Earlier this year, the DC Chapter of the Sierra Club released its first-ever DC Council Scorecard. Volunteers combed through five years of legislative history to score sitting councilmembers on their actions, inaction, or harmful action on environmental and climate legislation.
We plan on updating our scorecard on a regular basis, to continue to inform DC residents about which councilmembers consistently champion environmental and climate causes and which ones stand in the way.
As the DC Council closes out this current council period in the coming months, here are a few pivotal pieces of legislation that we understand will be moving this fall we plan to score:
- The Recycling Refund and Litter Reduction Amendment Act of 2025. Colloquially called the Bottle Bill, this legislation will establish a 10-cent refundable deposit on bottles and cans sold in the District, creating a strong incentive to increase recycling rates and to clean up our parks, rivers and neighborhoods. The DC Chapter has been working on this campaign for over four years, and the final passage of this bill is a key priority of ours.
- The GRID Act. The Guiding Renewable Interconnection and Distribution (GRID) Act of 2026 would make it easier for DC residents to access clean and affordable energy. Legalizing plug-in solar and making it easy to install will simultaneously cut emissions and lower energy bills. The other provisions to improve interconnection processes are long overdue and important to our clean energy transition.
- The Shine Safely Act. This important legislation will help to protect DC residents from toxic mercury pollution, climate warming greenhouse gases, and increasing electricity bills. This bill will ensure that as existing fluorescent lights reach the end of their lives, they will be replaced with energy-efficient, and cost-effective LED lighting. Ten states have already passed legislation ending the sale and distribution of toxic fluorescent lighting.
Our scorecard uses a detailed methodology that tracks different acts councilmembers take on legislation; you can read more here. Other environmental and climate legislation will also be reviewed beyond those mentioned above, but the bills listed are our top priorities this year. We believe these bills will have a major impact on the District of Columbia, and our volunteers have spent many hours working to advance and pass these policies.