David Grosso

David Grosso (born September 18, 1970) is an American attorney and politician.

He is a former at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia who lives in Brookland.

A native Washingtonian, he graduated from Earlham College and Georgetown University Law Center.

Grosso is a member of the D.C. Bar.

Following the completion of his second term on the D.C. Council, he joined the law firm Arent Fox as a lobbyist.

Grosso was born in Washington, D.C. During his childhood, he lived on a farm in Northern Virginia.

As a teenager, he lived on Rock Creek Church Road in Petworth.

Grosso graduated from Earlham College with a degree in philosophy.

He received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2001.

Before attending college, Grosso volunteered helping refugees from El Salvador living in Honduras.

He also spent a year as a full-time volunteer building a transitional housing program for homeless women in San Antonio, Texas, where he met his wife, Serra Sippel, also a native Washingtonian and president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity.

Grosso worked for D.C. Councilmember Sharon Ambrose working as a clerk for the District's Economic Development Committee.

He worked as Chief Counsel to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and was a vice president of public policy for health insurance carrier CareFirst for several years.

In 2012, Grosso and six other individuals declared their candidacy for two seats as at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia.

Grosso ran as an independent candidate.

In accordance with the District's Home Rule Act, one of the seats up for election that year was reserved for an individual who is not affiliated with the Democratic Party.

During a debate among the four candidates for the at-large council seat, Grosso supported expanding the types of illnesses that qualify for medical marijuana.

Grosso said he supported the five-cent tax on disposable bags, and he said he does not support school vouchers.

Grosso also said he would vote to censure Councilmember Jim Graham for violations of Metro's code of ethics.

In addition, Grosso said he was in favor of speeding cameras, saying that they were important because they slow drivers and save lives.

Grosso supports giving tax incentives for private employers to move to the District.

The Washington Post editorial board endorsed Grosso for at-large councilmember, citing Grosso's experience with the economic development committee and knowledge of city government.

Council member Tommy Wells and former Council member William Lightfoot endorsed Grosso's candidacy.

Grosso also earned the endorsements of the Current Newspapers, the D.C. chapter of the Sierra Club, and Greater Greater Washington.

Grosso won one of two at-large seats on the council with twenty percent of the vote.

Grosso was sworn into office as an at-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia on January 2, 2013.

During Council Period 20 (his first two years in office), Grosso served on the following committees: Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs; Education; Finance and Revenue; Health; and Transportation and the Environment.

During this council period, Grosso was the original author of 33 bills and resolutions—19 of which were approved by the D.C. Council.

Grosso named education reform as a top priority.

In 2013, as a member of the council's Committee on Education, Grosso sponsored a measure on school suspensions and expulsions that was added to the Attendance Accountability Amendment Act of 2013.

The provision required the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to develop an annual report with findings and recommendations for schools to reduce or eliminate the use of out of school suspensions and expulsions, except for extreme cases.

Grosso also supported the Committee on Education in reinstituting the Office of the Ombudsman within the State Board of Education, investments in public libraries for extended hours, professional development, library renovations, enhancements to the community schools grant program, requirement for DCPS to report on their restorative justice pilot program, expansion of the school based mental health program, and funding for teen health educators who provide sexual and reproductive health education to their peers.

In April 2013, Grosso voted against the Telemedicine Reimbursement Act, a bill to require health insurers in the city to pay for health care services provided remotely via interactive audio and video (telemedicine), an increasingly common method of health care delivery.

Fellow Councilmember Mary Cheh criticized Grosso's vote, characterizing it as a favor to health insurance companies.

On his first year on the council, Grosso introduced the Expedited Partner Therapy Act of 2013 in an effort to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

It allows health care providers to provide treatment for the partner of a patient that has been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection without an examination of the partner at a health care facility.

The bill was passed by the council and became law in May 2014.

Grosso also introduced a nonbinding resolution calling upon the Washington Redskins NFL team to change its name, stating that the current name is "racist and derogatory" (see Washington Redskins name controversy).

The Council approved the resolution unanimously.

Grosso suggested that the team adopt the name "Redtails" in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen.