Cook County Board Raises Age to Purchase Tobacco Products to 21, but only Applies in Unincorporated Areas

Cook County Board Meeting and Board Committee Meetings 
January 23 and 24, 2019

​Meeting Length: Board Meeting lasted 2 hours on Jan. 24.  Committee meetings lasted approx. 3 hours on Jan. 23, and started 3 hours late because of length of Consent Agenda meeting.

What did the Board decide?

• Approved raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products from 18 to 21.  Comm. Degnen voted no and Comm. Arroyo voted present because they believe 18 is considered to be an “adult” for other purposes and adults should have the freedom to choose.  During the Committee hearing, much to the surprise of the sponsors, a County attorney stated that the ordinance would only apply to unincorporated areas.  The ordinance does not apply to “possession” of tobacco products because no one wants someone under 21 to get a “record” for possession.  Comm. Sean Morrison said that it was good that when this same ordinance was introduced at the last meeting of the prior Board, it was decided not to rush but to instead reintroduce it with the new Board.  He said he took the time to reach out to businesses in his district and found that there would be little impact because only about 4% of the tobacco purchases were from those under 21.  With the extra time, he became a “yes” vote.  (Agenda Item 19-0605).
• Approved amendments to Inspector General ordinance that add penalties for disclosing information from Confidential Summary Reports that are sent only to President’s Office and the applicable elected official or department head.  Penalties are up to 6 months imprisonment and up to $5,000 fine.  Inspector General explained that these Confidential Reports differ from the summary public reports that are posted on his web site and which have far fewer details. (Agenda Item 19-0602)
• Approved creation of a Complete Count Census Commission to be headed by Comms. Moore and Deer.  Purpose is to create plan for reach-out to ensure everyone is counted because many federal and state funds are based on the census count.  (Agenda Item 19-0733)
• Approved a new contract for a “communication platform” for the Jail and Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.  This covers phone calls (reduced from 12.5 cents a minute to 6 cents locally, 8 cents long distance within North America, and 13 cents for international calls), email exchanges (from and to detainee for total of 10 cents), and texts ($10 for up to 250 texts, or $20 for up to 600 texts).  Also includes education component that provides tablets and classes for free to detainees.  And this platform will eliminate a lot of paper that flows within the jail.  Costs the County nothing and it receives no revenues.  There was apparently some controversy over the awarding of the contract to Adobo in that the current provider of telephone service objected, but the head of Procurement explained the award was justified taking into account all the services to be provided at the specified fees.  (Agenda Item 19-0005)
• Approved a resolution requiring the development of a county-wide CPR and AED training awareness campaign and expansion of training access.  The Cook County Health Department supported, and there were a number of speakers in favor.  A date will be set for the Commissioners to be trained.  (Agenda Item 19-0645) 
• Approved a resolution for the County to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030.  (Agenda Item 19-1080)  
• Approved waiving fee for rabies vaccination for veterans and residents with disabilities.  (Agenda Item 19-1234)

What to watch for:

• Sent to Legislation & Govt. Affairs Committee:  Hearing on impact of U.S. government shutdown on County.  (Agenda Item 19-1368)
• Sent to Economic Development Committee:  Amendment to Ordinance that established a Commission on Social Innovation for Job Creation, Workforce Development, Entrepreneurship, Community Revitalization, and Individual Development.  Comm. Suffredin expressed concern over the ordinance and fact that Chair  and, under amendment, Vice-Chair has sole authority to appoint members.  Comm. Gainer explained the only change to ordinance was to allow Vice Chair (Comm. Anaya) to appoint and run Commission’s activities, in addition to Chair, who had been Comm. Garcia and who is now Comm. Gainer.  Will be interesting to see if any further changes are made to this ordinance in Committee.  (Agenda Item 19-1382)
• Comm. Moore will have hearings of Criminal Justice and Asset Management Committees which he chairs to discuss status of various programs of Sheriff and of Asset Management Dept., respectively. (Agenda Items 19-1338 and 19-1358)

 Observer - Priscilla Mims,