DIP1046, "ref For Variable Declarations", has been accepted:
https://github.com/dlang/DIPs/blob/master/DIPs/accepted/DIP1046.md
Under the new DIP process, any DIP written by one of the language maintainers has an extra step to go through once it's ready to leave the DIP Development forum and enter into Formal Assessment: it must first be discussed at a DLF meeting to determine if there are any major objections that should block its approval. If there are none, then the other language maintainer is free to review the DIP and render a final verdict. Otherwise, further discussion and debate is undertaken to determine how to proceed.
Since Walter is the author of DIP1046, I presented it at a meeting for which the following members were present:
Jonathan M. Davis
Timon Gehr
Martin Kinkelin
Dennis Korpel
Mathias Lang
Mike Parker
Robert Schadek
Steven Schveighoffer
Adam Wilson
None of the members raised any objections to block its approval. I then submitted it to Átila for review. He requested a clarification, which Walter made, and then approved it. He agreed with the DIP's rationale that ref declarations are a major tool for writing memory-safe code and believes they align with our overarching goal of enhancing memory safety in D.
In contrast, Walter's bitfields DIP, currently in its third draft, was presented at the same meeting and received major objections. I'll have a report on how we decided to proceed when I post the update for that meeting.