DISTRICT—Today the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development announced the District of Columbia Workforce Intermediary Establishment and Reform of First Source and Living Wage Amendment Act of 2011 has been passed. Basically, it means there are now stricter requirements for hiring DC residents if a company is receiving an incentive to do business in the District. After the break is the press release and a link to the PDF of the bill. [CurbedInbox]
ALEXANDRIA—The 937 units of Newport Village along West Braddock Road and North Beauregard Street in Alexandria sold to Home Properties for $205M, their largest price for an acquisition ever. [CityBiz]
CAPITOL HILL—The former police station that was converted to condos has one unit left—a three bed, three and a half bath for $$749,900. [Official Site; CurbedInbox]
For immediate release:
October 19, 2011
Reformed DC First Source Jobs Bill clears
Committee on Housing and Workforce Development
*Establishing the highest residency hiring requirement in District History*
Washington, DC-
Following introduction last January, a public hearing last spring, and over 30 subsequent meetings with diverse constituencies including; the non-profit sector, organized labor, community activists, businesses, and governmental agencies, the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development, chaired by Councilmember Michael A. Brown, At-large, has passed bill */B19-50 “/**/District of Columbia Workforce Intermediary Establishment and Reform of First Source and Living Wage Amendment Act of 2011.”/*//
Highlights of the legislation, crafted to place DC residents into DC funded jobs are:
·Creates a bifurcated policy that preserves the 51% new hire requirement on projects receiving government assistance between $300,000 and $5 million and applies enhanced industry-specific First Source hiring and reporting requirements _by total hours worked_ on projects receiving $5 million or more in government assistance.
·Increases the focus to include projects and services that are not construction related.
·Strengthens monitoring and compliance by updating reporting requirements, by including additional pro-rated fines for not reaching specific hiring requirements and by providing the Mayor debarment authority for repeat violators.
·Allows beneficiaries to double-count hours worked by District residents who are “hard to employ”, whichbenefits the business and the worker.
·Allows beneficiaries to “roll-over” excess hours worked on past projects.
·Establishes a workforce intermediary pilot program that will coordinate new and existing training opportunities to match job seekers to businesses and projects with job openings.
The Council of the District of Columbia will conduct a first reading of the Reform of First Source bill on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at their legislative meeting.
For language of the bill, visit- http://dccouncil.us/images/00001/20110121162550.pdf