§ 47–308.01. Performance-based budget.

(a) For purposes of this section, the term:

(1) “Activity” means a component part of the District’s program structure comprised of a set of services grouped around a common purpose.

(2) “Operating agency” means any agency that receives budget authority through the District of Columbia’s annual appropriation.

(3) “Performance-based budget” means a budget presentation consisting of agency programs, estimated total program and activity costs, as well as full-time equivalents for the current and next fiscal year; agency strategic result goals; an overview describing the activities within each program; estimated program costs; and program performance measures.

(3A) "Racial Equity" means the elimination of racial disparities such that race no longer predicts opportunities, outcomes, or the distribution of resources for residents of the District, particularly for persons of color and Black residents.

(3B) “Relevant cost drivers” are the basic causes behind service delivery that can be utilized to reasonably predict the cost of a service based on its level of activity, which for 2008 shall be reported at the program level and for 2009 and beyond shall be reported at the activity level.

(3C) “Relevant performance measures” means metrics established by the Mayor, after consultation with Stakeholders before the beginning of each fiscal year, that establish expectations about:

(A) The results an agency will produce;

(B) The outputs or services the agency will produce;

(D) The efficiency with which the agency produces results, outputs, and services and meets the demands for activity by the agency.

(4) “Service” means the deliverables or products that the customer receives. The lowest level in the District’s program structure, services are discrete units of governmental functions that together make up an activity.

(5) “Service-level budgets” means a budget by fund and object class for a service provided by the District listed at organizational level 4 in the financial system and at the service level in agency strategic business plans.

[(6)] “Stakeholders” are the customers of an agency that use the agency’s services or products and may include both government customers and persons or corporations that are resident in the District.

(b) Beginning with the District of Columbia’s Fiscal Year 2004 budget and financial plan, any agency that has converted to a performance-based budget shall continue presenting its budget in such format, unless the Chief Financial Officer considers it appropriate to present an agency’s budget in a different format.

(c) Beginning in Fiscal Year 2004 and continuing in subsequent fiscal years until all applicable agencies funded by the General Fund within the District of Columbia’s budget and financial plan are submitting performance-based budgets, the Mayor shall identify by executive order, no later than July 10, at least 15 additional agencies to submit performance-based budgets the following fiscal year. For the Fiscal Year 2006 budget and financial plan, the Mayor shall submit to the Council a performance-based budget for every operating agency in the District of Columbia, unless the Chief Financial Officer considers it inappropriate to do so.

(d) Beginning in fiscal year 2006 and phasing in through fiscal year 2009 by appropriation title beginning with Public Safety and Justice and Public Works in fiscal year 2006, Governmental Direction and Support in fiscal year 2007, Public Education Systems and Economic Development and Regulation in fiscal year 2008, and Human Support Services and all other remaining agencies in fiscal year 2009, the Chief Financial Officer shall provide service level budgets for any operating agency where services are a part of an activity that has a minimum threshold of $5 million from the prior fiscal year’s appropriation or provides services determined by the Mayor or the Council to be a priority for the District of Columbia. By no later than August 15 of each year, beginning in fiscal year 2006 and continuing in subsequent fiscal years, the Chief Financial Officer shall provide to the Mayor and the Council a list of service costs for activities that have a minimum threshold of $10 million from the prior fiscal year’s appropriation.

(e) Beginning in Fiscal Year 2005 and continuing in subsequent fiscal years, the Office of Budget and Planning, in consultation with the Office of the City Administrator, shall identify 25 critical programs to benchmark with comparable jurisdictions and shall include those benchmarks in the budget and financial plan.

(f) The Office of Budget and Planning shall review all agency program expenditures, including program definitions, estimated program costs, program performance measures, and agency benchmarks, which expenditures shall be included in the District of Columbia’s budget and financial plan. For the Fiscal Year 2006 budget, no operating agency budget shall be forwarded to the Mayor for approval without the Office of Budget and Planning’s determination that it is a performance-based budget, except those agencies for which the Chief Financial Officer considers such a budget to be inappropriate.

(g)(1) Each agency that has transitioned to the performance-based budget format shall submit a copy of its strategic business plan to the Council prior to January 31 of each year.

(2) The Office of the City Administrator, in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, shall make available, in electronic format, copies of agency strategic business plans to the public and shall display the strategic business plans on the District government’s internet site.

(h)(1) By March 1, 2021, in coordination with the Office of the City Administrator, the Office of Racial Equity, established by [§ 2-1471.02], shall design and implement racial equity tools to enable District agencies to incorporate racial equity into their operations, performance-based budgets, programs, policies, rules, and regulations, and to ensure alignment between departmental and District-wide programs and initiatives.

(2) At a minimum, the Mayor shall use the racial equity tools to:

(A) Identify clear strategic initiatives, objectives, and measurable outcomes;

(B) Develop metrics to measure progress in redressing disparate social and economic outcomes in the District based on race, sex, and ethnicity;

(C) Track and measure how programmatic and policy decisions benefit or burden individuals based on race, sex, or ethnicity;

(D) Examine potential unintended consequences of a policy or programmatic decision and develop a strategy to advance racial equity and mitigate unintended negative consequences; and

(E) Evaluate the efficacy of District agencies' strategic initiatives and programs aimed at reducing disparate outcomes.

