One allows immediate towing of vehicles with fake tags and obscured license plates; the other strengthens enforcement of food delivery vehicles  

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The D.C. Council gave final passage to two pieces of legislation that would increase safety on D.C. roads. Both were introduced by Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, D-Ward 1. 

Food delivery

The first gives the Department of For-Hire Vehicles enforcement and regulatory authority over food and parcel delivery services, especially enforcement of traffic laws, to ensure that carriers-for-hire are accountable to the rules of the road. The Department already has enforcement authority over ride-hailing services, which use nearly identical apps, operate very similarly, and are largely unregulated. 

“This is an industry that has grown quickly and isn’t as well-regulated as it should be,” Nadeau said. “What we are seeing is a lot like what we saw when ride-hailing companies first came to the District a decade ago – disrupting industry and traffic and resisting regulation.” 

The bill, B25-0416, the Carrier-for-Hire Oversight and Enforcement Amendment Act of 2024, also sets clearer requirements for both vehicles- and carriers-for-hire to display a logo or insignia indicating what company the operator is providing service for – as a safety measure for passengers and to facilitate street enforcement by DFHV.  

The measure also requires companies to share certain trip data – no private or personally-identifiable data – with the Department for policy-making purposes.  

“This is a common-sense measure that brings our laws in line with the enforcement needs of a growing industry.”  

Fake tags 

The second bill would allow DPW parking enforcement to immediately tow and impound vehicles with counterfeit or obscured license plates and temporary tags.  

These vehicles frequently escape enforcement, for two reasons: first, because automated traffic enforcement cameras cannot identify them, and second, because a search on the plate cannot turn up violations on an invalid plate number. Current D.C. law does not allow towing a vehicle unless it has two unpaid tickets, which a vehicle with fake tags will never have. 

B25-0435, the Fraudulent Vehicle Tag and Parking Enforcement Modernization Amendment Act of 2024, gives the Department of Public Works parking enforcement and other enforcement agencies authority to immediately tow and impound cars whose owners have blatantly flouted the law by having clearly counterfeit, obscured, or long-expired plates.

“Premeditated reckless driving is often associated with vehicles that have counterfeit tags, making this legislation even more urgent as one of the tools we can employ to make our roads safer for residents and visitors,” Councilmember Nadeau said. 

According to the legislation, which builds off the previously enacted STEER legislation, vehicles will be assigned points for moving violations and parking violations. A total of 10 points would make a vehicle eligible for towing. More dangerous activities would result in more points being assessed and move a vehicle more quickly to being eligible for impoundment. 

“This turns enforcement attention toward those who pose the greatest risk to road safety,” Nadeau said. “This has been my focus and the focus of the Committee on Public Works & Operations, which I chair – to prioritize the most dangerous drivers and to use parking enforcement as a tool for improving road safety and public safety.” 

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