Before any rules or regulations of the Council of the District of Columbia shall become effective a public hearing shall be held by the Council for the purpose of investigating reasonable standards of safety in employment, places of employment, in the use of devices and safeguards, and in the use of practices, means, methods, operations, and processes of employment, and any person interested in the matter being investigated may appear and testify. If, after investigation, the Council is of the opinion that minimum standards of safety requirements are necessary to protect or safeguard the lives or health of employees covered by this subchapter, it may adopt and promulgate such rules and regulations as it may deem advisable, which shall become effective 30 days after publication of notice at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the District of Columbia that they have been adopted and copies are available to the public at the Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

(Sept. 19, 1918, ch. 174, title II, § 4; Oct. 14, 1941, 55 Stat. 738, ch. 438,§ 4; June 14, 1944, 58 Stat. 279, ch. 258.)

1981 Ed., § 36-224.

1973 Ed., § 36-434.

Repeal of subchapter: See Historical and Statutory Notes following § 36-221.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 402 (284) of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to the District of Columbia Council, subject to the right of the Commissioner as provided in § 406 of the Plan. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-211), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-213(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.