(3) Beginning in 2021 for Fiscal Year 2022, and every year thereafter, the Mayor's budget submission package to the Council shall include a summary of how the proposed budget advances racial equity in the District, reduces disparate outcomes, and allocates resources to support equitable outcomes.

(Oct. 3, 2001, D.C. Law 14-28, § 4502(b), 48 DCR 6981; Oct. 1, 2002, D.C. Law 14-190, § 202, 49 DCR 6968; Nov. 13, 2003, D.C. Law 15-39, § 1002, 50 DCR 5668; Dec. 7, 2004, D.C. Law 15-205, § 1032, 51 DCR 8441; Oct. 20, 2005, D.C. Law 16-33, § 1006(b), 52 DCR 7503; Mar. 16, 2021, D.C. Law 23-181, § 202(a), 67 DCR 14390.)

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 14-190 rewrote the section.

D.C. Law 15-39 rewrote the section.

D.C. Law 15-205 rewrote subsecs. (a) and (d).

D.C. Law 16-33, in subsec. (a), added pars. (3B), (3A), and (3C).

Emergency Legislation

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 202(a) of Racial Equity Achieves Results (REACH) Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2021 (D.C. Act 24-44, Mar. 24, 2021, 68 DCR 003448).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 202(a)(2) of Racial Equity Achieves Results (REACH) Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-521, Dec. 7, 2020, 67 DCR 14433).

For temporary (90 day) addition of section, see § 4102(b) of Fiscal Year 2002 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-124, August 3, 2001, 48 DCR 7861).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 202 of Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-453, July 23, 2002, 49 DCR 8026).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1002 of Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2003 (D.C. Act 15-105, June 20, 2003, 50 DCR 5613).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1002 of Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2003 (D.C. Act 15-149, September 22, 2003, 50 DCR 8360).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1032 of Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-486, August 2, 2004, 51 DCR 8236).

For temporary (90 day) human support services fiscal year 2005 program performance provisions, see §§ 5902, 5903 of Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-486, August 2, 2004, 51 DCR 8236).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1032 of Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-594, October 26, 2004, 51 DCR 11725).

For temporary (90 day) human support services fiscal year 2005 program performance provisions, see §§ 5902, 5903 of Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Support Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-594, October 26, 2004, 51 DCR 11725).

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 1006(b) of Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2005 (D.C. Act 16-168, July 26, 2005, 52 DCR 7667).

Temporary Legislation

Section 2 of D.C. Law 15-344, amending section 5903 of D.C. Law 15-205, substituted “operation” for “renovation”.

Section 4(b) of D.C. Law 15-344 provides that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.

Short Title

Short title of title II of Law 14-190: Section 201 of D.C. Law 14-190 provided that title II of the act may be cited as the Performance and Financial Accountability Act of 2002.

Short title of title X of Law 15-39: Section 1001 of D.C. Law 15-39 provided that title X of the act may be cited as the Performance and Financial Accountability Act of 2003.

Short title of subtitle D of title I of Law 15-205: Section 1031 of D.C. Law 15-205 provided that subtitle D of title I of the act may be cited as the Performance and Financial Accountability Amendment Act of 2004.

Short title of subtitle I of title V of Law 15-205: Section 5901 of D.C. Law 15-205 provided that subtitle I of title V of the act may be cited as the Human Support Services Fiscal Year 2005 Program Performance Requirements Act of 2004.

Short title of subtitle B of title I of Law 16-33: Section 1005 of D.C. Law 16-33 provided that subtitle B of title I of the act may be cited as the Performance-Based Budgeting Act of 2005.

Editor's Notes

Sections 5902 and 5903 of D.C. Law 15-205 provided:

“Sec. 5902. Department of Health fiscal year 2005 program performance requirements.

“For fiscal year 2005, the Department of Health shall:

“(1) Have sufficient local match available as needed to be spent so that no federal dollars are lost in programs including the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, the Prostate Cancer Program, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, and the D.C. Cancer Registry;

“(2) Maintain fiscal year 2003 number of full-time employees, hours of operation, and services in the Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program and the Tuberculosis Control Program; and

“(3) Allocate sufficient funds to the Department of Health, Health Regulation Administration to maintain the fiscal year 2003 funding level and number of inspector and surveyor full-time employees for the following divisions:

“(A) The Health Care Facilities Division;

“(B) Child and Residential Care Facilities Division; and

“(C) Intermediate Care Facilities Division.

“Sec. 5903. Department of Human Services Fiscal Year 2005 program performance requirements.

“For fiscal year 2005, the Department of Human Services shall use the $250,000 that the Committee on Human Services directed from the Department of Mental Health’s Strategic Management Service to the Department of Human Services’ Family Services Administration for the Southeast Veteran’s Access Housing, Inc., for the renovation of the men’s shelter.”