Chicago City Council Approves Rules and Committee Chairs for Next Council

On March 30, the City Council held a special meeting at which it took the unprecedented step of approving the Council Rules of Order and the Committee Chairs for the next Council, which takes office in May. The League has had a long-standing position supporting the Council electing its own Committee Chairs.* Notwithstanding that, the League opposed this Council taking these votes on March 30 for two main reasons:

• The 2023-2027 Council members, not the outgoing Council, should be the ones who decide what their Rules and who their Committee Chairs should be. Elections should matter, and the winners of those elections should have been the ones voting. There are fourteen wards where the next alders will not be known until after the April 4 election, and an additional five wards whose new alders were elected on February 28, but who were not part of the Council that voted on March 30. 

• The public was not able to see what was being voted on and thus was effectively cut out of the process. The text of the proposed new Rules and names of the new Committee Chairs were not published prior to the start of the meeting. News reports have stated that they were finally posted shortly before the actual votes were taken, well after the meeting had started. A core principle and long-standing position of the League at all levels is that democratic government depends on the informed and active participation of its citizens and requires that governmental bodies protect the citizen’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions.**

Rather than vote to approve these two proposals, the League had suggested the current Council, at most, refer the proposals to the Rules Committee, where the discussion could begin.

The New Rules

The new Rules of Order and Procedure for the 2023-2027 Council were passed as Item #R2023-502 by a vote of 34 to 10. Check out the full set of new Rules. Key changes include the following:

• The number of Committees was increased from 19 to 28 (see Rule 35, which lists the Committees and Rule 37, which lists their jurisdictions). The League expressed concern about this increase as a result of its City Government Committee’s recently published report, which that found that a number of the existing 19 Committees barely meet. 

• New requirements were added to the mayor’s and City departments’ ability to introduce items for consideration directly to Committees, thereby bypassing the normal process that the items first be introduced at the Council and then referred to Committee (see Rule 41). These new requirements for “direct introduction items,” which include posting the text of the items for the public to see at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, reflect the proposal in R2022-1116, which the League has been supporting.

Voting against the new rules: Alds. Hopkins (2nd), King (4th), Hairston (5th), Beale (9th), Lopez (15th), Coleman (16th), Moore (17th), Taylor (20th), Sposato (38th), and Gardiner (45th).

Voting for the new Rules: Alds, La Spata (1st), Dowell (3rd), Sawyer (6th), Mitchell (7th), Harris (8th), Lee (11th), Quinn (13th), Curtis (18th), O’Shea (19th), Brookins, Jr. (21st), Rodriguez (22nd), Tabares (23rd), Scott (24th), Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Maldonado (26th), Burnett, Jr. (27th), Ervin (28th), Taliafero (29th), Reboyras (30th), Cardona, Jr. (31st), Waguespack (32nd), Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd), Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Villegas (36th), Mitts (37th), Nugent (39th), Vasquez, Jr. (40th), Reilly (42nd), Knudson (43rd), Cappleman (46th), Martin (47th), Osterman (48th), Hadden (49th), and Silverman (50th).

Absent: Alds. Abarcus (12th), Burke (14th), Vacancy in the current (not new) 34th, and Napolitano (41st).

Not voting: Alds. Sadlowski Garza (10th) and Tunney (44th).

The New Committee Chairs

The new Committee Chairs for the 2023-2027 Council were approved as Item #R2023-503 by a vote of 35 to 9. See the full list of Chairs.

The vote was the same as for the New Rules, except that Ald. Sawyer (6th), who had voted for the new Rules, voted against the list of new Chairs. Alds. Taylor (10th) and Sposato (38th) also voted against the new Chairs even though they are both included on that list. 

League Actions

• After learning that some alders were planning on filing Rules and Committee Chairs for the 2023-2027 Council, the League and the Better Government Association issued a joint statement on March 20 urging that there first be a robust and public discussion, followed by adoption of new Rules and Committee Chairs after the new Council took its seats.

• The League sent suggestions for the new Rules, to be included in what we hoped would be such a robust and public discussion, to all alders on March 27. The suggested changes are intended to increase transparency and to allow the public a reasonable opportunity to express their views. 

• The League sent written public comments to the Council on March 30, in accordance with the Sergeant-of-Arms protocols. 

• League President Jane Ruby also spoke at the March 30 Council Meeting. Read her statement.

What’s Next?

The League will continue to seek increased transparency in the City Council. The public deserves a reasonable opportunity to express their views to their alders.

Would you like to be part of this effort? Contact us at league@lwvchicago.org and say you want to join the City Government Committee.

*LWV Chicago’s Where We Stand, 2021-2023, p. 3: City Council Procedures/Committees.
**LWV Chicago’s Where We Stand, 2021-2023, p. i: Principles.