Own Your Home Act

[Guest David Catania]

D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large) today reintroduced a number of measures that were not considered during the last Council session. Catania hopes that each of these important issues is taken up in the coming months.

 

“As Chairman of the Health Committee, I fully appreciate the workload associated with Council committees,” Catania said. “By reintroducing these measures, though, I emphasize my commitment to these pressing concerns.”

 

The “Own Your Home Act” is considered by Catania to be vital for neighborhood renewal and increasing affordable housing options in the District. If approved, the Department of Housing and Community Development would be required to sell 10% of public housing units to current occupants and recipients of Section 8 vouchers. Special affordability formula will be developed to determine prices and the new owner would be exempt from property taxes for ten years.

 

To encourage further economic development along Georgia Avenue in Northwest D.C., Councilmember Catania reintroduced his “Georgia Avenue Investment Now Act” (“GAIN”). This legislation creates a special taxing district along Georgia Avenue from 7th Street, NW to the DC-Maryland line. Businesses within the GAIN district, except those selling beer, wine, liquor, or spirits for consumption off of the premises, would be exempt from income taxation as well as sales tax. The companies’ personal property would be exempt from tax and any capital improvements made to the property will be not be taxed for over 10 years.

 

Unsolicited e-mail is a menace and burden to anyone that surfs the internet. It also poses a serious threat to privacy. Catania’s “Spam Deterrence Act” prohibits the transmission of certain commercial e-mail that overwhelms many computers and costs Internet users and businesses billions of dollars every year. The measure imposes significant civil and criminal penalties on any entity that violates unsolicited e-mail (“SPAM”) restrictions.

 

For more information on any of these measures, please contact the Office of Councilmember David Catania by calling 202-724-7772.