D.C. street vending without a license would be decriminalized with new law

The D.C. Council approved a street vending reform bill, the Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act of 2023, in the first reading Tuesday. 

The bill would decriminalize vending without a license, make licenses cheaper and waive past unpaid licensing fees.

Unpaid fines from up to five years before the effective date of the law would be eligible for forgiveness; vendors would be able to apply to waive the fees for a year after the law is established.

Vendor operation hours would expand. On Sunday through Thursday, vendors would be allowed to operate from 5 a.m. to midnight, two more hours than in the current law. Yet the residential-area ban would remain after 10 p.m.

Given the drop in fees and the need to pay zone managers and more food inspectors, the bill is expected to cost $764,000 in fiscal 2023 if it passes and $2.4 million over four years.

With the bill passing the first reading, it will now have to pass a second D.C. Council vote and be approved by Mayor Muriel Bowser before officially becoming law. All council members voted yes on the bill, with the exception of at-large independent member Christine Henderson, who voted present. 

“There is a philosophy underlying these licensing changes: We are changing street vending from something just tolerated — and sometimes barely tolerated — to recognizing it as a fundamental part of our economy, a pathway to economic empowerment for residents and, indeed, an economic development engine itself,” said bill co-sponsor Brianne Nadeau, a Democratic council member.

Ana Lemus, whose daughter was pushed to the ground by police in a 2019 confrontation over vending in Columbia Heights, applauded the advancement of the legislation.