

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/council-of-dc-suggests-dividing-dcra/13481.