Cook County Board Approves Paid Sick Leave

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - October 5, 2016

Significant Decisions Made

• Effective July 2017, all but construction workers are to be covered under a new paid sick leave law approved without a single Republican vote.  More than twenty public speakers told their stories as to why paid sick leave would help or hurt them or their constituents.  The ordinance largely mirrors the city of Chicago’s [also effective next July], and allows employees to earn one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked up to five days per year.  About 40% or 840,000 private sector workers in the county do not have sick leave – primarily in the service industry and primarily low-wage earners.  A provision allowing employers to restrict employee use of sick hours for up to six months after hire could exclude many temporary or seasonal workers.  One commissioner said that home rule municipalities might be able to “opt out”, but no details were offered.   (Agenda Item 16-4229).
• Commissioners also approved new clarifying and tightening provisions to the County’s Ethics Ordinance.  Commissioner Silvestri objected to the requirement that individual elected officials cannot, on public time, lobby for/against resolutions, ordinances, or other positions after they have been approved by the Board.  A majority voted to strike the sentence, and the remaining changes were approved. (Agenda Item 16-5326)
• The Board approved a resolution (approved previously by the CCHHS Board) calling for the creation of a Gun Violence Research Consortium as a project of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System’s Collaborative Research Unit.  (Agenda Item 16-4064) 
• As a part of an annual Intergovernmental Agreement for shared services, the Board approved a payment to the Cook County Forest Preserve District of $1,942,000. (Agenda Item 16-5045) 

Items Referred to Committees:
Referred to the Legislative and Intergovernmental Relations Committee:

1. An Ordinance Governing the Safe Disposal of Pharmaceuticals was referred because the proposed substitute had not been seen by non-sponsoring Commissioners.  The substitute will be re-introduced with more time for review by the commissioners and the public. (Agenda Item 16-1983)
2. Living Wage Ordinance  - If approved in 2016, it would require CC employers to pay a living wage of at least $10.50 per year for covered employees with increases to occur in each of the following three years. (Agenda Item 16-5768)
3. A rule requiring that Substitute Ordinances or Substitute Changes to Ordinances, once presented to the full board, must wait for a follow up Board meeting for discussion and a vote. (Agenda Item 16-5778) 

An ordinance for Establishing Guidelines for Managing Consent Calendar Items and an ordinance for Establishing Decorum Guidelines for Public Speakers were both sent back to the Rules Committee for further refinement.  

Other Observations:

• Look for a sugar tax to be part of President Preckwinkle’s proposed budget for 2017.  Opponents are already airing radio ads against the tax.
• An Amendment to the CC Amusement Tax was deferred amidst concern that it is not in harmony with the City of Chicago’s covered venues. (Agenda Item 16-5102)
• A Ride-Share tax of .50 cents per trip was referred to the Finance Committee. (Agenda Item 16-5634)

Observer - Diane Edmundson